An attempt at Tiction and some exposure to Processing

Tiction is a generative music sequencer that capitalizes on the visual aesthetics of Processing to trigger MIDI signals or controller messages.  The signals are enabled by a series of nodes connected to other nodes that produce events (or my case implosions)  that control and modify pitch, velocity, value, and the overall tonality of a composition.

when an event is sent, some physical event occurs – this can be a slight pull toward other nodes, a slight push away from other nodes, or a jiggle in a random direction. Springs in the inter-node connections keep groups of nodes together amidst all this (ordered) chaos.

The program itself is in the early stages, but it is certainly promising and easy to use. My first attempt was a bit inept, but I think it had more to do with the number of nodes I used or possibly because I was running Windows when the majority of testing has been on Mac.

I’m not going to post the audio for the above creation. Trust me, if you’re not a nails-on-chalkboard fan you’ll thank me. While I get better at sequencing here is an example of how a composition would sound with a bit more care:

Beautiful, huh? And a shared thought with Toshio Iwai’s work with the Nintendo DS game Electroplankton. If the multi-touch comments on this Vimeo page are any indication, it might be heading down the same road and then just screaming for a Cocoa or  C++ makeover for the… ahem.