Modulator

A Modulator changes the agent role carried by a signal. A melody leaving a Source can become bass, harmony, or rhythm halfway through the graph.

Modulators are the most under-used modifier in spatial composition, and the most expressive once you understand them. They do not change what a signal carries: pitch, velocity, duration are untouched. They change who the signal thinks it is.

Mechanism

Every signal carries a reference to the preset it was launched with. The downstream node reads that preset to know whether to play this signal as bass, melody, or harmony. A modulator overrides the preset reference: signals leaving the modulator behave as if they were launched from a different agent role.

Use cases

• Call-and-response: one Source feeds two branches; one passes through a bass Modulator and the other through a lead Modulator. One pulse, two voices, two registers.
• Texture variation: switch a signal between rhythm and melody roles based on which gate releases it, so the same node sometimes feels rhythmic and sometimes feels melodic.
• Polyrhythmic personality: stagger modulator branches so different roles fire at different rates from the same root pulse.