Expression & Automation is core
Editable points, curves, freehand pitch gestures, dynamics, pan, vibrato, portamento, and per-note performance controls ship as part of the base editor.
A new musical composition paradigm
Compose the relationships between notes.
A note can belong to another note by a 3:2, 5:4, 7:4, or any ratio you draw. Change the root or rewrite the harmony and the relationships resolve with the piece. This is composition with a living harmonic graph, not cent adjustment after the notes are written.
Included in the editor
MIDI stays MIDI.
Record or draw notes, arrange them in clips, switch between piano-roll and score views, and edit pitch, dynamics, pan, vibrato, and portamento per note. Add-ons work on the same notes instead of flattening them into a new format.
- Piano roll + score
- Clip arrangement
- Per-note expression & automation
- Pitch curves, dynamics, pan, vibrato, and portamento
- MIDI import and export
Harmonic Composition
Compose by authoring the relationships that make notes belong together.
JI Tuning
Compose the reason every note belongs.
Draw exact relationships between notes, make chords carry their own harmonic logic, and let progressions resolve from moving roots. The pitches follow the composition, not the other way around.
Inside the workflow
The harmonic graph is the composition
A master note can anchor an entire web of voices. Move it, replace a ratio, or change which note another note follows. The sounding pitches resolve from the relationships you authored.
- AnchorA4 · 440 Hz
- Exact links3:2 · 5:4 · 7:4
- Session outputMTS-ESP · MIDI · DAWproject
Relationships stay authored
The graph stores why each linked note belongs in the harmony, not only the frequency it happened to receive.
No fixed pitch grid required
Compose freely with relationships, or bring in JI, EDO, and Scala structures when the piece calls for them.
Tuning follows the arrangement
Root Path Tune and linked masters can retune a progression while its structure remains editable.
Composer Tools
Shape notes, gestures, chords, and rhythm directly in the piano roll.
Chord Tools
Build chords that understand their own tuning.
Detect voicings, explore harmonic suggestions, and create exact-ratio links from the chord structures you choose.
Included with DonutStudio Free
Inside the workflow
Start with a fragment and grow a tuned chord
Select a root or partial voicing, browse compatible structures, then place a complete chord whose voices keep exact harmonic links.
- FragmentRoot + selected voices
- SuggestTriads · sevenths · altered color
- PlaceVoicing + exact JI links
Suggestions contain your selection
The system expands the harmony you started and preserves its root relationship.
Voicing stays controllable
Choose inversions and richer templates while preserving the intended root relationship.
Harmony is structural
Created voices arrive tuned and linked, ready for later graph edits.
Advanced Transforms & Groove
Turn a selection into a performance.
Keep every note editable as you add groove, strum, arpeggiation, voicing movement, and repeatable logical transformations.
Inside the workflow
One phrase, a more human performance
Preview groove, strum, arpeggiation, and voicing movement on selected notes, then keep editing the transformed result.
- BeforeQuantized chord phrase
- ShapeGroove · strum · arpeggio
- AfterEditable performed notes
Per-chord control
Different chord groups can receive different voicing, strum, and arpeggio values in one pass.
Logical transforms
Preview typed selection rules and actions before applying them destructively.
Rhythm survives
Humanization can preserve the phrase identity while loosening timing, velocity, and length.
AI
Local models join the composition process while every phrase stays on your machine.
Symbolic AI
Continue the idea under your direction.
Ask a local symbolic model to extend a phrase, then bring the generated notes back through DonutStudio's harmonic tuning system.
Inside the workflow
The model continues the MIDI phrase
Start from unfinished MIDI, generate a compatible continuation, then run the new notes through the same harmonic tuning and editing tools as your own material.
- PromptSelected unfinished phrase
- ContinueLocal symbolic model
- Re-authorEditable notes + JI tune pass
Symbolic output
The result is note data you can move, delete, reharmonize, and perform.
Local model setup
The optional environment and model install on the machine and run locally.
Tuning remains DonutStudio's job
Generated notes return through the harmonic graph for project-aware tuning.