Crossings
Drag to place voice swaps. Shift-drag flips over/under, so the same moment can resolve differently.
A sister instrument to Ephemera
Strands that weave a piece.
σ₁ σ₂⁻¹ σ₃ … → counterpoint
Draw a crossing and two voices trade places. String the crossings into a word, and the word becomes the piece - counterpoint you compose by hand.
Live strand canvasCrossings swap voicesReed voice tint
A braid word as a score.
crossing → voice swap
Braids is a browser instrument built from four strands. Draw a crossing and two voices trade places. Draw a sequence of crossings and the braid word becomes the piece.
The canvas isn't a picture of counterpoint - it is the counterpoint: over/under gestures, section changes, closure cadences, glide modes, rhythms, and voice swaps all happen on the same woven surface.
Nothing hides in a menu. The line you draw is the line you hear.
The braid board
A braid word, drawn.
Read it left to right like a score. Four strands, each a voice; every crossing swaps two of them. Over or under decides the sign - and the whole sequence is the word.
σ₁ σ₂⁻¹ σ₃ σ₂ σ₁⁻¹
Braid grammar
The gesture is the notation.
Draw the crossings, and the instrument turns those swaps into counterpoint. Here's the vocabulary.
Braid Word
Every crossing writes the word. The permutation readout tells you when the form closes and how many passes remain.
Sections
Build A/B/C/D movements, switch the active section, and play through phrases with visible structure.
Dimensional
Send a weave outward into the 3D counterpoint instrument when the braid wants space and bodies.
Sound engine
Nine voices can trade one line.
Nine physical voices, ready to hand the line back and forth - the braid stays musical long before it looks like math.
Voices
Nine archetypes
Pluck, Reed, Bell, Bowed, Breath, Glass, Marimba, Electric Piano, and Pad voices give each strand a different physical behavior.
Recipes
Six starters
Ragtime, Three Phases, Drift, Pulse, Cascade, and Lattice load complete phrase states.
Expression
MIDI + MPE
MIDI input and MPE mappings let outside performance pressure enter the braid.
Automation
Loop gestures
Per-loop gain and cutoff motion can make engaged sections breathe without rewriting the crossings.
How it works
Voice, crossing, closure.
Three moves, and the weave is already playing.
Choose the voicing
Start with a recipe or set the four strand voices yourself: pluck, reed, bell, bowed, breath, glass, marimba, electric piano, or pad.
Draw crossings
Each crossing swaps neighboring voices. Over/under direction changes the braid word and the musical resolution.
Listen for closure
When the permutation returns to identity, Braids can fire a cadence: the geometry has finished a phrase.
Recipes
Pick a word, then make it yours.
Four starting braids, from a clean canon to a dense lattice. Open one in the full instrument to hear it and make it yours.
Canon
An ascending shift - σ₁ σ₂ σ₃ walks the line up through every voice in turn.
Mirror
A move and its undo - σ₁ σ₂⁻¹ σ₂ σ₁⁻¹ resolves straight back to the identity.
Pulse
One pivot, repeated - σ₂ three times rocks the two inner voices back and forth.
Lattice
A dense weave - every pair crosses, so all four voices keep trading the line.
Ephemera family
Weave here. Lift into space there.
Braids is the counterpoint surface. The Dimensional route lets the same braid logic become a vertical 3D weave with spatial placement and cosmic scene controls.
The full instrument
It all runs in the browser.
No install, no account, no waiting. The full braid editor, nine voices, recipes, MIDI, MPE expression, automation, and library all open on the page. Learn the idea here, then write the real thing.
4strands
9voices
MPEexpression
“A melody is a line that remembers where it has been. Braids lets you draw that memory as a knot - then hear it come undone.”
The Braids idea
Try it first, own it later
One weave, three doors.
The same instrument works wherever you want: free on the web, native on your desktop, or in 3D inside Dimensional.
Free Web
$0
The whole instrument, in a tab.
- Full braid editor + nine voices
- Recipes & library saves
- MIDI input
- Share a weave by link
DesktopPopular
$19.99
Offline, louder, and exportable.
- Everything in Free Web
- Offline app (macOS + Windows)
- VST3 hosting in your DAW
- Audio & stem export
Ephemera Bundle
Included
Braids with the whole family.
- Braids, Poles & Murmur
- Resonance, Timbre & Dimensional
- One library across instruments
- Every future update
FAQ
Questions, answered.
The math, the weave, the sound, and how Braids ships.
No. Drag a crossing, tap to flip it, and listen. The line re-routes and the phrase changes. The math is just a precise name for what you already hear: which voices trade places, and when the pattern closes.
Write the word. Hear the weave.
Free in your browser, no account. Draw a few crossings, hear the voices trade places, and weave a word. Then lift it into Dimensional when it wants space.