Harmony Bloom by Mario Nieto: A Novel Sequencer That Conjures Beauty from Chaos

Written by Bytemapper

The world of generative sequencing, something that I might be erroneously conflating with aleatoric composition, is a subject of constant fascination for me. I’ve been an avid user of VCV Rack for years at this point, much to the thanks of my savings account. Generative sequencing is difficult to hone in to the point of something musically usable, at least from my experimentation with it. 

Things like key changes are difficult, as you can’t truly plan for things like pivot chords or passing tones when something is randomly assigning pitches to a sequence. So, when Harmony Bloom landed on the market, it piqued my interest. This was a modern sequencer, designed explicitly for creating beautiful compositions. Yes, it doesn’t go full hog with generative techniques, but you can create something human hands will struggle to create. So, let’s dive in to a bit of the operation, the use case, and whether it’s worth the spend (yes, it absolutely is). 

Confining Chaos 

At first blush, Harmony Bloom doesn’t do anything too outlandish. When routed to a MIDI capable device, it’ll make noises, the default pattern being a rather pleasant one using what is called Magic Notes under the Note Collection tab. Up top, you can set the note collection, which ranges from scales to chords and more. This can be left up to pure chaos, as the default quantization is just the chromatic scale. 

However, you’ve got more options, with a plethora of scales and chords to confine the output as needed. That isn’t getting into the other parameters, as we will touch on shortly. The left side of the interface is where you’ll find your offsets. This is where speed, note overlap, and so forth are dictated. You can quantize the output, operating on traditional note lengths you’d see on the staff. 

The right side of the interface helps you dictate the number of notes per pattern, the duration of those notes, the length of the loop itself, and the probability that each note in the pattern will play.

Left in its default state, Harmony Bloom can operate like a beautifully complex arpeggiator. You can feed it chords, set the trigger to MIDI input, and just listen. However, this is a polyphonic sequencer, meaning you can receive chords and dyads that flow melodically. You can achieve some interesting results just by futzing about with the even offset. I’ve found even values result in overlapping notes, which work fine on a polyphonic synth or sampler. 

When constrained, Harmony Bloom makes evocative and mesmerizing melodic motifs. It might not be enough for an entire composition, at least from my use case, but it is enough to spark movement and inspiration toward a completed piece. 

Interfacing With Madness 

Harmony Bloom is provided as a VST3 or AU if you’re on Mac like I am. So, naturally, I had to fire this up alongside VCV Rack using the Host module. The end results left me quite satisfied, as I was able to draw up a few different note patterns, feed them CV through random modules with constrained voltage, and go from there.

When acting as an element in a larger generative ensemble, Bloom Harmony shines. It isn’t too dissimilar to something like a Turing Machine, but far more compelling an element to take the melodic reins for a while. 

I didn’t necessarily worry about syncing the clock, any of the nerdier stuff that you’ll see when experimenting with something that is more concerned with CV and PPQN than just typical note divisions. 

Harmony Bloom running free makes for some remarkable elements, which will likely show in my next generative work. Having the option to randomize its own options is a fantastic choice. In terms of presets for the work, Mario Nieto has been more than generous with the offerings for Harmony Bloom. 

You’ve got plenty of excellent starting points to deconstruct and manipulate as needed. You could even forego the experimentation and work on finding sounds that blend and enmesh more ably. 

Is It Worth It?

So, is Harmony Bloom worth the 29 Euro asking price? I’d certainly think it acquits itself quite well. A software sequencer is such a hard sell in 2025, especially for users of DAWs like Bitwig or Ableton. You typically have everything you need at your fingertips to get out of pocket. However, there is enough going with Harmony Bloom to make it worth adding to your arsenal. 

It is available for Windows, Mac, and iOS among others. I’ll have to venture toward purchasing this for my iPad to drive some hardware without Ableton in the mix in the near future. If you’re an electric musician though, especially one experimenting with ambient soundscapes, this is worth the price of admission.