What is a Rhythm Necklace?

A rhythm is a repeating pattern of musical events in time. Western notations indicates these events with notes of different duration, placed on a line. Another way to represent rhythm is to position those events on a circle, with the distance between the events corresponding to the space between those events in time. This representation is called Rhythm Necklace notation, because the pattern of note events resembles beads on a necklace. This notation makes it easy to see rhythmic properties like symmetry and spacing, and it’s especially helpful for seeing where one rhythm is simply a rotation or a reflection of another.


What are Deep and Even rhythms, and why are they important?

Even and Deep are terms used to describe rhythms with certain properties. Even rhythms have note events distributed as widely as possible around the cycle that contains them, and rhythms with a certain distribution in the interval of time between notes are called Deep rhythms. It turns out that rhythms exhibiting the properties of Deepness and Evenness are well represented in musical cultures throughout history and across the globe. For more information, we highly recommend the work of Godfried Toussaint, who has written extensively on how to generate rhythms with these properties and on the cultures that make use of them.


Is there a basic guide to all of the features of the app?

Yes! You can download it here.


Who do I contact with questions?

Please write support[at]rhythmnecklace.com, and someone will get back to you promptly. A media kit is available here.


Can I have Rhythm Necklace for Android?

Currently, Rhythm Necklace is only available for iPhone devices running iOS 8 or later. We’d love to support more devices, and time allowing one day we will.


Can I use my own custom samples in Rhythm Necklace?

As of now, there is no way to use custom samples in Rhythm Necklace, though we do hope to support this feature soon. It is possible, however, to send MIDI from Rhythm Necklace to an external device, where you can do your own sound synthesis.


What can I do with my sessions once I’ve saved them?

The Export to MIDI feature lets you email saved sessions as MIDI file attachments. These MIDI files can be dropped directly into most DAW’s.


How do I use Rhythm Necklace as a MIDI sequencer?

Tap the gear in the top right to open the configuration menu, then enable MIDI output. Rhythm Necklace will stop generating audio and to start sending MIDI. It’s possible to use MIDI over WiFi by creating a network session on your desktop and then connecting to your iPhone, but we find that wired MIDI provides the best experience. iConnectMIDI and iRig 2 are both great options for getting MIDI from your iOS device.


Can I send audio to other iOS applications using Audiobus?

Not yet, but in a future update.


How do I use Rhythm Necklace as a MIDI clock source?

Open the configuration menu by tapping the gear in the top right. Scroll down and tap on “Send MIDI Clock Data” to enable MIDI clock output. Back in the main screen, you should see a little clock appear next to the play/pause button. In this configuration, Rhythm Necklace will send MIDI start, stop and clock packets to connected devices. External sequencers that are configured to listen for an external MIDI clock will start and stop at the same time as Rhythm Necklace, and will match its tempo as well.


Can I synchronize Rhythm Necklace to an external MIDI clock?

Yes, just open the configuration menu and tap on “Sync to External Clock”. Back in the main screen, the play/pause button should be replaced with a MIDI clock. Tapping this icon will no longer start and stop the internal timer. Instead, Rhythm Necklace will start and stop in time with an external device that sends MIDI clock data.


How can I make each necklace play a different instrument?

We’re taking a little more time to make this feature really enjoyable, so for right now instrument settings affect all necklaces simultaneously. Look for individual instrumentation in an upcoming release.