Otomata - An addicting, browser-based generative sequencer of sound!

Dashui

A generative what of huh?

I think it's best I let the description on the website and the demonstration video explain, but suffice to say you'll probably lose the next hour of the day playing with this and I thought it would be fun to spread the addiction. You can even share your random or composed pieces. For a challenge, overlay two windows of different pieces and play them together!

http://www.earslap.com/projectslab/otomata

Otomata is a generative sequencer. It employs a cellular automaton type logic I’ve devised to produce sound events.

Each alive cell has 4 states: Up, right, down, left. at each cycle, the cells move themselves in the direction of their internal states. If any cell encounters a wall, it triggers a pitched sound whose frequency is determined by the xy position of collision, and the cell reverses its direction. If a cell encounters another cell on its way, it turns itself clockwise.

This set of rules produces chaotic results in some settings, therefore you can end up with never repeating, gradually evolving sequences. Go add some cells, change their orientation by clicking on them, and press play, experiment, have fun.

If you encounter something you like, just press “Copy Piece Link” and save it somewhere, or better, share it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHCdHh1eSi0&feature=player_embedded

Here's a simple, consistent piece I made:

http://www.earslap.com/projectslab/otomata?q=2t68644g4a880j1l7d323n5x

Decoy

This is actually kinda fun. I'm a sucker for music games. I'll probably play around with this.

Dashui

You can actually have the cells collide with each other to create a constantly evolving piece, but I like to figure out how it all works to come up with a consistent rhythm. For example, what happens when I place two cells like so:

http://earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=0q0o

And then what happens if I add another one in that chain:

http://earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=0q0o0j

Now I'll try to work that into a bigger piece and see what I can come up with, like this:

http://earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=0s0s3q6q5j7d7272281j341l

Decoy

Hah, I just noticed that as well. Pretty neat.

anoffday

Pretty cool. Here's mine. http://earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=0x1n221x5t7c5t5c14

So far, it seems that simpler ones sound cooler, but I might just suck at it.

I like the the sound of it, though. It's haunting. But in a good way.

Dangerbird

Holy crap, is this ever cool.

The music this makes reminds me of the music from Machinarium.

Rubycat

fun stuff. http://earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=4d4v3v5v5d3d3z4k5k

Mr.Sunshine

I shall join you all in this game of melodic music light squares!

http://earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=8w4z094k1j7l4l4j1q781a7n280u826q

It seems to have the ability to cause me to zone out when watching it.

Sollah

I just kind of messed around for five minutes and have no idea how I came up with this but it sure sounds neat.

http://www.earslap.com/projectslab/otomata?q=4q588n6v4o486x405q4a084n7s7s

Nimble Cat

This is really cool, thanks.

http://earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=7q2g806j781g1g

Mr.Sunshine

You can actually have the cells collide with each other to create a constantly evolving piece, but I like to figure out how it all works to come up with a consistent rhythm.

Like this?
http://earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=0n59652j448w7k2q5z5z1v8w

No idea. Added squares while it was moving and it all just fell into place.

Dashui

Mr.Sunshine wrote: »

I shall join you all in this game of melodic music light squares!

http://earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=8w4z094k1j7l4l4j1q781a7n280u826q

It seems to have the ability to cause me to zone out when watching it.

Hey, I really like that one. Nice job.

Decoy

I find myself just making shapes and designs and seeing how they sound. I'm not really going for any certain melody. Most of the stuff still comes out sounding pretty decent.

L Ron Howard

This is pretty cool. I'm horrible at music, but I think I'm doing a decent job. Not nearly as cool as everyone else in here, it seems.

Atheraal

Wow, this gets a lot more fun when you have multiple tabs running at once. Cool find, I passed it along to my favorite music blog, Create Digital Music.

edit: On that note, try combining this with Mr. Sunshine's link.

http://www.earslap.com/projectslab/otomata?q=8t8d8x821e16