As an IMGD major, I am very interested in the converging of art and technology; it is what drew me to games in the first place, and one of the reasons I love what I do as a digital artist. Aside from video games, one of my other passions is music, and I similarly love new, creative combinations of music and technology.

Audio sampling and drum machines can provide a means to mix audio into new songs, but does not always create flowing pieces of music. I was very impressed the first time I found Otomata, an online generative music sequencer with an easy-to-use interface that allows the user to quickly and intuitively create music without needing to fuss with too many buttons.

http://www.earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=10_0_150_650160620220032831601732

Otomata is a generative sequencer that uses cellular automaton logic, comprising of a grid with cells in four states: the four arrow directions, up, down, left, and right. Pitch is triggered when an arrow cell encounters a wall, with the pitch itself determined by the location of the collision, after which the arrow changes direction. Pretty cool! Just by playing with Otomata and watching it sequence it is not hard to understand the logic behind it. Still, it creates beautiful music for a relatively simple sequencer. The music evolves over time as the sequencer continues to cycle and play, and really does create flowing music out of what seems to be just logic (in terms of coding) or chaos (depending on how many arrows you decide to add to it!). Users can add, remove, and change arrows real-time as well as adjusting the tempo of the sequencer and the scale used, which changes the overall tone and mood of the music generated. Additionally, you can record and download the music you create with Otomata!

Otomata is very approachable, with an easy to understand interface and it isn’t hard to grasp how it works if you play with it even for only a couple minutes.This is definitely part of what makes it so successful; it is so easy to use anyone can find it online and play with it, and additionally, no two sequences will be similar as you interact with it. Even with such a simple interface, the results are limitless depending on how you play with it, and it is satisfying to see and hear Otomata react to your input in real-time.

Generative music is very cool, so it would be cool to extend this idea of approachable, real-time generative audio. Adding generative visual elements would be cool, in addition to the interface that allows you to create and manipulate the generative audio. A similar set of buttons that could create generative art based on the generative audio that the user creates would be a neat addition to Otomata!