frond grid
Generative instrument
COLONY
Draw living cells. Every generation that grows plays music.
Colony is a board of 32 by 24 cells that grows a new generation on every step of your tempo, by one of eight rules (the Game of Life and seven relatives). Every cell that is born plays a note: its row is the pitch, its column the place in the stereo field and the brightness. Every living row holds a soft tone, louder the fuller it is, and every cell that dies leaves a short grain of dust. Click the board and what you plant sounds at once, then grows, travels and breaks apart by the rule. Nothing is a loop or a sample: what you see is what you hear.
On saleDemo video coming soon.
What it does
The parts that make COLONY different, in plain words.
What you see is what you hear
Rows are notes of the scale you choose, so every pattern stays in key. A heard birth draws a ring, a sounding row lights its bar, a dying cell leaves a speck.
Eight rules, numbered
LIFE, HIGHLIFE, MORLEY, DAY+NIGHT, BRAIN, STAR, CORAL and SEEDS. Switch while it plays: the same cells start to move, blink, spread or spark differently.
Draw, stamp, place stones
Draw cells with your mouse, drop gliders, ships and seeds that explode into long growth, and place stones that never change, so life gathers around them.
Parts that walk the board
Place runners, sowers, clocks, mirrors, stairs and bells. They move on the tempo grid: a runner plays the cells it meets, a stair lifts its melody one scale step each lap, a bell rings when life is born beside it.
Chaos you can read
Choose an equation (logistic, Lorenz, Henon, Brownian, Gauss or Cauchy) and its amount. The formula and its trajectory are on screen, and they move births, pitch (always inside the scale), rests and the walkers.
It plays on its own
An invisible finger draws for you, twelve modulators move tone, decay, spread and more, and when the colony stalls, new life arrives on the next bar.
Four looks, one sound
A notebook that keeps the colony's history in ink and coloured pencil, clean white paper, a glowing culture dish, or cross-stitch. 72 presets, all at the same loudness, and a level keeper so a crowded or empty board never jumps out or disappears.
How it works
- You bring
Draw a few cells
- It does
They are born, live and die by the rule
- You get
A piece that keeps growing, in key and in time
Screens
Click a screen to see it full size.
Details
- Price
- Launch price $35 (until November 12, 2026 (JST), then $39)
- Release date
- October 29, 2026
- Systems
- macOS 12+ (Apple silicon, Intel) · Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit): VST3 and standalone app
One purchase covers both Mac and Windows. - Formats
- Audio Unit · VST3 · standalone app
- Status
- On sale
Questions
Does it stay in key?
Yes. Every row is a note of the KEY and SCALE you choose (nine scales), or of the chord you hold on your MIDI keyboard.
Does it follow my DAW?
Yes. It follows the DAW's tempo, and while the DAW plays, each generation falls on its grid. In the app it has its own tempo.
Can I play it with MIDI?
Notes drop small shapes on the row of their pitch, or (SET CHORD) choose the notes the rows play. HOLD keeps the chord until you turn it off.
Which formats does it come in?
macOS 12 or later (Apple silicon and Intel): the Colony app, Audio Unit and VST3. Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit): the Colony app and VST3. One purchase covers both.
CUT
MOSAIC
SPRIG
WEFT
BUBBLE STUDIO
ODD PARTS
SIX MATERIALS
FIELD
RELAY