RapidComposer is a rapid music prototyping software designed for composers, song-writers and musicians of all musical styles.

DAWs are great for mixing and mastering but they are not intended for music composition. RapidComposer is a dedicated application for creative music composers with non-destructive editing and features that you won't find even in the best DAW applications. Not because RapidComposer is better than a DAW; it is a different tool for a different purpose.

Features:

• Unique non-destructive, parametric phrase-based music composition.
• Advanced tools for phrase editing, phrase generation, phrase grouping, motif development, chord progression editing.
• 2D view of the composition with structure editor as opposed to 1D view of DAW applications.
• Intuitive drag and drop environment (you can drop chords, progressions, phrases, instruments to the composition).
• Master track with chords.
• Movable, resizable and transposable smart phrases that always conform to the current chord.
• Phrase and rhythm generators help you to create thousands of musically useful (not random) phrases.
• Extensive scale, chord, guitar chord, chord progression databases.
• Taggable instrument database of all MIDI, VSTi and SF2 presets in one place.
• Variations can be applied to phrases, or whole tracks.
• IdeaTool that generates a multitrack composition based on the parameters and rules that you specify.
• Unlimited undo and the ability to make several versions of the same composition.
• Virtual instruments (VSTi v2.4 plug-ins) support.
• SoundFont (.SF2) support.

New in v1.91

• Fixed a bug in demo mode when history files were sometimes written to the root directory
• 'Align To Beats' and 'Detect And Adjust Interval' work again in the phrase editor
• Underlying chord notes can be edited only by holding down Ctrl-Shift to avoid accidental dragging during editing
• Activation through the internet was removed, simple keycode is used for software protection
• Documentation updated

New in v1.80

• New VST version with 128-channel MIDI output
• The standalone version received some minor features and bug fixes

New in v1.75

• The mouse wheel can now be used to set values
• ASIO handling was reworked from scratch. The old ASIO handler will be taken out in the next update.
• Select a grid setting during editing
• You can now move the Chord palette and Help windows.
• The phrase editor now has two new display options.
• Undo/redo now works correctly in the phrase editor
• Bug fix: fixed history handling where in it caused deletion of the composition file and crashing
• Bug fix: dropping chord progressions on a chord segment will no longer crash the application
• Drag and Drop a MIDI file to load it and open the MIDI Import panel.
• Set up tracks with a GM soundfont when importing MIDI files.
• Other minor bug fixes

New in v1.7

• Draw lines on the piano roll to create glissando or chord strumming.
• Other usage is up to your creativity... Notes are inserted and aligned smartly with several snap and filtering options. Hold down 'Ctrl' and drag the mouse pointer. Check the generator properties for more options like transposing every second note to get an interesting pattern.
• More than a dozen new chord progressions added, most of them were used in big hits
• The chord progression browser displays progressions sorted by their complexity by default
• The harmonization menu also offers simpler chords that do not contain all the notes in the section to be harmonized
• Some new sample phrases added that can be used with any chords

New in v1.6

• New chord selector and chord palette with many options
• Progression editor was rewritten to provide more functionality e.g. chord suggestions, various coloring and preview options
• New soundfonts (pad and bass) included for chord preview
• New variation: Velocity Generator to set velocity values of a phrase/track by a function and its automatable parameters
• New variation: MIDI Echo with swing option
• Smart displaying of overlapped notes in two styles
• Harmonization improvements: manual selection of chords to complement automatic harmonization decisions
• Chord database cleaned up; dozens of new chords added; naming convention became 7b5#9 instead of 7-5+9
• phrase notes are displayed in shades of grey depending on velocity
• New keyboard shortcuts: TAB (toggle phrase/note editing), '1', '2' (hide/show the left and middle panels
• Beats counted from 1 instead of 0
• Transposition is taken into account when glueing phrases
• Bug fix: in some cases exported midi file had inaccurate timing
• Bug fix: interval detection did not work properly
• Bug fix: beat alignment was rewritten
• Bug fix: several issues with Undo fixed
• Bug fix: structure tab rendering fixed when velocity envelope was displayed in note editing mode
• Bug fix: file selectors did not become the foreground window

New in v1.5

• Chord notes are displayed in the piano roll and can be edited (drag to move, Right Ctrl+doubleclick to create/remove)
• It is possible to save the internal state of a VSTi plug-in as an instrument even if the plug-in does not expose any presets
• Percussion note can be specified for percussion tracks
• Piano roll view options can be set per track with new ways of coloring and shading notes
• The composite track has its own view settings
• Articulation names can be displayed above notes and phrases
• Draw freehand parameter envelopes by holding down Ctrl
• New 'Help!' button displays detailed editing help
• Stop button serves as Panic! button when pressed with the right mouse button and mutes all audio
• Swing division can be specified
• Demo period starts for each update, crash fixed when expired
• Bug fix: audio phrases did not play if the beginning of the audio was before the project start
• Bug fix: host transport state is correctly reported to VSTi plug-ins

New in v1.4

• New rhythm generator: Subdivision (great for percussion).
• Customizable user interface (colors, button shapes, shading...) with preset themes.
• Tempo can be overridden by any structural unit.
• Fractional tempo allowed.
• Tap Tempo.
• Loop and range playback and recording improved.
• Playback/recording tempo can be quarter/half/normal/twice/four times.
• VSTi handling was rewritten, no plug-in crashes anymore.
• ASIO driver settings (sample rate, latency) are not overridden by default.
• ASIO configuration window can be opened.
• 'Snap cursor to the nearest beat when the playback stops' option in preferences.
• Dozens of other small improvements and fixes.

New in v1.3

• Improved editing in composite tracks; it is possible to change the instrument of the selected notes/phrases with just one click
• Sophisticated MIDI CC editing and recording
• Articulation can be specified for phrases or individual notes
• Phrase and note preview during editing with options
• Multiple instances of the same VSTi plug-in can be loaded
• Optionally hiding the left and middle panes to maximize workspace
• Hiding tracks manually or with AutoHide options
• Smarter naming of tracks when using {preset}
• 'Add To Composition' option at MIDI Import
• Bug fix: muting a track during playback did not send note off
• Bug fix: VSTi internal state is stored when chord/scale/rhythm preview was VSTi
• Bug fix: VSTi plug-ins exporting no presets did not appear in the instrument list
• Bug fix: 'Invalid Composition File' message when reverting to an earlier state in the history
• Bug fix: VSTi plug-ins that require audio input do not crash anymore
• Bug fix: black screen when maximizing the window and maximizing on dual monitors fixed
• Many other small improvements and fixes
• Documentation updated