GOLS is a sequencer that uses Conway’s Game Of Life to generate rhythmic patterns and trigger samples. I built it using Max 7, Novation Launchpad and Launch Control, and Native Instruments’ Battery 4.
It works by allowing the user to insert a starting GOL pattern, set an iteration rate (aka tempo), and assign one of eight different sounds, represented by different colors, to each cell on the grid. The sounds are triggered via a MIDI message to NI Battery 4 when the cells become alive with every new iteration of the GOL.
Some potential improvements include:
• Increasing the amount of playable sounds in a user-friendly way.
• Finding cool patterns for larger grids (8×16, 16×16, 32x…), which the Max patch fully supports at the moment.
• Storing/loading patterns and sample maps.
• Making this a black box so I can use it as a part of my live setup.
• Finding cool patterns for larger grids (8×16, 16×16, 32x…), which the Max patch fully supports at the moment.
• Storing/loading patterns and sample maps.
• Making this a black box so I can use it as a part of my live setup.
Max handles every stage of the sequencer workflow: from the pattern and sample map input, to the output to the desired instrument. The GOL board and sample map are jit.matrix objects, and the actual game algorithm is implemented by the jit.conway object. This was my very first Max project, so I’m quite sure the patch is far from optimal efficiency.
You can see it in action here: