If the modern DAW has conditioned us to think in neat four-bar loops, Polyfold would like a word. Manifest Audio’s latest Max for Live device doesn’t just extend the concept of a step sequencer: it expands it into new creative realms.

In releasing Polyfold, a new Max for Live MIDI sequencer for Ableton Live, Manifest Audio have taken an ambitious view of what a sequencer can be. Framed as a “multidimensional sequencing system,” it steps away from the familiar comfort of 16-step grids and tidy four-bar loops, proposing something closer to an architectural framework for rhythm, melody, and harmony.

At the centre of the device is a dual stage rate architecture built around a shared base rate. Rather than assigning each lane a simple clock division and calling it a day, Polyfold routes timing through two independent sequencers labelled Multiply and Divide. Each runs at its own length and combines each step to reshape the underlying rate before it reaches the rest of the system. In practice, this allows for local accelerations, contractions, and asymmetries that still feel rhythmically grounded. It’s complex, but not chaotic: the math is exposed, not hidden.

Beyond those two, Polyfold offers 14 additional sequencer lanes, each supporting up to 1024 steps (though they can be as short as two steps each). Loop length, direction, and reset behaviour can be applied per lane, so you can build tight interlocking polymeters, letting individual parts run for long stretches before they coincide again — or enforce more conventional phrasing with the bar reset interval. Global controls make it possible to impose shared step counts or resets across unlocked lanes, while per-parameter play direction adds further dynamics.

« 1024 steps per lane » is of course the headline figure that prompts a double take. In a landscape dominated by short loops and incremental automation, it may appear indulgent. But Polyfold’s expansive scale makes more sense in context: you don’t have to run every lane to the horizon. One transposition or modulation lane might stretch towards 1000 steps, unfolding over minutes, while a pitch lane cycles briskly through 16 steps or less. The friction between those lengths is where the interest lies. Short, familiar loops provide a centre of gravity; as longer lanes drift across them, they introduce gradual harmonic turns, rhythmic offsets, or gestural swells that take far longer to resolve. Instead of everything repeating together, elements phase through different relational states, creating extended interactions that animate otherwise traditionally cyclic material. In that light, 1024 steps isn’t about cramming in more notes; it’s about giving certain parameters room to move slowly against the ones that don’t.

These extended step lengths also afford a different approach to longer melodic gestures: it’s easy to click and draw a curving pitch narrative over hundreds of steps, then apply gentle randomization (less than, say, 10%), to add dynamic variation to a melody that still broadly follows the drawn contour – as pictured above. But if you need everything to synchronize in more digestible phrases, that’s no problem – just activate Polyfold’s global bar reset interval as needed.

Pitch duties are handled by four discrete-range pitch lanes, enabling up to four-voice polyphony. Each includes per-note probability and access to preset pattern libraries, with user sequences stored directly inside the device. Optional Octave and Transpose lanes introduce structured harmonic movement, with the innovative Transpose sequencer operating at bar-level resolution rather than the rhythmic base rate. The Transpose lane is particularly helpful to imbue otherwise repeating pitch cycles with long-form tonal progression. Scale-aware operation keeps all pitch output harmonically coherent, while a Drums Mode toggle provides straightforward chromatic triggering for Drum Racks.

Beyond pitch, Polyfold sequences Chance, Velocity, Length, Hold, and Delay, many of which include Euclidean and Count-based pattern generation, alongside randomization. The global Chance lane may seem redundant with the per-pitch lane probability, but it provides the ability to enforce rhythmic patterns on all four pitch lanes simultaneously to produce unique chord-based rhythms.

These all come alongside a notably detailed Ratchet engine. Ratcheting here is not a blunt rhythmic repeat tool, but a fully parameterised layer, with pitch, velocity, and length decay, probability and deviation controls, plus bounded behaviours such as clip, wrap, and fold. The rhythmic ratcheting is relative to the current step’s rate, so it’s already dynamic; adding the pitch decay turns each ratchet into intricately expressive ornamentation. Reducing per-step ratchet probability helps ensure what might otherwise become annoyingly busy output never gets tiresome.

Polyfold also includes pattern preset menus across its Pitch, Transpose, Velocity, and Chance lanes. More than decorative drop-downs, the pitch presets provide structured melodic starting points that can be dialed in and mutated as required, while Transpose offers progression-based patterns that operate at bar level, steering harmonic movement over time according to a variety of chord progression patterns. Velocity and Chance feature rhythmically coherent variations without having to draw every accent by hand. The presets are instant scaffolding: quick ways to introduce order into a lane before you start bending it to your own ends. Better yet, you can select a preset at random – and also easily save and restore your own pattern presets too.

Finally, two additional modulation sequencers generate a combined control signal that can be mapped to up to eight parameters in a Live set. The signals can be mathematically combined — added, subtracted, multiplied, or divided — then shaped with slew, jitter, smoothing, and quantisation. OSC transmission and optional MIDI CC output extend Polyfold beyond Live, while the bundled X-Relay utility handles flexible routing within your set.

Polyfold makes some bold claims — but if you spend a little time inside it, the “multidimensional” label starts to hit home. Timing, pitch, probability, velocity, ratcheting and modulation all run on their own trajectories, yet intersect through shared rate logic and conditional flow. Long transposition arcs can drift against tight rhythmic loops. Modulation lanes control other elements of a set. Chance edits density upstream. Add OSC, MIDI CC, and Relay routing into the equation, and the device extends well beyond a single instrument to act as a compositional control hub for an entire project – and even networked external applications (via OSC). Multidimensional indeed.

POLYFOLD: Key Features

• 16 independent sequencer lanes with up to 1024 steps per lane
• Dual rate-stage architecture with per-step Multiply and Divide timing control
• Shared base rate with polymetric and polycyclic lane interaction
• Four polyphonic pitch sequencers with per-note probability
• Optional Octave and bar-level Transpose sequencing
• Scale-aware operation with local or global key control
• Dedicated sequencers for Chance, Velocity, Length, Hold and Delay
• Advanced Ratchet sequencer with pitch, velocity and length decay plus probability and deviation controls
• Euclidean and count-based pattern generation for Velocity, Chance and modulation lanes
• Preset pattern libraries for Pitch and Transpose with random selection
• Two modulation sequencers with additive, subtractive, multiplicative and divisive combination modes
• Assignable summed modulation output to up to eight parameters
• OSC output with per-lane address routing
• Optional MIDI CC output for external hardware and software control
• X-Relay routing utility for flexible MIDI distribution across a Live set
• Per-lane loop length, direction, rotation and bar reset controls
• Global lock system for synchronized or independent parameter editing
• Adjustable randomization, invert and scramble functions per sequencer

Requires Ableton Live 12.3 running Max 9.

Introductory pricing ends February 28. Visit the Manifest Audio website to purchase.

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