Sound With Bones

Draw a structure you can play. Hear it sing, then record how you change it while it rings.

Sound With Bones is a physical modeling instrument built from your drawings. A sketch becomes connected joints whose mass and stiffness shape the sound. Pluck a joint, cut a ringing connection, then repair it and hear the structure change.

HEAR YOUR DRAWING SING
Tap Listen and your drawing plays a whole song, tuned from its own resonances. Change the shape and the same song sounds new. Soft Geometry, an original, and Twinkle, Twinkle are free.

SHAPE SOUND BY LISTENING
Choose a brighter or less bright sound. The Workshop proposes small changes to a joint's mass or a connection's stiffness. Compare each edit with the same strike, reference pitch, duration and listening level. Keep a version or return to your original.

CHANGE THE INSTRUMENT AS IT PLAYS
In Workshop > Perform, record the strikes, cuts and repairs you play. Keep the take as editable actions on a beat timeline. Move an action, adjust the tempo and replay it from the drawing captured at the start. A cut changes the sound already ringing. You can also arrange actions by hand. With Plus, export the performance as WAV with its editable workshop.

MAKE A FAMILY OF RELATED SOUNDS
Create soft, firm, edge and broken variations from one drawing. Edit the strike location, force, softness and connection cut, and hear each one. With Plus, export named 24-bit stereo WAV files at 48 kHz together with the workshop, drawing and recipes.

PLAY WITH TWO HANDS
Hold one joint while another finger plucks the shape. Damp removes energy where that joint moves. Pin constrains the held joint and changes its resonances. Release it to hear the original structure again.

LEARN BY LISTENING
Predict what lighter joints will do, hear the natural resonance change, then try an unfamiliar drawing. Isolate one vibration mode or listen to local damping. Save your prediction, measured result and both sounds. Reopen the exact comparison even after changing your current drawing. These experiments use the same physical model as your instrument.

BRING YOUR DRAWINGS INTO A MUSIC APP
The included AUv3 instrument responds to MIDI notes, velocity and sustain in compatible hosts. Open an exported drawing or workshop in the plug-in. Its drawing is saved with the host project.

KEEP YOUR WORK
Save instruments, recordings and workshop versions locally.