Glitchstorm is an Arduino powered byte beat generator. Arduino, if you are not familiar, is an open source hardware programming platform. Rather than surf the web and send email, you can use Arduino to open your garage door, and flash your favorite color of LEDs, or in the case of Glitchstorm, output quasi musical audio.
Bytebeats are generated by a software expression that runs in an infinite loop. Unlike random patterns byte beats tend to have repeating patterns that evolve and change over time, eventually repeating. Usually they repeat a pattern for a while before evolving or changing abruptly. They are far more musical than typical random patterns or fixed pseudo random patterns, but don’t expect patterns quantized to the major scale. Bytebeats often evoke the sounds of early 8 bit video games, what’s not to like?
Read the post here for more information and background on bytebeats: https://cult.honeypot.io/reads/hack-your-way-to-music/
There are many different software expressions that generate byte beat patterns. Google and you’ll find plenty. There are a few guides to writing your own!
The Glitchstorm is a project by Spherical Sound Society. It runs on the Arduino. The source code contains a few byte beat expressions and can switch between them with two buttons. It also has a couple pots that adjust the variables used in the expression to vary the patterns and sounds. It has an audio out, so you can hear the audio output, and clock out, so you can connect this to other equipment, like an analog synthesizer.
Check out this thread over at modwiggler.com for discussion of Glitchstorm.
I put the whole thing together on the breadboard in 15 mins. Time well spent! The results were amazing! This is a short 3 mins of noodling. I played with this for an hour without being bored!
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