Gamelan Lab

Gamelan Lab is a real Indonesian gamelan you can play, learn from, and compose with.

Built on 281 real recorded notes from a physical Javanese gamelan (Casa da Música, Porto — licensed for reuse), not synthesized approximations. Every degree you tap is the actual tuning of a real bronze instrument — no two gamelan ensembles in the world share the same tuning, and this app captures one of them faithfully.

Play
• Pélog (7-tone) and Sléndro (5-tone) scales, switchable anywhere
• Saron, Bonang Barung & Panerus, Gender, Gambang, Kenong, Kempul, Gong Ageng, and kendhang drums — all real samples
• A circular cycle wheel visualizes the colotomic structure (Gong/Kenong/Kempul/Kethuk) as a living clock, with a continuously sweeping playhead — tap any beat to reshape the cycle
• Three traditional forms (Lancaran, Ketawang, Ladrang) as starting points, or design and save your own

Learn
• Kotekan Lab: build a melodic cell and hear the interlocking technique itself — Nyog Cag, Imbal, Kotekan Telu, and Kotekan Empat, with Polos and Sangsih highlighted note-by-note as they play
• A 7-article Theory tab (what gamelan is, Java vs. Bali, Pélog & Sléndro, colotomic structure, Kotekan, the instrument family, cultural context) — three articles you interact with directly, not just read
• Two real traditional pieces (Gangsaran, Lancaran Kebo Giro) with their cultural context and sources, loadable straight into the sequencer

Compose
• Multi-track step sequencer with independent subdivision per track (1x/2x/4x), per-track volume/mute/solo, one-tap randomize (per track or all), and undo
• Mute the colotomic base to hear your sequenced pattern in isolation
• Save and reload full compositions, plus your own custom colotomic cycle shapes

Export & integrate
• Bounce your piece to audio (4 loops) or as isolated per-instrument stems, ready for a DAW
• Export Standard MIDI — multitrack, one named track per instrument, with Pitch Bend measured from this gamelan's own real tuning (not a flattened equal-tempered guess)
• A built-in AUv3 instrument plug-in lets you play these exact samples from GarageBand or any other Audio Unit host on iPad/iPhone — its own panel has a mixer with per-track volume/mute, tap-to-edit step pattern, dice randomizer, a live preview button, and an animated cycle wheel
• Turn on "Sync sequence to recording" and the plug-in plays your whole piece from the start the moment the host starts recording — timed to GarageBand's own count-in automatically, so a take lines up without any manual setup

Designed for iPhone and iPad — Theory opens as a persistent sidebar, controls and the cycle wheel scale up, and layouts use the extra iPad screen space rather than just stretching the phone UI.

Whether you've never heard a gamelan before or you're a practicing musician exploring a different tuning system, Gamelan Lab is built to be understood by ear first.