Dodecaphony Lab

Dodecaphony Lab is an interactive tool for exploring and composing with twelve-tone serialism (dodecaphony) — Arnold Schoenberg's technique where a fixed ordering of all 12 pitch classes generates an entire piece through transposition, inversion, and retrograde.

DRAW YOUR ROW
Tap a twelve-tone clock face to build your row, or start from an illustrative preset. Hear it instantly as a melody or as a dense twelve-note chord.

THE MATRIX
See all 48 forms of your row — every transposition of Prime, Inversion, Retrograde, and Retrograde Inversion — laid out in the classic 12×12 grid. Tap any row or column to hear it. The app automatically finds and highlights hexachordal combinatoriality.

COMPOSER
Layer multiple row forms into simultaneous voices, like imitative counterpoint. Build by hand, or let Auto-Compose generate a starting piece — control voice count, length, variety, and instrumentation, or pick a named Compositional Style:
• Expressionist — Klangfarbenmelodie across a chamber ensemble
• Pointillist — isolated gestures, extreme dynamic contrast
• Lyrical Serial — warm, legato, overlapping voices
• Integral Serial — rhythm and dynamics serialized alongside pitch

Real acoustic instruments (violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, horn) alongside synthesizer voices. Export any piece as MIDI or MusicXML to keep working in notation software.

LEARN
Clear explanations of every concept — P, I, R, RI, the matrix, hexachords, combinatoriality — plus the historical figures behind each compositional style. Switch to Basic mode any time for a simplified, jargon-free view.

Available in English, Spanish, German, and French. Works entirely offline — no account, no ads, no data collection.