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Interface Overview

RESERVOIR’s interface is organized around five parameter cards surrounding a central radial visualizer, with a status bar along the bottom. 
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
├──────────────┬──────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────┤
│              │                              │                       │
│   RHYTHM     │                              │   PITCH               │
│   ENGINE     │                              │   LOGIC               │
│              │     CENTRAL VISUALIZATION    │                       │
│──────────────│      (radial layer rings)    │───────────────────────│
│              │                              │                       │
│ PERFORATION  │                              │   PHRASING            │
│              │                              │                       │
│  ECHO STATE  │                              │                       │
│              │                              │                       │
├──────────────┴──────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────┤
│ License Preset Status Tempo     [Codex] [MIDI Learn] [Record MIDI]  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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The Five Cards

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Left Column

  • Density (top) — Controls when notes occur. Layer count, layer interaction mode, and the Rhythm Engine: 18 rhythm techniques with density (min/max attacks per beat), density shape, and per-engine parameters.
  • Perforation (middle) — Controls which notes are removed. Select from 7 mathematical filtering strategies; adjust perforation amount, golden-angle mode (for Golden Ratio), and corpus bias (for Corpus Density).
  • Echo State Network (bottom) — A 32-node leaky reservoir that listens to RESERVOIR’s own output and feeds back time-decaying modulation. Toggle on/off, set Rate and Variation seed, and adjust Pitch / Rhythm / Texture depth knobs that scale the ESN’s influence on each parameter group.

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Right Column

  • Pitch (top) — Controls what notes play. Scale selection from 100+ scales, root pitch class, starting octave, octave span, and 12 pitch selection algorithms with a Shape slider whose meaning depends on the active algorithm.
  • Phrasing (bottom) — Controls how notes are articulated. Articulation style, phrase length preset, micro-timing feel, note length range, velocity range, and velocity curve.

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Central Visualization

The radial visualizer displays all 12 layers as concentric rings. Active notes appear as colored arcs; perforated (removed) notes appear as faint outlines. A rotating playhead sweeps through the circle, triggering notes as it passes. The visualization supports 8 color analysis modes — from greyscale to Scriabin’s synesthetic color mapping. See Visualization for details.

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Bottom Bar

From left to right:
  • License status — Displays activation state; click to open the license dialog
  • Preset selector — Load and save presets
  • Engine status — Shows Idle, Learning... N notes (X%), or Seeded: <key> (key fit X%). The label reflects the MIR Capture state machine — see MIR Capture
  • Tempo — BPM display (host tempo drives generation)
  • Codex — Toggle the in-plugin glossary panel (see below)
  • MIDI Learn — Global toggle for parameter MIDI mapping (see below)
  • Record MIDI — Write generated MIDI to file. Toggles to Stop while recording

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Codex

The Codex is an in-plugin glossary, surfacing as a 280-pixel panel that slides over the left edge of the central visualizer. It shows an entry for whichever engine is currently active in each card — rhythm, perforation, pitch, expression — describing the underlying math, its compositional lineage, what each parameter does, and what your current combination of selections produces. When the Codex is open, dragging a slider updates the corresponding parameter block in real time: it shows the current value alongside a worked example (e.g., for Euclidean rhythm, the actual onset positions for the current pulses-and-steps setting). Switching an engine via a ComboBox swaps the Codex entry instantly. Press Escape or click the close button to dismiss it. The control columns remain fully interactive while the Codex is open, and the right portion of the visualizer remains visible.

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MIDI Learn

Right-click any plugin parameter to open its MIDI Learn menu. Choose Learn and RESERVOIR arms that control to capture the next incoming MIDI CC on any channel; once a controller moves, the mapping is bound and persists with the host project. The same menu lets you clear an existing mapping. The MIDI Learn button in the bottom bar toggles a global highlight mode that decorates every learn-mappable control with its current binding, making it easy to audit and edit assignments across the plugin. The button itself displays the last CC seen by the plugin, which is useful when troubleshooting host MIDI routing.