tonfall Manual · version 1.0.0

DIMMA

A cloud of grains, locked to your beat.

Install

Download DIMMA.amxd from your receipt email or your Gumroad Library.
Move it to a folder where it can stay, such as your User Library, which Live’s browser shows. Live Sets that use DIMMA look for it there.
Drag DIMMA.amxd onto an audio track, or after an instrument on a MIDI track.
Press play and feed it a loop, a pad or a single held note. Turn mix to hear the cloud against the dry sound. Hover over any control to read what it does in Live’s Info View.

The display

pitch, low to highone beat, left to right

The display draws the grain cloud. Each beat runs from left to right, and new grains appear on the rhythm set by div.

Colour and height follow pitch: lower grains are blue, higher grains warm. Size and thick change how large and dense the particles are. Fog, echo and space leave trails and glow.

Freeze leaves an icy blue trace of the captured sound. When DIMMA is bypassed, the display fades and the controls turn grey.

Shape the grains

fog0 to 100 %

Turns clear grains into a diffuse cloud of longer, reversed grains. Higher values add haze and stereo spread.

drift0 to 100 %

Adds variation to grain timing, duration and the part of the recorded sound being played. With thick raised, it also adds pitch variation.

size5 to 100 ms

Sets the base grain duration from 5 to 100 ms. Lower values create short fragments; higher values create longer textures. Fog, drift and thick can extend the grains.

thick0 to 100 %

Increases the number of grains in each cluster from one to eight and extends their duration. Higher values create a denser cloud.

Space and pitch

echo0 to 100 %

Adds a beat-synced echo to the grain cloud. Higher values increase the repeats and echo level while darkening the repeats.

space0 to 100 %

Adds a modulated reverb around the grain cloud. Higher values create a wetter, longer and more diffuse tail.

harm0 to 100 %

Controls how often grains draw from the selected harmony pattern. At 0%, no harmonization is applied. Higher values introduce the pattern more often; it can also include unshifted grains.

pitch−24 to +24 st

Transposes the grain cloud from -24 to +24 semitones. Zero preserves the original pitch before harmony and drift are applied.

Rhythm and performance

harmonyoct · 5th · maj · min · wide

Selects the intervals used by harm: octaves, fifths, major, minor or wide. Raise harm to introduce these intervals; at 0%, harmonization is off.

div1 · 2 · 4 · 8 · 16

Sets the grain trigger rate to 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 subdivisions per beat. Higher values create faster patterns, synced to the Live transport when it is running.

mix0 to 100 %

Blends the dry input with the processed grain cloud. Fully left is dry; fully right is wet.

percoff · on

Gives grains a sharper attack for a more percussive texture while keeping their duration.

freezeoff · on

Holds the recorded audio buffer so grains keep playing from the captured sound. Turn off to resume recording incoming audio.

Try this

A halo on anything

Put DIMMA on a return track at full mix, then send a little of a vocal, piano or pad.

Chords that come and go

Choose maj or min, then automate harm across a phrase.

Hold a moment

Freeze a held chord, then move pitch, harm and size. The captured sound keeps playing.

Stutter drums

On a drum loop, try div 16 with perc on and a small size.

Support

Requires: Ableton Live 11 or 12 with Max for Live, on macOS or Windows.
Manual: Online at tonfall.studio/dimma-manual, and as DIMMA Manual.pdf in your download for offline use.
Updates: Free. The download link in your receipt email always has the latest version, and so does your Gumroad Library.
Help: Write to hello@tonfall.studio. If DIMMA doesn’t run on your system, you get a full refund within 14 days of purchase.

tonfall

Built to inspire, not to configure.