Emotion-to-Music Translation Engine · VST3 / AU / AAX
MORPHAXIS is a first-of-its-kind audio plugin that lets producers compose emotional arcs instead of parameter curves. Draw how you want your track to feel over time — tense, euphoric, grief-laden, releasing — and MORPHAXIS translates that arc into a coordinated modulation cascade across your entire Ableton Live session.
No other plugin on the market maps psychoacoustic emotion models directly to DAW automation.
- Emotional Arc Editor — Draw a tension/release curve across 4–32 bars; the engine drives all downstream parameters simultaneously
- 6-Axis Emotion Model — Tension, Release, Joy, Dread, Euphoria, Grief — derived from psychoacoustic and music psychology research
- Live Modulation Matrix — Route any emotion axis to any Ableton parameter: filters, sends, LFO rates, macro knobs, velocity, pitch bend
- 2D Valence/Arousal XY Pad — Based on the Russell Circumplex Model; performs live or follows the arc automatically
- AI-Compose Mode — Generates musically coherent emotional arcs using learned grammar from thousands of tracks
- Ableton Link Sync — Beat-accurate sync across networked devices, <3ms latency
- MIDI-Map Mode — Control any emotion axis from external controllers or MIDI clips
- 5 Built-in Presets — Cinematic Build, Club Euphoria, Dark Ambient, Hero Moment, Bittersweet End
- 4 Morph Macro Knobs — Global Tension / Release / Density / Spread for live performance
| Component | Minimum |
|---|---|
| macOS | 10.15 Catalina or later |
| Windows | Windows 10 64-bit |
| Ableton Live | 10.1 or later |
| RAM | 4 GB (8 GB recommended) |
| CPU | Intel i5 / Apple M1 or equivalent |
| Plugin format | VST3, AU (macOS only), AAX (Pro Tools) |
# Download the installer from Releases
# Then run:
open MORPHAXIS-1.0.0-macOS.pkgThe installer places components at:
- AU:
~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/MORPHAXIS.component - VST3:
~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/MORPHAXIS.vst3
Run MORPHAXIS-1.0.0-Windows-x64.exe
Default install location: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\MORPHAXIS.vst3
See BUILDING.md for full build instructions using JUCE 7.
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/morphaxis.git
cd morphaxis
./scripts/configure.sh # macOS/Linux
# or
scripts\configure.bat # Windows- Open Ableton Live and scan for new plugins
- Drag MORPHAXIS onto any MIDI or Audio track
- In the Emotional Arc Editor, draw your desired emotional curve over time
- Open the Modulation Matrix and route emotion axes to Ableton parameters via Max for Live
- Press Play — MORPHAXIS drives your parameters in sync with the arc
For a full walkthrough, see the Getting Started Guide.
MORPHAXIS
├── Emotion Engine # 6-axis psychoacoustic model
│ ├── Arc Interpreter # Spline → per-frame emotion values
│ ├── Blend State # Harmonic tension, velocity avg, spectral brightness
│ └── Smoothing Filter # Configurable lag (0–200ms), Lin/Exp/Log curves
├── Modulation Matrix # N×M routing, additive + multiplicative modes
├── XY Pad Controller # Valence/Arousal → emotion axes (Russell model)
├── AI Compose Engine # LSTM-based arc generation
├── Ableton Link Client # Beat-accurate network sync
└── Plugin UI # WebGL-accelerated, 60fps canvas renderer
See ARCHITECTURE.md for deep technical documentation.
Each route connects an emotion axis (source) to any automatable parameter (destination):
| Source | Example Destinations | Modes |
|---|---|---|
| Tension Axis | Filter Cutoff, Distortion Drive, Compressor Threshold | ×, + |
| Joy Axis | Reverb Send, Chorus Depth, Brightness EQ | ×, + |
| Dread Axis | LFO Rate, Sub Oscillator Level, Stereo Width | ×, + |
| Release Axis | Macro 1 (Bloom), Attack Time, Room Size | ×, + |
| Euphoria Axis | Drum Velocity, High-frequency saturation | ×, + |
| Grief Axis | Delay Feedback, Vibrato Depth, Dynamics | ×, + |
| Preset | Emotional Journey | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Cinematic Build | Low dread → tension spike → euphoric release | Film scores, trailers |
| Club Euphoria | Joy plateau with energy surges | Dance, EDM |
| Dark Ambient | Sustained grief, slow dread pulses | Horror, tension underscore |
| Hero Moment | Tension climb → joy explosion | Sports, ads, game music |
| Bittersweet End | Grief + slow release resolution | Drama, endings |
- v1.1 — Live audio analysis input (drive arcs from audio features)
- v1.2 — Ableton Push 3 hardware integration
- v1.3 — Collaborative arc sharing via cloud
- v2.0 — Multi-track arc layers (per-instrument emotion)
- v2.1 — Max for Live deep integration pack (10 devices)
See ROADMAP.md for full detail.
Contributions are warmly welcomed. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.
- Bug reports → GitHub Issues using the Bug Report template
- Feature requests → GitHub Issues using the Feature Request template
- Questions → GitHub Discussions
MORPHAXIS is released under the MIT License.
The psychoacoustic emotion model is based on published research by Thayer (1989) and Russell (1980). See CREDITS.md for full attribution.
Built with JUCE · Emotion model inspired by the Russell Circumplex Model of Affect · Arc AI trained on the MER dataset
Made with obsessive attention to feel · © 2025 MORPHAXIS