Concept:
The project came together after deciding we wish to create a faster track, compared to our previous one. After Noah laid down some break beats and Aakarsh laid some textural pads, we decided on an atmospheric breakcore sound. Raya and Juanma took the visuals from this starting point and created an eclectic mix of old cartoon footage with hydra glitch effects.
Sound Composition:
The first sound is Sophie’s “It’s Okay To Cry” put through a striateBy to create an ambient pad. Then a voice line from Silent Hill 2 goes through a similar process. A superzow arp with long sustain kicks in creating a bleeding, noisy, driving sound. A trem adds rhythm to this sustained blended arp. A jungle bass and Amen break cut up kick in now. A superpwm with a smaller sustain kicks in afterwards.
The whole song goes double time now. The break is replaced with a faster, glitchier cut-up. A rhythmic chopped up voice memo replaces the superpwm arp. These are transitioned in with a gradual manual increase of a low pass filter. The superpwm comes back now, crushed to add more granularity to the sound texture.
The song eventually returns to the original tempo, cutting out the vocal fragments, while the rest of the instrumentals gradually fade out.
Visual Composition:
The visual composition initializes video playback from a URL of “The Mechanical Cow” and first starts b&w. Then applies a modulation effect to create a slightly scaled black and white version of the video. Then intensifies the grayscale effect, blends it with the original output. Then the colorful variation blocks introduce color dynamics, kaleidoscopic effects, and rotation modulations, controlled by time-based functions, enhancing the visual complexity. Then we increase the intensity of visual effects with higher frequency oscillations, complex colorama applications, and increased modulations that respond dynamically to the sin of the time. For the final layer we applied color changes and scaling based on the audio’s frequency spectrum, combining with masked oscillations to produce rhythmic visuals ideal for accompanying drum beats.
Code:
d1 $ jux rev $ slow 16 $ striateBy 64 (1/8) $ sound "sophie:0" # room "0.9" # size "0.9" # up "-2" # gain 0.8
d2 $ jux rev $ slow 16 $ striateBy 64 (1/8) $ sound "scream:0" # room "0.9" # size "0.9" # up "1"
d5 $ slow 8 $ s "jungbass" <| n (run 20) # krush 8
xfadeIn 2 64 $ fast 1 $ chunk 4 (|- note 5) $ jux rev $
arp "<converge diverge>" $ note "<cs3'min9'11'o>"
# sound "superzow" # gain 0.7 # tremr "8" # tremdp 1
# sustain 1 # room 0.3 # sz 0.5
# lpf 1000 # lpq 0.2 # crush 2
xfadeIn 3 64 $ fast 1 $ jux rev $
arp "<pinkydown>" $ note "<cs3'min9'11'o>"
# sound "superpwm" # gain 0.8
# sustain 0.2 # room 0.3 # sz 0.5
# hpf 500 # hpq 0.2 # crush 2
setcps(0.7)
hush
d6 $ slow 4 $ s "amencutup" <| n (shuffle 8 $ run 32) # speed "{1,2,3}%8" # gain 1 # room 0.4 # sz 0.6 # krush 4 # lpf 6000
d6 $ slice 8 "[<0 1> 2] [<3*8 4 0> <4 3 1>]" $ s "breaks152" # gain 1.35 # legato 1 # room 0.3 # sz 0.6 # lpf 6000 # krush 2
d3 $ slow 2 $ slice 8 "1 [1*2] 2 3 2 [4*2] [~ 3] [5 [5*2]]" $ s "vmemo:2" # gain 1.7 # legato 1 # room 0.3 # sz 0.9 # krush 4 # lpf 3000
d6 $ silence
d3 $ silence
d10 $ ccv "120 30 110 40" # ccn "1" # s "midi"
d11 $ slow 4 $ ccv "[<0 50> 127] [<0 50> <177 30>]" # ccn "0" # s "midi"
d12 $ ccv "127 60 127 90" # ccn "2" # s "midi"
d13 $ ccv "20 40 60 80 100 120 127 0" # ccn "3" # s "midi"
s2.initVideo('https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/The_Mechanical_Cow_%281927%29_silent_version.webm')
src(s2).out(o0)
//b&w 1
src(s2).modulate(src(s2), [0,1]).scale(0.8).out(o0)
//b&w 2
src(s2).color(-1.5, -1.5, -1.5).blend(o0).rotate(-0.5, -0.5).modulate(shape(4).rotate(0.5, 0.5).scale(2).repeatX(2, 2).modulate(o0).repeatY(2, 2)).out(o0)
//colorful variation
src(s2).blend(osc(5, 0.5, ()=>cc[2]*0.02)
.kaleid([3,4,5,7,8,9,10].fast(0.1))
.color(0.5, 0.3)
.colorama(0.4)
.rotate(0.009,()=>Math.sin(time)* -0.00001 )
.modulateRotate(o0,()=>Math.sin(time) * 0.003)
.modulate(o0, 0.9)
.scale(0.9))
.out(o0)
//colorful variation 2
src(s2).modulate(src(s2), ()=>cc[2])
.blend(osc(5, 0.5, 0.1)
.kaleid([3,4,5,7,8,9,10].fast(0.1))
.color(0.5, 0.3)
.colorama(0.4)
.rotate(0.009,()=>Math.sin(time)* -0.0001)
.modulateRotate(o0, ()=>Math.sin(time) *0.003)
.modulate(o0,0.9)
.scale(0.9)
)
.out(o0)
//more distortion (add colorama details, osc 10)
src(s2).modulate(src(s2), ()=>cc[2])
.blend(osc(10, 0.5, ()=> 0.1 + 0.9*Math.sin(time*0.05))
.kaleid([3,4,5,7,8,9,10].fast(0.1))
.color(0.5, 0.3)
.colorama(() => 0.5 + 0.5 * Math.sin(time))
.rotate(0.009,()=>Math.sin(time)* -0.0001)
.modulateRotate(o0, ()=>Math.sin(time) *0.003)
.modulate(o0,0.6)
.scale(0.9)
)
.out(o0)
//super distortion
src(s2).rotate(0).modulate(src(s2), ()=>cc[0])
.blend(osc(10, 0.5, ()=> 0.1 + 0.9*Math.sin(time*0.05))
.kaleid([3,4,5,7,8,9,10].fast(0.1))
.color(0.5, 0.3)
.colorama(() => 0.5 + 0.5 * Math.sin(time))
.rotate(0.009,()=>Math.sin(time)* -0.0001)
.modulateRotate(o0, ()=>Math.sin(time) *0.003)
.modulate(o0,0.6)
.scale(0.9)
)
.out(o0)
src(s2)
.mult(osc(20,-0.1,1).modulate(noise(3,1)).rotate(0.7))
.posterize([3,10,2].fast(0.5).smooth(1))
.modulateRotate(o0)
.out()
//vibrant circle layer
src(s2).add(noise(2, 1)).color(0, 0, 3).colorama(0.4).out()
//vibrant circle layer with MIDI
src(s2).add(noise(()=>cc[1], 1)).color(0, 0, 3).colorama(0.4).out()
//Transition
src(s2).add(noise(()=>cc[1]*0.3, 1)).scale(()=> a.fft[2]*5).color(0, 0, 3).colorama(0.4).out(o0)
//drum vibes
src(s2)
.color(() => a.fft[2]*2,0, 1)
.modulate(noise(() => a.fft[0]*10))
.scale(()=> a.fft[2]*5)
.layer(
src(o0)
.mask(osc(10).modulateRotate(osc(),90,0))
.scale(() => a.fft[0]*2)
.luma(0.2,0.3)
)
.blend(o0)
.out(o0)
hush()Work Distribution:
The entire project came together pretty much simultaneously, the visuals were shaped by the audio and vice-versa. Hence, everyone contributed from a technical level to design choices on whatever level possible. More specifically, Aakarsh worked on the synths and pads. Noah came up with the drums and rhythm. Raya worked on the hydra part to create the visual layers on top of the video. Juanma came up with the video and worked on the MIDI synching.