Electronic musician Aphex Twin and engineer Dave Griffiths have launched the free sound design software Samplebrain.

The “custom sample mashing” app translates inputted sounds into similar samples and is based on an idea from about 20 years ago "when mp3's started to become a thing", according to a statement by Aphex Twin (aka Richard James), which was published on the Warp Records Instagram page.

"What if you could reconstruct source audio from a selection of other mp3's/audio on your computer? What if you could build a 303 riff from only acapellas or bubbling mud sounds? What if you could sing a silly tune and rebuild it from classical music files? You can do this with Samplebrain," the Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ explained.

The producers realised that "with a few cheaty sliders you could actually re-make anything from just one source file, so the options are all there to play with" in the new app.

James added that he contacted the founders of the "brilliant" Shazam back in the day "to discuss further creative uses of their genius idea but they were busy making an automatic dj program.

"I still think Shazam could be re-purposed for something incredible but in the meantime we have Samplebrain," he said.

 

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Aphex Twin is frequently described as one of the most influential artists in contemporary electronic music. He released his debut EP Analogue Bubblebath in 1991 on Mighty Force Records, and co-founded his independent label Rephlex Records the same year.

Aphex Twin won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album for his album Syro in 2014 and has since released acclaimed EPs, such as Cheetah (2016), Collapse (2018) and Peel Session 2 (2019).

Download Samplebrain here.