The cheat code for session-player chords. A 16-key chord computer that turns complex harmony into a single button press—so you can lay down pro-level progressions and get back to the take.
Not a render. This is the working prototype — cream PLA, blank caps, RGB under every key, and a 128×128 OLED showing the eight settings as a spreadsheet.
Most producers lose their creative momentum the second they have to figure out a chord progression. You've got a beat and a vibe, but then you're stuck hunting for notes and fighting inversions. The R1C1 makes asking "what if this was a lush Neo-Soul 13th chord?" a one-knob decision instead of a Wikipedia rabbit hole. Just pick a bank, press a key, and let the hardware do the math.
| TO: | All staff |
| FROM: | R&D, Applications Group |
| RE: | Your new instrument |
| DATE: | — |
Per your request, enclosed: one (1) sixteen-key chord computer, calibrated and ready.
No music theory required — the instrument handles the voicing. Plug in and play.
A five-step orientation, per company policy.
Connect USB to your computer — Ableton, Logic, FL Studio, it just works — or run DIN OUT straight into a hardware synth. No drivers, no setup.
Single-click the encoder to step into the eight-cell screen. Twist to move between cells; click again to edit; click once more to step back.
Land on the BANK cell and choose your flavour — try RIVIERA TOUCH. Set ROOT to taste. The keys light up in the bank's colour.
Each key is a chord. Top rows are the lower octave; bottom rows climb higher. Hold two keys and the R1C1 invents a passing chord between them.
In its resting SPREAD mode, easing the slider up fattens the voicing live. That's the sound of the sun going down.
The rows are scale degrees; the slider and encoder do the styling. Three things to know:
Every key returns a full voicing from the active bank. Top rows sit low; bottom rows climb an octave higher, so one hand spans a wide range.
Hold two keys and the R1C1 generates the passing chord between them — a dominant or diminished pivot, auto voice-led into range.
Latch the chord so it keeps ringing while your hands are free — for the slider, the encoder, or a cold drink. SHIFT glows amber.
Twist the encoder to roll the chord through inversions, from -3 to +3 — each step lifts or drops one note by an octave.
Twist the encoder to AVL (Auto Voice-Leading). Instead of a fixed inversion, the R1C1 becomes your invisible session player. It calculates the smartest, smoothest path from your last chord to your next one, gluing your progression together so perfectly that people will think you actually took piano lessons.
| Value | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| -3 … -1 | Pull upper notes down an octave at a time. |
| 0 | Root position, as written. |
| +1 … +3 | Lift lower notes up an octave at a time. |
| AVL | Smartest path from the last chord. Set and forget. |
Everything lives on one face. Here's what each part does — the rest of this manual just explains them in detail.
| Part | What it's for |
|---|---|
| 4×4 Keypad | 15 chord keys plus SHIFT (bottom-left). In PLAY mode the grid becomes 16 single notes. |
| SHIFT key | Hold for the secondary layer. Double-tap to latch chords. Hold + slide or + twist for hidden controls. |
| Slider | A four-LED ribbon that is, in turn, your voicing spread, your velocity, or your arp rate. |
| Encoder | Twist, click, double-click, long-press. The wheel for inversions, the spreadsheet, modes and tempo. |
| 128×128 OLED | The spreadsheet itself — eight setting cells you navigate with the encoder. |
| MIDI out | USB for your DAW and 5-pin DIN for hardware synths, sending at the same time. Works with anything. |
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ScaleDORIAN | RootC |
| 2 | BankRIVIERA | InvAVL |
| 3 | VelMED | StrumTIGHT |
| 4 | Bpm120 | ModeCHD/SPRD |
Hold SHIFT and move the slider to pick a mode; release to commit. The four LEDs always tell you where you are.
The resting mode. Push up to fatten the voicing live — lower octaves and upper extensions stack in as you climb.
The slider becomes dynamics, sweeping from a whisper at 30 up to a slam at 127.
The slider sets the arpeggiator rate, from Off through 1/4 down to a blurring 1/32.
Move the slider into its top zone and your held chord starts to dance. Hold SHIFT and twist to change the pattern.
Long-press the encoder for BPM edit (40–240), then twist. Notes sound at an 80% gate for a springy bounce.
| Preset | Value |
|---|---|
| Soft | 60 |
| Medium | 90 |
| Hard | 110 |
| Max | 127 |
Humanised ±6 per note.
| Preset | Spread |
|---|---|
| Off | 0 ms |
| Tight | 10 ms |
| Loose | 30 ms |
| Slow | 50 ms |
Rolls the chord like a guitar.
Double-click the encoder to flip from CHORD to PLAY. The grid becomes 16 single notes — lowest at bottom-left, climbing up and right. Root notes glow orange.
Seven raw scales and fourteen voiced banks, filed by mood. Open a folder, tap a sound, and it loads straight onto the device.
The R1C1 doesn't just transpose notes. Each bank has its own intelligent ruleset — dropping roots for funk, clamping registers for dub, or adding thick doublings for Italo disco.
| Gesture | Action |
|---|---|
| Twist | Change inversion (default). |
| Single click | Enter spreadsheet → navigate → edit → step back. |
| Double click | Flip CHORD ⇄ PLAY mode. |
| Long press | BPM edit; twist to set, click to leave. |
| Shift + twist | Octave (-3…+3), or arp pattern in ARP. |
| Gesture | Action |
|---|---|
| Hold | Engage the secondary layer. |
| Double-tap | Toggle Hold / latch (glows amber). |
| Hold + slide | Slider-mode picker; release to commit. |
| Hold + twist | Octave shift / arp pattern. |
| Bottom-left | That's where it lives, always. |
| Output | Spec | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| USB MIDI | DAW Ready | Plug it into Ableton, Logic, or FL Studio and it just works. |
| 5-pin DIN | Hardware Synth Ready | Drive your Moog or Prophet with zero computers required. |
Mike Haverstick makes music as Spreadsheets out of New York City. He built the R1C1 after one too many sessions stalled out hunting for the right chord — the idea was simple: let the hardware handle the theory so the groove never stops. What began as a personal fix turned into a 16-key chord computer with a spreadsheet for a brain.
R1C1 came out of these sessions. Seven releases as Spreadsheets, out on Spotify and everywhere else.
| # | Title | Year | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nori | 2022 | Album | Listen ♪ |
| 2 | Turn up the Vibe | 2022 | Single | Listen ♪ |
| 3 | Serious | 2022 | Single | Listen ♪ |
| 4 | Platforms | 2022 | Single | Listen ♪ |
| 5 | Walking in Slow Motion | 2021 | Single | Listen ♪ |
| 6 | Kale Chips | 2020 | Single | Listen ♪ |
| 7 | Rescheduled | 2020 | Single | Listen ♪ |