Author: Salem Al Shamsi

This project explores Glicol, a graph oriented live coding language that runs directly in the browser. Unlike traditional music software, Glicol allows users to build sound by connecting small units called nodes. Each node performs a simple function such as generating a wave, shaping volume, filtering sound, or adding effects. By chaining these nodes together, complex sound structures can be created in real time.

In my live demo, I demonstrated oscillators, sequencing patterns, envelope shaping, frequency modulation, filtering, and delay effects. I also showed how small code changes immediately affect the output, which makes Glicol powerful for experimentation and performance.

What makes Glicol interesting for interactive media is its accessibility. It requires no installation and combines code, sound, and creativity in a very direct way. This makes it suitable for beginners while still allowing advanced exploration.

Presentation:

Live demo link : https://youtu.be/fP5fwoSURt0?si=rB8WScGs5iqfRzCj

Before this reading, I wanted to understand what rhythm actually means. My main reference came from Arabic poetry, where rhythm is created by repeating the same final sound at the end of each line. When the poem is sung, that pattern connects words with specific musical instruments and emotions, so I saw rhythm mainly as a linguistic and musical structure.

Reading about West African and African-American music expanded this idea. I began to see rhythm not just as a pattern of words or beats, but as something felt in the body through movement and collective action.

The idea of microtiming surprised me. It reminded me of my time in the military, when marching depended on listening very carefully to the music. Being even slightly early or late could cause serious problems, which showed me how tiny timing differences can have real meaning.

I also feel music in my body when singing, especially in moushat (a traditional Andalusian-Arab musical and poetic form performed in groups with complex rhythms), where feeling, words, and music work together. I prefer human drumming because it can adapt to people and the environment. As the text says, “the drummer is said to play ‘in the pocket,’” and without these small timing deviations, there is an “absence of a musical body.”

At first, I thought live coding was just coding in front of people, but after reading, I understood that it is more about changing the code while it is running and treating it like a performance. I liked the idea that the code itself is shown and becomes part of the artwork. It made me think about programming in a different way, more like playing an instrument than writing a normal program.

In the Hydra chapters, I learned that textures are just patterns, not colors. For example, osc() makes stripe patterns, noise() makes cloudy patterns, and voronoi() makes cell-like shapes. One part I was a bit confused about is modulation, but I think it means using one pattern to change another pattern. I want to try this myself in class because it seems like small changes in the code can create very different visuals.