HW3: Generative Drum Machine/Soundscape

AJ Fan

Zella Day Drum Machine



CHUCK CODE:
zelladay-drummachine.ck

After realizing my milestone was practically unplayable, I took a different approach to the generative aspect. Rather than programming each key as if it was a note in an instrument, I treated it more like Ableton live where keys can be pressed to play loops and then parameterized. It allowed me to use a lot more sounds and made the drum machine much more playable. I also decided to move away from trying to generate every sound in chuck and imported audio files as sound buffs instead. This gave me a lot more freedom to create the soundscape and focus on the aesthetics of the musical statement.

For specifics on how to use the drum machine:
README.txt

Milestone 1

I wanted to base my drum machine/soundscape in something solid so that I could immediately have an ‘inner aesthetic loop’ and play off of that. So I wanted to create a drum machine based on a soundscape of a song I like, “Sweet Ophelia” by Zella day. I didn’t want this drum machine to be basically a diy version of the song, however, I more so appreciated the serene yet oh so slightly angsty and lofi aesthetic and was curious as to how you could play around with that and what sounds that would create. I used the song to create some parameters like the quality of the kicks and high hats to what notes you could play on each instrument. For my first milestone, I made basically a programmed midi keyboard from my computer keyboard that plays sounds made through chuck trying to recreate the soundscape of “Sweet Ophelia”.

CHUCK CODES (aka instruments):

Rhodey-keyboard.ck

bass.ck

noisydrum.ck

segmented.ck

mv
Listen to the inspiration here.

BRAINSTORM