STRUMist

STRUMist (VST3, CLAP, AUv2)

STRUMist is a MIDI effect that turns held chords into strummed, rolled, and re-ordered note bursts for synths, samplers, pianos, and any instrument that responds to MIDI.

STRUMist is built around the core strum engine that grew out of CHORDimist, a tool loved by many users from its Max for Live days through the VST3 line. For a long time, people kept asking for that strum behavior on its own. After a long stretch of work, that engine has finally been brought out as its own plugin, focused on fast chord rolls, performance gestures, and arrangement detail.

Instead of drawing every note of a chord roll by hand, you hold a chord and STRUMist spreads it across time. Strum delay sets the spacing between attacks, direction chooses how notes are ordered, stack adds octave layers above the held notes, and curve plus shape shape whether the roll accelerates, decelerates, bounces, or moves in stepped bursts. Human and velocity random add looseness without losing control.

Eight direction modes cover straight up/down strums, random cascades, root-first behavior, and split low/high ordering. Classic adds sliding-window movement for repeated figures, and Round Trip can send the sequence back through itself for rolls and ornamental repeats. The interface shows the outgoing pattern on a live sequence panel and piano display, so you can see which notes are held, stacked, and currently sounding. Use the random button in the upper-right corner to quickly explore new strum combinations.

Use it for guitar-like chord rolls, harp sweeps, orchestral stacks, humanized pads, rhythmic chord figures, and fast performance gestures that would be tedious to sequence note by note.

Beta Offer:

A limited beta-period discount is currently available.

Highlights:

- Standalone release of the CHORDimist strum engine, long requested by users

- Chord-to-strum performance for held-note rolls and rhythmic chord figures

- Strum delay from 5 ms to 500 ms with 8 direction modes

- Octave stack, humanization, target velocity, and velocity random controls

- Curve and 16 shape curves for accelerating, decelerating, elastic, and stepped rolls

- Classic sliding-window movement and Round Trip for ornamental repeats

- 20 preset states plus upper-right random button for fast experimentation

- Live sequence and piano display showing held notes, stacks, and active playback

Formats:

VST3 / CLAP / AUv2

Compatibility:

macOS 14 or later

Windows 11 or later

For problems, questions, or feature requests:

leestrument@gmail.com