One artist has released a set of EPs as a circuit boards that generate and play tracks in real-time.
Whereas some musicians will throw a hidden track or two in their albums, Norwegian artist Captain Credible has taken that a step further by releasing a series of EPs that are actually printed circuit boards capable of composing and playings songs in real-time.
The Dead Cats EPs (don’t mind the name) are based on an ATtiny85 along with Captain Credible’s Arduino sketches. Not only will the boards come with a downloadable set of five songs for each respective EP, but the final track is generated through a special code that’s used as input for a complex algorithm running on the tinyAVR. The result? A unique and seemingly infinite 8-bit beat.
Aside from the ATtiny85 at its core, the board is fairly simple with a CR2032 button cell battery, three resistors, an LED and a power switch embedded inside its audio socket. A user simply plugs their headphones into the 3.5mm jack to begin playing, or unplugs and reinserts their buds to restart the pretty much never-ending tune.
“The code fills an array with a melody, and a few others with drum patterns. Using a randomly selected key, time signature, subdivisions for individual notes and tempo. It then proceeds to play the melody and drum sequences while occasionally switching out notes, subdivisions and percussion sounds and sequences,” Captain Credible writes. “It also inserts ‘drum breaks’ and occasionally goes into ‘free jazz mode’ where it comes up with random ‘one liner sound generating algorithms.’”
Following the release of his third EP, the prototyping board will be made available for others to enjoy. Those who don’t feel like waiting can also build their own. Although it may not the most usual or euphonic video you’ll ever see, you can get a glimpse of it in action below!
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