Fractal Tune Smithy is an algorithmic composition software designed by Robert Walker (known online as “Robert the Inventor”) that specializes in generating infinite fractal music and exploring microtonal custom scales. Rather than relying on traditional human notation, it uses mathematical frameworks to build evolving audio landscapes that function similarly to visual fractals like the Koch snowflake.
The application serves as both a standalone algorithmic composer and a highly precise retuning tool for microtonal musicians. Core Mechanics: Creating Mathematical Melodies
The software generates melodies that are structured on multiple layers simultaneously. Its compositional framework is built on three pillars:
The Musical Seed: You input a short, simple phrase of a few notes. This acts as the mathematical “genetic code” for the entire piece.
Sloth Canons: Tune Smithy map structures known as “canons by augmentation” or sloth canons. The software plays the same seed melody across multiple layers at different, mathematically related speeds. If you speed up a slow layer, it perfectly matches the notes of the faster layer, mirroring the way a visual fractal repeats itself when you zoom in.
Fibonacci Rhythms: It incorporates pure mathematics to build rhythms using long and short beats patterned after the Fibonacci sequence and Penrose tilings. Because of this, the resulting rhythms are “almost repeating”—they sound structured and familiar but never actually loop, continuing indefinitely without exact repetition. Custom Scales and Microtonality
Beyond composition, Fractal Tune Smithy is recognized within the xenharmonic (alternative tuning) community as an ultra-precise microtonal microtuner.
Tune Smithy – music generator and microtonal composition tool
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