How Aether Reads a Prompt
How Aether reads a prompt: what your words decide, what Quick Params pins exactly, which wins when they disagree, and a first prompt for each tab.
DocumentationPrompting Guide
Prompting Guide
How Aether Reads a Prompt
Every request you send is two things: the words you type and the controls you have set. They do different jobs. Your words are a brief, and the model reads them the way a session player reads a note from the producer, filling in whatever you leave open. The controls are rules: each one you set reaches the model as an instruction to follow exactly.
So the habit worth building is simple. If something has to be exact, set it. If it is a matter of taste, say it.
Words Steer, Controls Pin
On the Melodic tab:
| Set it in Quick Params | Say it in your prompt | |
|---|---|---|
| Key | Used exactly, unless your message names a key. | A key your message names, such as "in F# minor", wins over Key and Scale for that request. On Any key, naming one also stops Aether picking one at random. |
| Scale | Used exactly, unless your message names a key. | Naming a key sets the Scale control aside too, so give the mode with it ("F# minor", not just "F#"). |
| Tempo | BPM is used exactly. | Read by the model only. Nothing in Aether takes a tempo out of your words. |
| Length | Bars is used exactly, with a bar-by-bar timing reference. | A request. "8 bars" in a sentence never changes Bars, though lengths for named sections ("an 8 bar verse") do shape the form of a fresh request. |
| Meter | Time Sig is used exactly. | "Waltz", "3/4" or "6/8" replaces a Time Sig of 4/4, its default, for that request. Any other meter you pick, or Lock to Host, still wins. |
| Genre | The Genre menu decides the style. | Decides the style while the menu is unset. With the menu on Electronic or Classical, your words still pick the subgenre, form or period. |
| Parts | Layers sets the mix of parts. | "Just a bassline" or "melody only" wins over Layers on a fresh request. |
| Sections | The Sections editor lays out the form. | Section names and lengths in your words shape the form of a fresh request while the editor is off. In a follow-up they change the section you name, and the clip keeps its form. |
| Mood | Colors dynamics, register and harmony. | Description like any other, and mood words also count toward picking a genre. |
On the Drums tab:
| Set it in Drum controls | Say it in your prompt | |
|---|---|---|
| Style | Groove picks one of six families. | Picks the style inside the family, such as drill under Hip Hop. With Groove on Auto, your words pick the family too. |
| Pieces and Bars | The beat is written on the pieces you tick, to the length you set. | Your message cannot override them. |
| Everything else | BPM, Time Sig, Feel, Density and Fills are used as set. | Your message outranks them when the two disagree. |
| Swing | The Swing slider, behind the Processed ⚙ button on the transport bar. | Swing words move the slider rather than being written into the notes. |
When Your Words and a Control Disagree
On the Melodic tab, it depends on the control:
- ●A Genre menu you have set wins over a genre named in your message.
- ●A key named in your message wins over the Key and Scale controls.
- ●Parts named in your message ("just a bassline") win over Layers on a fresh request.
- ●The Sections editor, while it is on, wins over sections named in your message.
- ●A meter in your message wins over a Time Sig of 4/4, its default, but not over any other meter you pick.
- ●Your message wins over a custom system prompt.
On the Drums tab the order is simpler: your current message outranks the Drum controls, except Pieces and Bars, which always hold, and the controls outrank the style's own habits and any custom system prompt. The piece names and the output format also stand whatever you write.
On either tab, the safest habit is not to set one thing and type another. Set the control, or leave it open and say it.
Naming a Style
You don't have to use the Genre menu. Naming a style in your message (“a slow jazz tune”, “liquid drum and bass”, “a Chopin nocturne”) selects it just the same, as long as the menu is unset.
Composer names work as shorthand. “In the style of Bach” lands in Classical and “something like Scott Joplin” in Ragtime / Boogie. Aether knows a long list of other artists' names the same way, each pointing at the genre they are known for.
It reads whole words only, so “popular” never triggers Pop and “greenhouse” never triggers House. Prompt Vocabulary lists the words it acts on.
A First Prompt on the Melodic Tab
Put the style, the parts, the feel and the form in your words. Put the key, the tempo and the length in Quick Params when they have to be exact. Anything you leave open is chosen for you.
Melodic prompt
“a warm chord progression with a slow, singing melody over it”
- Key: D
- Scale: Major
- BPM: 92
- Bars: 16
Melodic prompt
“slow jazz with rootless piano voicings and a lyrical melody”
- BPM: 68
- Bars: 8
Melodic prompt
“just a bassline, busy and syncopated, for a funk track”
- Key: E
- Scale: Minor
- BPM: 104
- Bars: 4
Melodic prompt
“a waltz for a candlelit ballroom, an 8 bar verse and an 8 bar chorus”
- Key: Bb
- Scale: Major
- Bars: 16
A First Prompt on the Drums Tab
Describe the style and the feel in words. The Groove menu only picks a family, so the specific style comes from what you type. Set BPM and Bars when they matter, and use Feel, Density, Fills and Pieces to shape the kit.
Drums prompt
“a laid-back boom bap groove with a busy hat pattern”
- BPM: 90
- Bars: 4
Drums prompt
“a UK drill beat, dark and sparse”
- Groove: Hip Hop
- BPM: 142
- Bars: 8
Drums prompt
“a relaxed reggae one drop with rim clicks”
- Feel: Laid back
- BPM: 76
- Bars: 8
Drums prompt
“a four on the floor house groove with open hats on the offbeat”
- Pieces: Kick, Clap, Closed Hat, Open Hat
- BPM: 124
- Bars: 8
What Each Tab Will Not Write
The Melodic tab never writes drums, and the Drums tab never writes melodic parts. Every clip has one key and one tempo. What Aether Generates has the full list, and what to do when a part you asked for is missing.
In Your Own Language
Genre and drum style names work in your own language: “musique classique”, “klassische Musik” and the Japanese, Korean and Chinese names for a genre all reach the same place as the English one. Not every style has a name in every language; where one is missing, the menu still gets you there.
Aether answers in the language you wrote in. The reply, the composition plan and the rest of the chat come back in your language. What Aether writes is unaffected: the key, the scale and the drum piece names stay in their standard form, which is why the drum map in the example below still reads Kick, Snare and Closed Hat underneath a plan written in Korean.
One thing works differently. Apart from genre and style names, the words Aether acts on itself, for parts, sections, lengths, meters and keys, are read in English only. Written in another language they still reach the model, but Aether does not act on them, so a waltz asked for in French can still come back in 4/4. Set Time Sig, Bars, Key and the Sections editor instead.
Questions