Smart Controls & Song Structure
Guide generation with genre, mood, and texture controls, musical parameters from key to BPM, and explicit song sections for full arrangements.
DocumentationSmart Controls
Parameters
Smart Controls
The parameter panel adapts to your current workflow with two states. When no MIDI is loaded, you see controls for fresh generation. When MIDI is present, the panel switches to editing and refinement controls.
State A — Fresh Generation
When starting from scratch, you can guide the AI with:
Genre (16 options)
Pop · R&B/Neo-Soul · Jazz · Lo-Fi/Chillhop · Pop Ballad · Cinematic/Film Score · Trap/Hip-Hop · Classical · Blues · Rock/Alt-Rock · Funk/Soul · Gospel · Bossa Nova/Latin · Ambient/New Age · Ragtime/Boogie · Electronic
Mood (13 options)
Happy · Sad · Dark · Dreamy · Energetic · Nostalgic · Tense · Peaceful · Romantic · Angry/Aggressive · Melancholic · Triumphant · Mysterious
Texture (4 options)
Chords only · Chords + melody · Bass + chords + melody · Melody only
Electronic Subgenres
Electronic covers a lot of ground, so Aether reads your prompt for a subgenre and writes to that style specifically — its tempo, its groove and its structure. Say what you want and you get it; say nothing in particular and you get house.
| Say something like | You get | Tempo |
|---|---|---|
| deep house, tech house, offbeat piano | House — offbeat stabs, continuous groove, no drop | 120–128 |
| big room, festival, mainstage, EDM | Festival — build and drop, octave-jump lead | 126–130 |
| trance, uplifting | Trance — rolling 16th bass, long breakdown | 136–140 |
| techno, warehouse, melodic techno | Techno — hypnotic, minimal harmony, no hook | 130–140 |
| drum and bass, DnB, jungle, liquid | Drum & Bass — breakbeat, rolling bassline | 172–176 |
| dubstep, riddim, half-time | Dubstep — half-time, heavy and spacious | 138–142 |
| UK garage, 2-step, UKG | Garage — swung, skippy, broken beat | 130–135 |
| downtempo, trip-hop | Downtempo — broken beat, unquantised, textural | 90–110 |
Naming a Genre in Your Prompt
You don't have to use the Genre menu. Mentioning a style in the message itself — “a slow jazz ballad”, “liquid drum and bass”, “a Chopin nocturne” — selects it just the same. The Genre menu wins when you have set it, so leave it unset if you want your words to decide.
State B — Editing Mode
When MIDI is already loaded, the panel switches to refinement controls:
Action (7 chips)
Enhance · Add layers · Extend · Simplify · Reharmonize · Humanize · Combine MIDI
Restyle (10 chips)
Jazzy · Darker · Brighter · Ballad feel · Swing · Sparse · Lush · Rhythmic · Classical · Groove / funk
Action and Restyle chips are multi-select — toggle several at once (for example, Reharmonize + Jazzy + Lush) to stack directives in a single pass. Aether flags musically contradictory combinations (such as Sparse + Lush) in real time so you can resolve them before generating.
Musical Parameters (Always Available)
| Parameter | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Key | Any key + 12 roots | Any key (AI decides) plus C, C#/Db, D, Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, Ab, A, Bb, B |
| Scale | Let AI Choose + 10 | Major, Minor, Dorian, Mixolydian, Lydian, Phrygian, Harmonic minor, Melodic minor, Blues, Pentatonic |
| Time Signature | 4/4 (default) + Let AI Choose + 5 | 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, 5/4, 7/8, 2/4. Defaults to 4/4 so Aether can send its bar-by-bar timing reference, which needs a known meter. Choose “Let AI Choose” if you would rather it picked. |
| Bars | 1 – 64 | Length of the generated clip |
| BPM | 20 – 999 | Tempo in beats per minute |
| Loop Mode | On / Off | Generates seamless loops suitable for layering |
| Lock to Host | On / Off | Syncs BPM and time signature from your DAW (hidden in Standalone) |
Arrangement
Song Structure & Sections
Beyond single loops, Aether can compose with explicit song form. Turn on the Sections toggle in the parameter panel to define your piece as an ordered list of named sections, each with its own bar count — turning Aether from a loop generator into an arrangement tool.
Building a Structure
- ●Add sections in order — Verse, Chorus, Drop, Bridge, or anything you type. Names are passed to the AI verbatim, so non-pop terms like "Exposition" or "Recapitulation" work too.
- ●Give each section a bar count, or leave it at 0 to let the AI decide how to distribute length across the form.
- ●When Sections are active, the Bars field shows the running total of your structure so the arrangement length stays honest.
Genre-Aware Presets
Each genre supplies sensible structural starting points, so you don't have to build every arrangement from scratch:
| Genre | Default Sections |
|---|---|
| Pop / Pop Ballad | Intro · Verse · Pre-Chorus · Chorus · Bridge · Outro |
| Electronic | Intro · Build · Drop · Breakdown · Build 2 · Drop 2 · Outro |
| Trap / Hip-Hop | Intro · Verse · Hook · Bridge · Outro |
| Jazz | Head · Solo · Trade · Out-head |
| Lo-Fi / Chillhop | Intro · Loop A · Loop B · Bridge · Outro |
| Other genres | Intro · Verse · Chorus · Bridge · Outro (generic fallback) |