night cataudio

Image to MIDI

Canvas

Pictures in.
Musical ideas out.

Turn pictures and drawings into musical ideas. Shape the phrase, then bring the MIDI into your DAW.

Canvas maps points along an original mountain illustration to a rising and falling MIDI phrase. The pitch grid and C major pentatonic settings are visible.
Original layered mountain illustration

A picture becomes a phrase.

Points from your image, snapped to your musical grid.

Time Pitch

Canvas’s internal synth · two four-bar loops

Canvas Art Studio showing an original colored drawing, selected points on the artwork, and its resulting MIDI phrase.
Three colored curves on warm white paper

Draw your own starting point.

Brushes, colors, shapes, and layers. Make art. Explore its music.

Art Studio Musical Ink

Canvas’s internal synth · two four-bar loops

Original artwork. Recorded directly from Canvas.

Canvas on the Music tab with Adaptive Sevenths chords labelled in the piano roll
Chords and phrasing: pick a scale and progression, then edit the notes.
Canvas in Musical Ink with drawn strokes and the matching notes in the piano roll
Musical Ink: stroke width sets velocity, colour sets note length.
Canvas Art Studio expanded to the full window, with three drawn curves and the notes overlay
Art Studio: brushes, colours and layers, expanded to full screen.
Canvas with Focus on, tracing only the tallest peak of a mountain illustration
Focus: trace just the main subject of a picture.
Canvas on the Synth tab with envelope, tone and space controls
Synth: shape the built-in sound, or play your own instruments.

Features

ViewsImage, Art Studio, Musical Ink
Image
Turn a picture into a phrase
Art Studio
Draw and paint, then explore its music, in place or expanded to full screen
Musical Ink
Draw strokes that become notes directly
Main controlsImage, Focus, Draw, MIDI, Vary, Play, 8 presets and the score
Toolbar
Image (or drag and drop), Focus, Draw, Clear, MIDI export, Vary, Play
Presets
8 presets: Balanced Vision, Star Motif, Skyline Pulse, Ink Melody, Harmonic Field, Raw Geometry, Colour Motif, Low Contour
Preset menu
Browse by sound (Clean, Spacious, Rhythmic, Pitched, Textured), optionally filtered by instrument (Keys, Bass)
Image view
Drag any point to change time and pitch, right-click to remove, pitch grid
Score
Editable piano roll: add, move, resize and delete notes, chord labels
MappingHow the phrase is found
Source structure
Auto, Constellation, Outline / Skyline, Colour regions, Drawing
Subject handling
Primary subject, Smart groups, All structures
Note density
Sparse (8 notes) to Maximum (64 notes)
MusicScale, phrasing, chords and variations
Pitch and phrasing
Interpretation (Faithful, Musical, Adventurous), Phrase style (Contour, Flowing, Pulse, Motif), Root note, Centre register, Pitch range
Scales
Major, Natural minor, Dorian, Major pentatonic, Minor pentatonic, Hirajoshi, Whole tone, Phrygian colour, Chromatic
Timing
4-bar loop, Time grid from 1/4 to 1/32
Chords
Off, Adaptive triads, Adaptive sevenths, Open fifths
Variations
Vary rhythm, Vary chords, Swing, Note length, Note harmony, Musicality
SynthBuilt-in sound
Envelope
Attack, Release
Tone
Brightness, Texture
Space
Stereo width, Ambience
InstrumentPlay your own virtual instruments
Playback
Internal synth, your plug-in instrument, or both layered
Your instrument
Find and load your virtual instruments, open their editor
Art StudioBrushes, shapes, colours and layers
Tools
Pencil, Ink pen, Marker, Soft brush, Eraser, Fill, Line, Rectangle, Ellipse, Select / move, Eyedropper, Hand / pan, with quick buttons for Pen, Brush, Erase, Fill and Select
Brush
Size, Opacity, Softness, Filled shapes
Colour
Colour picker, hex, palettes (Studio, Coastal, Woodland, Sunset, Graphite), swatches, paper colour
Layers
Up to 8 layers: rename, reorder, show or hide, opacity, Import layer
View
Notes overlay, zoom from Fit to 400%, Undo and redo, Save PNG
Musical InkStroke width sets velocity, colour sets note length
Brush weight
Soft, Medium, Accent
Articulation
Short, Natural, Sustained
WorkflowMIDI export, saved with your project
Export
MIDI export to your DAW
Session
Settings and artwork saved with your project
Window
Resizable from 1050 × 680 to 1500 × 1000, hover explanations
macOS Standalone · AU · VST3Windows x64 Standalone · VST3Canvas support