Anita’s Dropship is our biggest generative music system to date, and comes in the form of an interactive installation for Burning Man 2014.
The Dropship is a mobile sound-system that pumps out a constant stream of generative dubstep, dub and reggae, using a mixture of algorithmic and generative techniques in the Pure Data programming language. People can build the track up using two cranks on the side of the ‘ship, and trigger massive, ground-shaking drops by hitting a big red launch button.
Sample sounds
Here’s a sample of how the ambient section of the Dropship sounds. Remember, it’s all produced algorithmically, and can run for hours and hours without repeating itself!
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/162672715″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”150″ iframe=”true” /]
Reactify developed the generative sound system that runs on an iPhone or iPod touch mounted inside the box. We got to work with a crack-team of designers, fabricators, developers and electricians to make sure that it looks and sounds absolutely incredible.
Documentation
The whole team kept a project blog throughout the development process. Here are Yuli’s posts about the generative music production process:
Drop Timings And Endless Techno
The documented source code for the Pure Data patches can be found on GitHub, here.
We also ran a successful Kickstarter campaign, the video for which is below: