Conway's Game of Life as a Musical Instrument
Рет қаралды 123,767
Күн бұрынUsing the most famous cellular automaton (Conway's Game of Life) to generate music.
We experiment with different note layouts and starting patterns to produce a variety of musical results.
0:00 Conway's Game of Life
1:38 Game of Life as a Musical Instrument
3:01 Thinning strategies
4:51 Midweight Spaceship (MWSS), harmonic minor
5:18 Heavyweight Spaceship (HWSS), major pentatonic
5:43 Glider, melodic minor (ascending)
6:12 Loafer, major scale
7:22 31P8H4V0, melodic minor (ascending)
8:00 Canada Goose, major scale
8:40 Table, major 13 chord
8:52 Table, major pentatonic
9:01 Twin Bees Shuttle Spark, melodic minor (ascending)
9:11 Z-hexomino, harmonic minor
9:30 Die hard, harmonic minor
10:17 Octagon 2, major scale
10:35 Pinwheel, major scale
10:55 Figure eight, melodic minor (ascending)
11:17 Pentadecathlon, major scale
11:40 T-tetromino, major scale
These visualizations were written in Java using the Processing graphical library (processing.org). The audio was generated using Java's built-in MIDI library (javax.sound.midi).
Life Lexicon: conwaylife.com/ref/lexicon/le...
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#music #math #cellularautomata #gameoflife #conway #computermusic #algorithmicmusic #algorithmiccomposition #patterns #algorithm #computerscience
@fossfeen Ай бұрын
PLEASE turn this into an interactive website
@flingyourself Ай бұрын
I second this!!!
@victork8708 Ай бұрын
google cardinal...
@daniel_77. Ай бұрын
Or atleast a program
@hwithumlaut8288 Ай бұрын
Please
@MINECRAFTLOVER4000 Ай бұрын
@@victork8708?
@aelius5 Ай бұрын
“What instrument do you play?” “It’s complicated…”
@paper177 Ай бұрын
Is conway's game of life an instrument?
@fryz Ай бұрын
@@paper177idk is mayonnaise?
@666thmoab Ай бұрын
@@fryzis horse radish?
@jay31415 29 күн бұрын
Life. I play life.
@RailsofForney 22 күн бұрын
Maybe I should just stick to playing euphonium…
@user-vh1tb8ch2u Ай бұрын
“What instrument doth thou playeth” “Life.” “Life?” “Life..”
@paper177 26 күн бұрын
I shall playeth thy musical instrument. *Life.*
@relito_animations 21 күн бұрын
Roulx Kaard (deltarune) be like:
@AdmiralGordon 20 күн бұрын
Cruelty squad ass comment
@elemenopi9239 19 күн бұрын
WHAT DOTH LIFE
@PrussiaCountryballs 16 күн бұрын
Tis thy shall not comprehend the sound of which I make
@confused-as-ell Ай бұрын
i like loafer, it sounds very peaceful
@paper177 26 күн бұрын
especially when the bass notes mix in with the high notes 😔
@jacksongreen4107 22 күн бұрын
It reminds me of Minecraft music for some reason.
@juliatorre8803 18 күн бұрын
Christmas-y almost
@baructort 17 күн бұрын
it would be cool to space them out differently so it’s not a note per beat
@CastleKale Ай бұрын
Pattern loafer made me think of a walk through a claymation fall forest.
@ssserani Ай бұрын
6:13 the loafer sounds the best to me, works really well as a 7/8 pattern
@prismix0870 Ай бұрын
Oh yeah it is in 7 lol, i didnt notice. Octagon 2 is in 5
@stoffer108 13 күн бұрын
Reminds of something that could be in undertale, very toby fox
@roachroachin7193 19 күн бұрын
So, is life jazz?
@Goatey523 16 күн бұрын
Always has been
@cobaltbluesky2276 Ай бұрын
i love the repeating patterns the oscillators make, especially at 9:42, it would be cool to see a full song made using a lot of these patterns in combination like loops
@therealelement75 29 күн бұрын
uhhhh, die hard is a spark
@JaceFaller 12 күн бұрын
@@therealelement75it has oscillators in it thats what they meant.
@therealelement75 12 күн бұрын
@@JaceFaller he put 9:42 in the comment, even though that's not an oscillator
@TheCloudyoshi Ай бұрын
Other ideas - - it feels like we're arbitrarily picking an axis when we define the "strings" and "higher" notes, when the game doesn't really care what direction your objects are moving... - so, maybe define the pitches that play based on the number of neighbors, e.g. if a cell has 0-1 neighbors it plays C - could also define the pitches by the "direction" of the neighbors used to create a newborn cell - could also define them recursively from the prior set of pitches that play, in an attempt to create cohesive melody lines - play a note when a cell dies, not just when one is born
@recurvestickerdragon Ай бұрын
Yeah, it feels like the variance we're seeing is coming more from the stripey pattern underneath rather than the actual shapes moving across it. Would be neat to see one based on the "speed" of movement, though I suppose that would be hard to measure,
@Jeff-ss6qt 20 күн бұрын
@@recurvestickerdragonMaybe measure speed by how many generations a cell lives? You might have to play the simulation a fair amount ahead to find out though. At least depending on what you to with thay speed. Like, would it be a simple scale that goes up with each generation or a specific note based on how long the cell lives in the simulation that is played ahead? How would you deal with a cell with an infinitely slow speed due to staying alive 100% of the time? There's always a chance of something else hitting it or never hitting it.
@filedotjar Ай бұрын
I really like the motif at 4:55, it sounds very Lavender Town esque.
@filedotjar Ай бұрын
You then get a happier version at 5:21
@anderaginaga2 Ай бұрын
@@filedotjar4:55 is original Lavender Town bgm, 5:21 is Lavender Town in second gen games
@pixelcore5417 Ай бұрын
Can you PLEASE just make like. 3 hours of this or something I have insomnia and can never sleep I’m commenting this at 3AM I would fall asleep maybe within an hour with this thank you so so much for making this awesome video to begin with though!
@eggsbox Ай бұрын
yessss this
@linkshadow2 21 күн бұрын
I second this, but because my cat really likes it a lot and has my play it 🥹 it makes her super calm
@artsintheam 5 күн бұрын
I agree
@PCBoyStudios Ай бұрын
10:17 Is that a… 5/8 time signature loop? Geez…
@sleepyheadmemes 19 күн бұрын
Alternating 4/4 and 7/8 (or just 15/8) at 11:17
@Gelatinocyte2 16 күн бұрын
*5/4. It has 5 whole beats; a 5/8 would be more like lopsided 2 beats (one whole beat + one slightly longer beat), or a rushed 3 beats (2 whole beats + one half-beat). Although, you can kind of feel it as a 5/8, with the 1st and 3rd beats emphasized.
@gilejoksimovic3168 Ай бұрын
Have you ever considered applying the circle of fifths for the layout?
@sam_bamalam 25 күн бұрын
I was thinking the same! Fifths on one axis, fourths on the other
@kuretaxyz 18 күн бұрын
fifths and major thirds would be great.
@SquishmallowsUnited Ай бұрын
8:53 this actually sounds cool like if it were a melody to a song
@donaldcreswell4915 19 күн бұрын
It'd make a good ringtone
@kschumacher5533 Ай бұрын
My grandfather just died and my grandma is on the way out. This comforts me somehow.
@obonyxiam Ай бұрын
i'm sorry for your loss
@AJLord Ай бұрын
[Sending virtual hug...] [Hug sent!]
@Skhal Ай бұрын
Why talk about this here? I never understand people who says private thing like this on KZfaq? Wtf is wrong with humanity? This is about square making music, not a book about private life of random people
@arnoudh6203 Ай бұрын
@@SkhalSaying that music is somehow comforting in their situation is related to the video. Also, people do it to vent. Caring about privacy is only necessary when there are people that can use the private information to do harm which is (unusually) not the case on the internet.
@gjk-arts5855 Ай бұрын
@@Skhal It's a comment, a feeling or thought they had while watching the video & music can often create feelings within people - sometimes comforting ones and hey, it's always nice to get some words of comfort from strangers. When that happens, it actually shows the better part of humanity. That we can all unite together just to make someone we barely even know, but we know are struggling, feel a little better. And, who knows. maybe someone out there is struggling with something similar and happened to click on the video and feels the same way- It's also nice to know… that you're not alone.
@farofa9999 8 күн бұрын
i like how dramatic Z-hexomino sounded
@BlackMoonMaster Ай бұрын
This is honestly million-dollar content. Keep going.
@linearstream Ай бұрын
7:23 Stunningly complex sound. Amazing.
@xpotential 19 күн бұрын
it's like running away while panicking
@michaeldeloatch7461 Ай бұрын
@ 5:48 -- You have invented the cyber-Bartok!
@Crazy-qi1gw 17 күн бұрын
Baba is You ahh type beat
@kostibulished Ай бұрын
Man, that harmonic minor die hard is haunting, I love it! It does seem like the synth volume is clipping quite a bit though, so it sounds a bit harsh. I'd love to hear a cleaner version!
@linearstream Ай бұрын
Unreal. Love that one.
@thegeeeeeeeeee 16 күн бұрын
Die hard in harmonic minor was lit. 🔥 you make amazing videos man.
@dion8895 Ай бұрын
R-pentomino got robbed of a solo. Damn politics
@veryvaughsome5867 Ай бұрын
Loafer is my favorite one here. I love the sound of it!
@laurentmarcoux2144 16 күн бұрын
i've been a life enthusiast for some time now and I think this is a brilliant idea. I want to try every pattern with this, please do make an interactive website from this !
@dzek_thefriend Ай бұрын
2:49 it's literally miracle musical dream sweet in sea major "children born in one emotion"
@mrtomithy 17 күн бұрын
hello fellow miracle musical enjoyer
@dzek_thefriend 17 күн бұрын
@@mrtomithy it warms my heart to see others who enjoy this project. May your days be many and you woes few
@jonahbranch5625 Ай бұрын
You could try mapping 2d to a scale using the Hilbert curve. Cells next to each other will tend to be close on the scale, but you would get occasional jumps and interesting intervals
@blakelockley3367 Ай бұрын
id love to see this too
@Thaumh 20 күн бұрын
Amusingly, ironically, this reminds me quite a lot of the SPORE game soundtrack, specifically of the Cell Stage.
@glenmorrison8080 Ай бұрын
So many of these patterns sound like really interesting jazz compositions. I love this.
@JavaJack59 Ай бұрын
Random ideas: 1) Use the number of non-triggering cells on a string as velocity 2) Langton's Ant :)
@Germancheesecakefactory Ай бұрын
sounds like a soundtrack for an niche indie rpgmaker game
@lslime1545 9 күн бұрын
Phosphor from Oneshot :) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fNp9frlnzLTGg4U.htmlsi=njJVU7Xxjt3erRkZ
@PCBoyStudios Ай бұрын
10:35 Hmm, that's a fancy way to play your A#maj9…
@benjames9158 Ай бұрын
5:18 goes hard
@donaldcreswell4915 19 күн бұрын
Loafer and table major pentatonic were bangers
@jimsvideos7201 10 күн бұрын
The Loafer in A Maj is surprisingly melodic.
@SkyP9812 3 күн бұрын
Very fun execution, really reminds me of 20th century modernistic/minimal music, and it looks great too
@jeffreyohler2599 9 күн бұрын
03:19 *Wow,so he's actually playing off of their positions!* I thought it was going to be him putting imagery of 'Life' together in synch with the music. *So the 'Lifeforms' are essentially writing the music,without even realizing that's what they're doing.* Brilliant!!!
@Thesnakerox 19 күн бұрын
Why do some of these harmonies sound kinda like things C418 would write?
@BjoernLewin 2 күн бұрын
mayb bcoz they’re symmetrical
@jickhertz4124 Ай бұрын
this is really cool! The detailed visuals is what makes it for me: colored tiles, tile labeling, generation counter, live 'piano', clear labeling. It no doubt took a lot of effort to code or edit the beautiful displays but as a viewer I find they make the video much more enjoyable!
@dizfoster8726 26 күн бұрын
I’ve been fascinated by the patterns the Game of Life makes for some time and yet this is the first time I saw it being used in such an unmodified state to output a signal like this. Lots to think on.
@sam_bamalam 25 күн бұрын
3 Blue 1 Brown did a video about using space filling curves to assign frequencies to visual data at different resolutions. I think that there's a really cool intersection of those ideas to be explored!
@demi_ryka1306 7 күн бұрын
Loafer is one of the most beautiful things i think ive ever heard
@spoonnerz Ай бұрын
This is amazing. Would love to get my hands on this and play with it a little. I think it would be cool to have a system in which cells that are not newborn continue to ring. This would create interesting drones in patterns that contain statics and moving objects.
@Nug_Lord 20 күн бұрын
This is so cool! If you revisit this, I think another fun way to lay out the grid would be a 12x12 with each row going up the circle of fifths and starting from the next note as you go up the column
@CptSDX23 29 күн бұрын
This would be a great way to get inspiration for music. I can imagine some of these as video game tracks
@Rapidfire370 Ай бұрын
My favorites were die hard, loafer and pentadecathlon, especially loafer, it feels like it's a real song
@jasonscrazyshows8598 9 күн бұрын
pinwheel even sounds like its name! the perfect name indeed!
@thepearlking4417 Ай бұрын
Loved the tables.
@ImpossibleEvan Ай бұрын
I love how the 2 notes on 5:50 glider look like they are swimming
@mr_flor 23 күн бұрын
Loafer sounded amazing! 8:52 this really reminds me of Fallen Down and scp 3008 theme, wow
@jonhycoincoin Ай бұрын
This is reaaally great content ! I think it would be cool to add strategies to have variations on the rythm ! That could make the thing more "musical"
@epsilonthedragon1249 Ай бұрын
The Pinwheel was beautiful
@hesangasong Ай бұрын
dope concept!
@AlanKey86 Ай бұрын
My favourite is at 10:19 This is a great concept
@zcu8404 Ай бұрын
great video!
@kawaiiintelligenceagency3889 Ай бұрын
Awesome idea to turn the game of life into music. It sounds very interesting. I think it can be improved by adding rules for tempo / duration perhaps. But I already like it how it is
@SforzandoSongs 20 күн бұрын
Amazing! You should map rhythm next, simplest being a sustain with steady decay for the whole lifespan of the cell. You could also have a floor where a minimum lifespan yields a the shortest duration for a much sparser, less plodding texture (e.g. 3 generations = 16th note). The visuals would be overwhelming as binary on/off, but might be really cool with some fade in/fade out effects.
@AJLord Ай бұрын
10:56 the figure eight reminds me of vs. susie from deltarune similar note progression, just in a higher key
@lego_by_leo Ай бұрын
Nice! It sounded better then I thought.
@AJ-ws5vy 19 күн бұрын
It would be fun to have a program that takes a set of chords and tries to turn it into a conway pattern
@muggyate 17 күн бұрын
omg loafer sounds so good!
@SquishmallowsUnited Ай бұрын
oh my goodness gracious... i want to play with this so bad
@simp_lex 18 күн бұрын
What a minimalistic sound :)
@awesomedixdam106 Ай бұрын
I like heavy weight spaceship! 5:30
@FancyPotatOS 16 күн бұрын
These would turn out really good with diminished chords as well, and maybe some way to stop neighbouring notes from playing, perhaps by keeping the neighbour note that is more popular. Thanks for sharing!
@teaarson Ай бұрын
I actually really like the sound of 3:10, it makes my head feel empty like brown noise.
@DawnNDew124 19 күн бұрын
The loafer was beautiful :)
@TikyLikey Ай бұрын
I really like listening to Conway West :D
@discollife Ай бұрын
Id love to see someone use this to recreate pipular songs! Love the idea and the video ❤
@geometryflame712 7 күн бұрын
You should change the scale every iteration around the circle of fifths so you get key changes that might resolve somewhere
@drnarwhal2888 Күн бұрын
The Die Hard pattern is so good
@masonsickler2878 16 күн бұрын
Loafer sounds really cool
@goge- 19 күн бұрын
This recalls the Tarkus for me!
@Tom-lz9pu 19 күн бұрын
I would so love to have the ability to play with this myself, or even having the source being able to play with different parameters. This would be so cool
@PaulPlaystheLegend 13 күн бұрын
die hard really lives up to its name
@gbjsyzftbcacjyfubjygkgcjae3182 24 күн бұрын
5:43 i feel like i just entered a woods area that's rumoured to be haunted by local npcs
@circuitguy1010 Ай бұрын
Life is music.
@paper177 25 күн бұрын
tru
@gwynkoski980 21 күн бұрын
Someone needs to make this into a synth module, would make for a really interesting sequencer
@bruoche Ай бұрын
I wonder also how it would sound by also just keeping pressed notes that are pressed two generations in a row as an extra thinning strategy, that way we also could maybe get like long lasting chords or something and avoid every single note being always pressed at the same interval to vary the rythm
@diezelleprozo6047 Ай бұрын
canada goose sounds harmoniously chaotic, but good sounding
@TheOne_6 Ай бұрын
Nice!
@brennanlawson6108 Ай бұрын
So cool
@daxterthefox Ай бұрын
9:30 Die hard sounds like it can used as part of an OST of a spooky mystery game
@skilz8098 Ай бұрын
How about an alternative approach: instead of using Conway's Game of Life to act as an instrument that plays different sounds based on it's locality (space & time) of each iteration, how about having the application generate Cells in Conway's Game of Life based on reading an audio file either it being a wav, a midi, or even an mp3 type file. Then we can feed the game with a given piece of audio such as a song and see how it would look within the context of Conway's Game of Life. With something like this, the time it takes for each iteration to occur would depend on the tempo of intended audio segment. This would also be very interesting to see.
@thepotatotaxi2430 Ай бұрын
yeah because that's possible to implement 🤦♂️
@cowabunga2246 26 күн бұрын
This is very interesting
@aprilmcd 22 күн бұрын
Native Instruments' Reaktor actually has a drum machine that uses very similar mechanics to the game of life (might be the same but I'm not sure) called Newscool, it's pretty neat
@ygnoen6685 29 күн бұрын
for the loafer, A major, highest newborn on string, the beginning gave crazy "amazing digital circus" vibes
@Hooeylewissukz Ай бұрын
As with most computer generated music tools, this works well to inspire and he a creative starting point. But none of this sounds like music, that's where a human has to come in.
@paper177 25 күн бұрын
die hard sounds crazy tho
@xXTomokoKurokiXx 20 күн бұрын
Most of this is not necessarily to make compositions, but to prove a point - that music in its purist form is a series of patterns, and we can use things like Conway's Game of Life to find unique patterns and apply them to our own understanding of music.
@jodamoxghesta4395 22 күн бұрын
If only John Conway could listen to this...
@colincobb2742 Ай бұрын
It would be great to set it so the number of notes being played influences the interval to the next note, so that you get rhythm generated by the patterns. ie. 1-3 live notes play as 1/8 notes, 3-5 live notes play as 1/4 notes, 5+ live notes play as half notes.
@bowel_movement 16 күн бұрын
It would be really cool to integrate this into a eurorack module. Having Conway's Game of Life control your patch just sounds like an amazing recipe for generative music
@Bluecuartzjuega 8 күн бұрын
7:23 im going to be honest, the figure looks like a butterfly
@rodrigoappendino 23 күн бұрын
The pinwheel is my new favourite object.
@dhedarkhcustard 22 күн бұрын
I'd be curious to see multiple grids iterating at the same time for different instruments including a drum pad. Maybe even have them update at different rates like 1 of them every 2 updates or 4 updates. What about a drum loop where it updates once every 16 beats and have the drum instruments on the Y axis and time on the X axis? So many interesting ideas.
@jamescanada3712 18 күн бұрын
This reminds me of The Secret of Mana from SNES.❤
@georgetownsend1479 Ай бұрын
Awesome! Not sure if you've already done something like this but I tried making music from various maze solving algorithms (Fairly badly, the y axis of newly traversed cells corresponded to pitch and the x axis to volume which is kinda lame). Maybe you could have a go at it?
@xitheris1758 19 күн бұрын
When not thinned, it reminds me of music from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
@genericobjectshow3440 29 күн бұрын
3:08 - wake up, new INTERLOPER soundtrack just dropped
@indigo9738 17 күн бұрын
I think it would be more harmonious to have the pitch increase towards the centre, and decrease towards the boundaries, so that an object crossing the boundary doesn’t jump pitch, but instead just changes motion
@realuity3075 Ай бұрын
would kill for an itneractive version of thus!!
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