8 ms·

Microscale – turn random Wikipedia articles into music

67 points by alestsurko 9y ago

lbill 9y ago
This is superb! The concept is brilliant!
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Kenji 9y ago
Wow! That sounds fantastic, actually. This is the first case of completely computer-generated music I like listening to.
have_faith 9y ago
No idea how the text relates to the music, but beautifully haunting none the less.
- shakna 9y ago
  > Each article functions as a step sequencer, where the letters are the sequencer steps and the track titles are regular expressions that switch the steps on and off. The mapping is here. [0] (So far as I can tell) [0] https://github.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/blob/gh-pages/scripts/songs-data.json https://github.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/blob/gh-pages/scrip...
  - aaron-lebo 9y ago
    Is there not a license on this?
    - shakna 9y ago
      I'm not the author, so best direct things their way. But I did open an issue for it. [0] [0] https://github.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/issues/1 https://github.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/issues/1
      - alestsurko 9y ago
        Done. Thanks!
  - alestsurko 9y ago
    ...and you can change the mapping file to use it as an instrument for your own music, btw.
    - shakna 9y ago
      Now that's the modularity that really appeals to me. Nicely done.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
fredley 9y ago
It has been a long-term ambition of mine to someday build an electronic aeolian harp[1], powered by weather data. This, I must say, is an even better idea. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian_harp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian_harp
dt_rsp 9y ago
A bit like Anthem in Dirk Gently.
eurticket 9y ago
Is there something to read me a wikipedia article?
- Ryel 9y ago
  Working on it. Send me an email if you want to try an early version.
- AlecSchueler 9y ago
  wikipedia2text | espeak ?
pault 9y ago
I know we're not supposed to post low-effort comments like "this is lovely", but this is lovely.
Ezku 9y ago
You might be interested in Wikirock, a Finnish group who _also_ turn random Wikipedia articles into music. They're on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3c7rymM4Z143IeZiTJJbQ6 https://open.spotify.com/artist/3c7rymM4Z143IeZiTJJbQ6
smoe 9y ago
I love how the results sounds, so I wanted to now how it works. Very briefly glancing over the code and listening to the audio files in the samples folder: The six articles correspond two six different voices or "instruments" which are pre-recorded samples of drone like sound and sequences of notes varying in pitch and speed. The letters in the article then trigger play and stop events for the samples according to a mapping. Example for 'u': https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/gh-pages/samples/grusha/voice-1/u.mp3 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/gh-p... https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/gh-pages/samples/grusha/voice-6/u.mp3 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/gh-p... As the description indicates, there doesn't seem to be any tone generation or modulation going on in the browser.
- alestsurko 9y ago
  Exactly. There is a farther explanation in the interview: http://www.preservedsound.com/news/ales-tsurko-microscale-generating-music-from-random-wikipedia-articles http://www.preservedsound.com/news/ales-tsurko-microscale-ge...
  - smoe 9y ago
    Great work, fitting everything together so well! How did you go about deciding on the mapping setting like "shouldPauseEventOnMatch", "isLoop" and "eventLength"? Is there a logic behind it or more testing and listing what works together?
    - alestsurko 9y ago
      Thanks! I started with the composition (the music one). So these have been dictated by composition techniques: some samples should play in a loop, others should be played fully before the sequencer's cursor increments etc.
alestsurko 9y ago
Thank you guys! I glad that you liked microscale.
- shakna 9y ago
  It's a great mix of artistic talent (sampling can be hard), and creative programming (the sequencer is kinda beautiful). You should be proud.
  - alestsurko 9y ago
    Thanks!
jslakro 9y ago
How can I play the articles I choose?
- alestsurko 9y ago
  Due to the album's concept there is no such a feature, sorry. But you can fork the project on github and try to set attribute contenteditable to "true" for the div, which you'd like to fill up with your text. The buffers have ids "buffer-1", "buffer-2" etc.

67 points by alestsurko 9y ago

lbill 9y ago

This is superb! The concept is brilliant!

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

Kenji 9y ago

Wow! That sounds fantastic, actually. This is the first case of completely computer-generated music I like listening to.

have_faith 9y ago

No idea how the text relates to the music, but beautifully haunting none the less.

shakna 9y ago
> Each article functions as a step sequencer, where the letters are the sequencer steps and the track titles are regular expressions that switch the steps on and off. The mapping is here. [0] (So far as I can tell) [0] https://github.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/blob/gh-pages/scripts/songs-data.json https://github.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/blob/gh-pages/scrip...
- aaron-lebo 9y ago
  Is there not a license on this?
  - shakna 9y ago
    I'm not the author, so best direct things their way. But I did open an issue for it. [0] [0] https://github.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/issues/1 https://github.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/issues/1
    - alestsurko 9y ago
      Done. Thanks!
- alestsurko 9y ago
  ...and you can change the mapping file to use it as an instrument for your own music, btw.
  - shakna 9y ago
    Now that's the modularity that really appeals to me. Nicely done.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

fredley 9y ago

It has been a long-term ambition of mine to someday build an electronic aeolian harp[1], powered by weather data. This, I must say, is an even better idea. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian_harp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolian_harp

dt_rsp 9y ago

A bit like Anthem in Dirk Gently.

eurticket 9y ago

Is there something to read me a wikipedia article?

Ryel 9y ago
Working on it. Send me an email if you want to try an early version.
AlecSchueler 9y ago
wikipedia2text | espeak ?

pault 9y ago

I know we're not supposed to post low-effort comments like "this is lovely", but this is lovely.

Ezku 9y ago

You might be interested in Wikirock, a Finnish group who _also_ turn random Wikipedia articles into music. They're on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3c7rymM4Z143IeZiTJJbQ6 https://open.spotify.com/artist/3c7rymM4Z143IeZiTJJbQ6

smoe 9y ago

I love how the results sounds, so I wanted to now how it works. Very briefly glancing over the code and listening to the audio files in the samples folder: The six articles correspond two six different voices or "instruments" which are pre-recorded samples of drone like sound and sequences of notes varying in pitch and speed. The letters in the article then trigger play and stop events for the samples according to a mapping. Example for 'u': https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/gh-pages/samples/grusha/voice-1/u.mp3 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/gh-p... https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/gh-pages/samples/grusha/voice-6/u.mp3 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlesTsurko/microscale/gh-p... As the description indicates, there doesn't seem to be any tone generation or modulation going on in the browser.

alestsurko 9y ago
Exactly. There is a farther explanation in the interview: http://www.preservedsound.com/news/ales-tsurko-microscale-generating-music-from-random-wikipedia-articles http://www.preservedsound.com/news/ales-tsurko-microscale-ge...
- smoe 9y ago
  Great work, fitting everything together so well! How did you go about deciding on the mapping setting like "shouldPauseEventOnMatch", "isLoop" and "eventLength"? Is there a logic behind it or more testing and listing what works together?
  - alestsurko 9y ago
    Thanks! I started with the composition (the music one). So these have been dictated by composition techniques: some samples should play in a loop, others should be played fully before the sequencer's cursor increments etc.

alestsurko 9y ago

Thank you guys! I glad that you liked microscale.

shakna 9y ago
It's a great mix of artistic talent (sampling can be hard), and creative programming (the sequencer is kinda beautiful). You should be proud.
- alestsurko 9y ago
  Thanks!

jslakro 9y ago

How can I play the articles I choose?

alestsurko 9y ago
Due to the album's concept there is no such a feature, sorry. But you can fork the project on github and try to set attribute contenteditable to "true" for the div, which you'd like to fill up with your text. The buffers have ids "buffer-1", "buffer-2" etc.