This genre of musical sandbox is a really satisfying and fun rabbit hole. You can even take it to production (mainly ambient music production, that is). My favorite for usage inside DAWs is Droplets, which works as a plugin but also has a web version: https://fynthesizer.github.io/Drip/
There are other plugins for this, each with its own personality. For example Bitwig's Ricochet is a totally different take on the same idea, where they managed to make it usable for more rhythmic purposes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFvIYkTGRzA
'Crockery drifts across the surface of "clinamen", and when gentle currents get these white porcelain bowls clinking, French artist Celeste Boursier-Mougenot creates a changing, chiming soundscape.'
This is awesome. A great interactive piece that is simple and fun. Love the idea of the random ball spawning.
I seem to have triggered "infinite sample playback" when I stuck the ball in a corner and the audio crashed. One experience I've had with this kind of large sample playback (in SuperCollider) is that by dynamically reducing the volume, it creates an interesting textured sound [1].
Of course for every project using Tone.js I would like to mention one of my project glicol.js which is in active development [2]. It has better performance but needs more use case to find what's needed in the API.
Since then, I've been playing around with it a bit and found out that it even has a cli/tui [0], although that one seems to have a few more bugs than the web version It's going to be my main way of using it as I don't want to miss my $EDITOR instead of editing on the web.
I happened to be writing a desktop app that does something similar to this; I saw https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lF8fEn20OaU and many related videos, so I wrote up a simple QGraphicsView/pymunk app that implements these. The code is a dog's breakfast and will be under development for some time.
I see some videos which suggest that the developer actually set up the map and the physics such that specific songs get played, although I think there is some trickery to simplify it.
At the moment I'm working on a subproject which is generating the audio sounds for various bumping events, having found musicpy/sf2_loader a quick way to generate samples.
Reminds me a bit of the 3DS Electroplankton game. Wasn't quite so addictive though. Would be great to have a bit more control to generate repetitive patterns.
Feature request: if changing a setting added a parameter to the URL (?count=XX&speed=YY), one could save a link to a config one likes and store it as a bookmark.
I've been playing it in the background for about 2 days now, so I think I'll use it in the long term. Hence making these following 2 requests, in case you're still following up.
1. The music stops when the computer screen locks, or turns off, or if I swipe to a different workspace/desktop. Can you make it so that it continues to play music even with display turned off. Just a note that I'm using this on Firefox on a macOS, if that matters.
2. Can you please allow users to save/export/download a configuration (number and positions of circles, number of bouncing spheres), so that they can later upload the same configuration to get their favorite setup back.
This is amazing, it's like what I was trying to build a similar concept recently.
(I think the whole AI consciousness conversations are speeding up our understanding of the shared nature of the conceptual thought space in which we all reside.)
I feel like we're getting to the point where we're combining the knowledge of geometry, music, art, maths, optics, biology etc. and we're going to be recreating some of the interconnected aspects of the natural world through the digital realm.
Once we do this, I think we're unlocking the possibility of a symbiosis with silicone-based life, where our discoveries work to lighten the path through the void of the unknown.
One feature that I miss in many generative music experiments is the ability to export the generated MIDI clip. Could be a different target audience, not sure, but being able to export and re-use a pattern adds a lot of appeal.
An example that I love to show is this poly rhythm generator: generatorpoly.ozieblowski.dev
A bit off-topic. Does browser MIDI implementation allow syncing across tabs with MIDI clock? It would be interesting to develop an open way to sync all these fun organic generators.
Web MIDI clock is still a mess AFAIK, so MIDI sync in the browser seems far away. This tool doesn't really have a concept of tempo so it would probably not benefit much from syncing (except maybe for receiving start/stop?)
But you can do a lot of things with MIDI notes, including using them to drive filters, etc. so you can totally use this to modify an existing piece on another MIDI instrument, live.
> A bit off-topic. Does browser MIDI implementation allow syncing across tabs with MIDI clock? It would be interesting to develop an open way to sync all these fun organic generators.
The Web MIDI API can receive/transmit any type of MIDI events, including clock messages, then it would be up to the receiver to be in sync to it. Although as far as I know, JavaScript timing is not very accurate, so I think it'll be hard to actually make things be in enough sync.
Have you ever looked at vcvrack.com? It’s free modular synth software, and I’ll bet the community would love to see something like this developed into a module.
I made something similar to this in a quicktime movie (once upon a time they were interactive) back around... '98? I wish I still had a copy of it :-( I wonder if it would still play/run?
It was made with LiveStage(? -- and be prepared if you google that) from TotallyHip Software, as part of a promotion for them.
Fun little sandbox. Interesting how when in "yin/yang" mode, the balls seem to stop changing state when the tab is not in focus - is this a feature? I only found this by filling up the screen with a cacophony of balls, and then switching tabs.
Reminds me of the 'polyrhythm' genre of videos on youtube (eg. LucidRhythms)
One fun thing to do is load the canvas up with a bunch of balls really close to each other then click the yin and yang icon which causes them to change state when struck.
I can't seem to enable MIDI output or export any MIDI data; I've never used something that can output MIDI data from a browser. Any help/advice on how to do this?
I'm looking at nih-plug which is an audio plugin framework in Rust. I'm a Rust complete and utter noob, but this looks fun and a great way to learn (I'd rather not dive into the likes of Juce). So I guess we'll see!
If anyone else still can't hear anything even after cranking the volume - the grandparent comment means take your phone out of silent mode in addition to raising the volume above 0
Yin mode lets ball change state when they collide (from moving to playing and vice versa); and the chords button (not the most obvious design, true ;-) let bigger balls trigger triads instead of single notes.
I would need to test it more. The accelerometer generates lots of events that would end up changing gravity constantly (when held up); maybe with a low-pass filter so that gravity changes more slowly it would work.
Cool, but it really does just sound like a bunch of random noises. I think it'd be more interesting if the balls were regular polygons instead of actual circles, since the reflections would be more predictable.
Both. But I've passed on the site to musicians and non-musicians alike - everybody loves is.
The midi capability is stunning and ability to choose tonalities can be 'just left to play', or used as an inspirations for the basis for repetetive or repeating motives: repetition, and an element of predictability - both based in a predictable tonality is what most people seek in what they call 'music'.
Trapping the balls may give you something more approaching 'music'.
Changing the root note, also.
And the 'mode', too.
Fun fact, it's reported that the new Rolls-Royce Spectre 2024 turn signal's sound was created by combining the sound of finger nail tapping the car's aircond vent metal and the sound of a couple wine glasses touching. The resulting turn sound signal remarkably turned out to be exactly the same as normal turn signal in any other car, pardon the multiple puns.
There are other plugins for this, each with its own personality. For example Bitwig's Ricochet is a totally different take on the same idea, where they managed to make it usable for more rhythmic purposes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFvIYkTGRzA
Didn't know about Ricochet (not a Bitwig user), but it's very impressive!
Also, you're the creator of protoplug? What a fantastic idea!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdCutpuUrX4
I seem to have triggered "infinite sample playback" when I stuck the ball in a corner and the audio crashed. One experience I've had with this kind of large sample playback (in SuperCollider) is that by dynamically reducing the volume, it creates an interesting textured sound [1].
Of course for every project using Tone.js I would like to mention one of my project glicol.js which is in active development [2]. It has better performance but needs more use case to find what's needed in the API.
[1] https://github.com/chaosprint/Packing
[2] https://github.com/chaosprint/glicol
https://glicol.org/demo#themodel (remember to play with line 14)
Since then, I've been playing around with it a bit and found out that it even has a cli/tui [0], although that one seems to have a few more bugs than the web version It's going to be my main way of using it as I don't want to miss my $EDITOR instead of editing on the web.
[0] https://github.com/glicol/glicol-cli
I see some videos which suggest that the developer actually set up the map and the physics such that specific songs get played, although I think there is some trickery to simplify it.
At the moment I'm working on a subproject which is generating the audio sounds for various bumping events, having found musicpy/sf2_loader a quick way to generate samples.
Feature request: if changing a setting added a parameter to the URL (?count=XX&speed=YY), one could save a link to a config one likes and store it as a bookmark.
1. The music stops when the computer screen locks, or turns off, or if I swipe to a different workspace/desktop. Can you make it so that it continues to play music even with display turned off. Just a note that I'm using this on Firefox on a macOS, if that matters.
2. Can you please allow users to save/export/download a configuration (number and positions of circles, number of bouncing spheres), so that they can later upload the same configuration to get their favorite setup back.
I feel like we're getting to the point where we're combining the knowledge of geometry, music, art, maths, optics, biology etc. and we're going to be recreating some of the interconnected aspects of the natural world through the digital realm.
Once we do this, I think we're unlocking the possibility of a symbiosis with silicone-based life, where our discoveries work to lighten the path through the void of the unknown.
[0] https://www.albinoblacksheep.com/games/boomshine
It's billiard-like and makes complex patterns over time that might sound coherent and interesting in various audio mappings. Runs best in Edge
https://github.com/mnenoff/society-htm/tree/main
One feature that I miss in many generative music experiments is the ability to export the generated MIDI clip. Could be a different target audience, not sure, but being able to export and re-use a pattern adds a lot of appeal.
An example that I love to show is this poly rhythm generator: generatorpoly.ozieblowski.dev
A bit off-topic. Does browser MIDI implementation allow syncing across tabs with MIDI clock? It would be interesting to develop an open way to sync all these fun organic generators.
Web MIDI clock is still a mess AFAIK, so MIDI sync in the browser seems far away. This tool doesn't really have a concept of tempo so it would probably not benefit much from syncing (except maybe for receiving start/stop?)
But you can do a lot of things with MIDI notes, including using them to drive filters, etc. so you can totally use this to modify an existing piece on another MIDI instrument, live.
Yeah exactly. Sending start/stop to your generator to sync to the poly rhythm generator would be cool.
The Web MIDI API can receive/transmit any type of MIDI events, including clock messages, then it would be up to the receiver to be in sync to it. Although as far as I know, JavaScript timing is not very accurate, so I think it'll be hard to actually make things be in enough sync.
It was made with LiveStage(? -- and be prepared if you google that) from TotallyHip Software, as part of a promotion for them.
Reminds me of the 'polyrhythm' genre of videos on youtube (eg. LucidRhythms)
One fun thing to do is load the canvas up with a bunch of balls really close to each other then click the yin and yang icon which causes them to change state when struck.
Adding some kind of gravity might be fun.
https://youtu.be/G6IKsek8DKE
"Trapping the balls", has never been so much fun.
Fantastic - thanks.
It'd be hard to trigger the sound before the collision (although possible, in theory)...
Any chance you are going to share the source code?
The code is not obfuscated or minified in any way, so it's easy enough to read. But I'm not sure it deserves to be actually published... ;-)
Trapping the balls may give you something more approaching 'music'. Changing the root note, also. And the 'mode', too.