Node.Audio have reduced the price of Tonestack for a limited time, now only $59.00, (usually $79.00). Tonestack is also coming to iPadOS with a UI design change and more. AUv3 testing has just began, there’s no released date or pricing information. You can join the public beta – click the button below.
Tonestack is a MIDI effect plugin for generating hypnotic loops, addictive melodies, basslines and multi-part textures, Tonebank provides an environment for creating harmonically cohesive groove music, but ensures that what you create is unique to you.
Tonebank creates live MIDI output using rules derived from traditional African music, and was developed in collaboration with a professor from the Royal Academy of Music. Tonebank brings the strength and cohesion of music from deep traditions to the modern producer’s toolkit. Tonebank works in a way that may be new to you, but brings fundamental logic to support your creativity, generating ideas from your input that will kickstart your inspiration.
You choose the loop length, rhythm, harmonic system, swing and even micro tuning; Tonebank provides the environment (grid) for you to manipulate your own rhythmic and harmonic sequence. Within this environment, Tonebank generates melodies and accompaniments for you, with features you can automate or modify in real time to shape the characters of your music.
Tonebank’s grid governs two tabs: The Accompaniment tab is for basslines, harmonic arpeggiation and textures. The controls access density, rates of development, range, accentuation and rhythmic tension. You can mute areas and freeze ideas if you hear one you love. The Melody tab outputs topline ideas. Tonebank speaks to you but you control phrase length and space, density, rate of development, range, even start and end points of melodic phrases. Again you can freeze ideas when you love them, even direct in real time when you want Tonebank to play a melodic phrase.
Record Tonebank’s MIDI output to edit in your project. Multiple Tonebank plugins in the same project will inherit a shared grid to work as a group, guaranteeing cohesion even if you know no music theory.
Tonebank is a generative system that teaches you how African musicians create infinite variations from simple structures. Think of it like jazz theory – once you understand the framework, you can improvise endlessly. Tonebank generates melodies automatically from rhythmically patterned harmonic sequences. As you manipulate the character of Tonebank’s outputs, you can create basslines, inner parts, textures and solos from the same unifying structure.
Your tracks come alive when instruments talk to each other, not just layer on top. Tonebank has built-in conversation modes – from tight question-andanswer exchanges to loose, breathing dialogues. Each element in your mix gets a role: who leads, who responds, who keeps time, who adds commentary. This isn’t an effect or a preset – it’s how the whole system thinks about music. The result? Grooves that feel alive, not mechanical.
Whether you make techno, jazz, trap, or experimental music, Tonebank adapts to your harmonic language and aesthetic. These aren’t genre-specific patterns – they’re organizational principles that work in any style. Like learning a new language’s grammar rather than memorizing phrases, you’re gaining fluency in musical structures that let you express your own ideas.
Most DAWs assume you want 12-tone equal temperament, straight or triplet swing, and repeating four-bar loops. Anything else takes extra work. Tonebank makes different ideas just as accessible. The rhythmic cycle (clave) becomes your framework, a unifying template that creates structural strength and groovy coherence. Melodies automatically align to its structure. Instruments know their roles – who leads, who responds, who keeps time – creating musical conversations without complex routing. Swing patterns beyond simple triplets and tunings outside 12-TET are right there in the interface. You’re not replacing your workflow – you’re opening up new creative pathways within it.
Watch the desktop demo video HERE.
Tonestack is currently available to PC and Mac users (VST3 and AU). The iPadOS version with include AUv3 support.
For more information Tonestack and to join the public beta, click here:
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