Listen to an MP3 of Critters excerpts that were recorded during the develoment of Critters 1.5. They were done quickly, but show what Critters can do with a limited amount of time and sonic resources. They were executed on a 400MHz G3 with 192 MB RAM. On such a slow machine you can usually use a soft-synth on only one track per song. For that track several different synths were used, including Absynth, Zoyd, and Crystal. The rest of the tracks were routed via a USB MIDI interface to my ancient hardware synths and drum-machine. No ProTooling or other editing was done to the songs.

If you've done a song you really like with Critters send it to us. Our bandwidth is limited, so we may not be able to use all of them. The compositions don't have to be exclusively Critters material. Use any tools you like to edit or modify the Critters MIDI tracks. Let us know a bit about what you did and what equipment you used.

If you're only using the DLS synth you're missing out on half the fun. Use MidiPipe (freeware) with Rax(demo), or Bidule (demo) to use your AUs. See the Critters documentation for details. The next version of Critters will eliminate the need for any external software to access your Audio Units. If you don't have any Au FX or synths there are several decent ones for free including Zoyd, Crystal , and More Feedback Machine. There is a table of all available AUs at OSXAudio.

Our goal at grain-brain is to provide a versatile, easy-to-use tool that anyone can use to compose original music. No musical ability required. Listen to a batch of critters, rate them and create a new generation based on your preferences. Breed them repeatedly, 'steering' your critters towards your desired destination. Or, start over with a fresh litter of random critters. Critters is not a loop-based composer. There are an infinite number of potential compositions (Well actually only 2 to the 10,000th). Create endless subtle (or not) mutations of your favorite critters. If you know what you like you can compose.

Can they live on my iPod? Yes, they can. Name your critters, record them, and export them (via iTunes) to your iPod or other MP3 player. Or, burn them to CD. Create soundtracks for your iMovie or iPicture slide show. Compose your own party, chill-out, road-trip, or meditation mix.

Critters uses a synthesis of traditional, and experimental music theory along with some of grain-brains' own musical strategies. Critters also utilizes genetic algorithms, chaos theory, fractals, and noise generators (white, pink and brown) to generate its compositions.

No additional equipment required besides your Mac and a male stereo mini to male stereo mini if you want to record. Or, you can use WireTap (free) to record them. If you want to dissect your critters, you can export them to your favorite sequencer. If you have a USB MIDI cable, Critters1.5 can use your hardware or software synthesizers and AUs (see your documentation).

Critters will see your AUs and soft synths without a USB interface. Wild Things will include a virtual mixer and FX unit as well as more scales and drum templates. The control panel will be greatly expanded giving users control over melodic contour, voice-leading, chord progressions, rhythm, density, mood, syncopation, and midi FX.