no longer in shadow

This month I was listening to some breakcore (bandcamp) and decided to try and make something that might partially replicate those kind of dense, intricate breakbeats. So this month's piece is a 'controlled randomness breakbeat sequencer'.

It's a 16-step sequencer, where each step can have multiple different samples associated with it. At the start of each loop the sequencer will randomise the samples for N steps, where N is set by the Randomness parameter (the dice). If Randomness is set to 3 the sequencer will pick 3 steps at random, and pick one sample from each step's available selection.

Clicking a step lets you set its available samples. The bottom sample is the default; if that step is not being randomised this is the sample that will play. Samples can also be set to hold or repeat across multiple steps. If a hold or repeat sample is triggered it will override the subsequent steps for the duration of the hold/repeat.

(the tempo, randomness, and pitch parameters can be changed via horizontal drag)

VIDEO

Download no longer in shadow

Controls: escape: quit; space: play/pause; backspace: reset; r: record

The Rules:

• The file at this link will be deleted 1 month from now (3/8/24).
• All downloads are zipfiles containing a Windows executable.
• All source code and assets are included, licensed under the Anti-Capitalist Software License.
• As long as you abide by the license, you can do whatever you want with the download.

Further Reading

A Poetry Unbound episode on Wisława Szymborska's poem A Word on Statistics.

"there is a gang of murderers who silently read all the posts on here and pick one person a day to kidnap and take back to their base and put inside their catfood machine"

Mexico's Anti-Avocado Militias

"what does "market reality" mean when a handful of guys own more than half the planet and when there's simply more money in playing to their delusions than doing anything else?"

I read Catherynne M. Valente's The Past is Red this month. For a while she was one of my favourite authors, her writing dense, vivid, and unafraid to draw blood. After Deathless though, it felt like she toned down all the things that drew me to her work in the first place, in an attempt to go after a more lucrative audience (I can see she's written a couple of videogame tie-in novels, for instance). And I get that everyone needs to pay the bills, but it's always a little sad to see. Anyway, that's a long preamble to say that The Past is Red feels like a slight return to form. It's not as uncompromising as some of her early work, but it does have some teeth to it.

Sticking to this month's theme of 'things thecatamites wrote/made' I also finally played Anthology of the Killer. I'm always frustratingly inarticulate when it comes to the things that move me the most, so I'll just say: it's really good; you should play it.

I realised belatedly that I am (I think terminally) disillusioned with electoral politics, so I'm going to try and avoid thinking about the consequences of a transphobic, centre-right Labour party winning power with a commitment to even further, more grinding austerity. And just say: I hope life is treating you well despite everything. I wandered along to Tentsmuir Sands yesterday and the seals were far out on the sandbar singing their ghostly songs, so they seem to be doing okay.