Helix Sequencer

Real DNA from nine organisms, read one base at a time and turned into five-note melodies. Every pitch, rest and long tone you hear is a fact about the sequence.

1 / 0 bp

Trace · notes above, bases below

ACGT

Whole excerpt: colour = base mix, white line = GC content, ticks = motif hits. Click to jump · drag to loop. No loop

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Listening speed

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GC content here

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This excerpt takes

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Whole genome would take

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Reading how DNA becomes notes

Mapping

Reading frame

Notes per beat

Tempo

Swing

Hold repeated notes (runs like AAAA become one long tone)

Pitch key and five-note scale

Key

Octave

Scale

Stereo spread by base

Scope

Voice oscillator and envelope

Attack

Decay

Sustain

Release

Note length

Slide between notes (portamento)

Slide time

Space reverb and delay

Reverb

Reverb amount

Delay

Delay amount

Repeats

Master volume

Layers hear more of the data

GC drone · bass note follows local GC content

Drone level

Motif bells · chime when this pattern passes

Bell level

Pulse · purines (A, G) tick bright, pyrimidines dark

Pulse level

Perform drag to play the filter

Left–right opens the low-pass filter, up adds resonance.

Space play/pause←→ jump 100 bp1–5 mapping[] tempoL clear loop

Play your own sequence

Paste FASTA or raw bases (U is read as T)

Export MIDI for your DAW

What to export

The file uses your current mapping, scale, key, tempo, swing, note length and held runs. Melody gets its own track, and the GC drone, motif bells and pulse (drums on channel 10) are added when those layers are on. Slendro's in-between pitches round to the nearest semitone.