Stencil ステンシル

A Music Thing-style Turing Machine for MIDI. A shift register cycles between perfect repeat and pure noise, and emits notes from the pattern as it evolves.

Kind
MIDI Effect
Formats
Max for Live · VST3 · Audio Unit · CLAP
Year
2026
0.42C4

Stencil emits MIDI notes from a shift register. On each host step it reads the register as an integer and maps the value into a user-set MIDI note range. The register’s lowest bit acts as the step’s gate — if it’s 1 the note fires with probability density, if it’s 0 the step is silent. Then it shifts one position — the bit cycling out is flipped with probability 1 − lock before being reinserted at the head. Lock at 1.0 freezes the register into a perfect loop; at 0.0 every bit flips and the register becomes pure noise. Intermediate values gradually mutate the loop, and 0.95 is the classic slowly-evolving-pattern setting.

Stencil isn’t a sequencer you draw notes into. The pattern emerges from initial randomness, and you shape it by holding lock high when a section you like comes around. The trigger mode selects how steps advance: auto follows the host transport, gate advances only while a key is held, and seed lets incoming note-on / note-off events write the head bit so the player becomes the bit source. Stencil emits unquantized chromatic notes; chain a Pointsman device downstream for scale-locked output.

  • Max for Live
  • VST3 / AU / CLAP

DAW support

Supported

Ableton Live Max for Live Use the Max for Live device — Live does not accept third-party VST3 / AU in its MIDI Effect rack.
Logic Pro Audio Unit AU MIDI FX on a software-instrument track.
Bitwig Studio VST3 / CLAP Note FX slot.
Reaper VST3 / CLAP On a track FX chain, before the instrument.

Not supported

Cubase / Nuendo Host design mismatch — no third-party VST3 MIDI Effect path.
FL Studio Host design mismatch — no MIDI fx routing.
Studio One Host design mismatch — Note FX accepts only PreSonus-native MIDI plugins.