MORSE SONIFIER

Turn language into rhythm, synthesis and percussion.

Morse Sonifier is an experimental software instrument from Literal Sounds Labs that transforms written text or direct Morse code into playable musical sequences. Type a word, phrase, number or Morse pattern, press Play, and the instrument converts dots, dashes and word divisions into a structured stream of sound.

Instead of treating Morse code as a simple on/off tone, Morse Sonifier gives each symbol its own musical role. Dots, dashes and slashes can be routed independently to three synthesizer voices and dedicated kick, snare and hi-hat engines. A single message can become a melody, layered rhythm, evolving texture or complete electro-acoustic pattern.

Three independent synth engines

Each oscillator can respond to any combination of dots, dashes and slashes. Every voice includes:

• Sine, triangle, sawtooth and square waveforms

• Frequency, volume and pulse-width control

• Low-pass, band-pass, high-pass and notch filters

• Independent amplifier ADSR envelope

• Independent filter ADSR envelope and envelope depth

• Reverb with wet and decay controls

• Delay with wet level, feedback and time controls

Deep modulation

Each synth engine includes three independent LFOs, giving you nine LFOs across the instrument. LFOs can modulate oscillator frequency, filter frequency, pulse width, envelope stages, reverb parameters and delay parameters.

Choose from sine, triangle, saw, square and sample-and-hold modulation, with rate, depth, retrigger, tempo sync and sample-and-hold glide controls. Frequency modulation can also be quantized to a wide selection of musical scales, turning Morse patterns into evolving tonal sequences.

Built-in Morse drum machine

The dedicated kick, snare and hi-hat engines can each be assigned independently to dots, dashes or slashes.

Shape the kick with tune, attack, decay, pitch depth, click and drive. Sculpt the snare with tune, tone, snappiness, decay and drive. Control the hi-hat with attack, decay, high-pass filtering and resonance. Each drum also includes its own reverb controls.

Performance and timing

• Enter ordinary text or direct Morse code

• Adjustable tempo from 20 to 900 BPM

• Host tempo synchronization

• 2x, 3x and 4x host-sync multipliers

• Loop mode

• Separate synth and drum mute controls

• Master output level

• Resizable interface

• Standalone recording to 24-bit WAV in the standalone application

Morse Sonifier is designed for experimental composition, electronic music, sound design, coded rhythms, generative textures and anyone interested in discovering the musical structures hidden inside language.

Created by Michel Figueiredo.

Published by Literal Sounds Labs.