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Random Synthesizer

This code uses the Minim library, which makes it possible to play sounds from Processing.

Looking at Minim’s documentation, I found the AudioPlayer#playNote() function, which allows playing of a note at a specific frequency.

Now that we have that function, we can feed it random values to create a random song.

import ddf.minim.Minim;
import ddf.minim.AudioOutput;

AudioOutput out;

void setup() {
  size(300, 100);

  Minim minim = new Minim(this);
  out = minim.getLineOut();

  frameRate(4);
}

void draw() {

  float note = random(1000);

  out.playNote(note);

  stroke(random(256), random(256), random(256));
  line(width*note/1000, 0, width*note/1000, height);
}

The result is a random “song” that sounds like this:

Oh and then just for fun, I’m drawing a randomly colored line with an X value based on the frequency of the note.

Tweak Ideas

Make it so the notes speed up over time.
Move the random note playing into the keyPressed() function to turn your keyboard into a synthesizer. Or play a note when the user clicks, based on the mouse position.
Instead of playing random notes, create an “audio random walker” that plays notes based on a value that you change over time.
Use the noise() function instead of playing random notes.

Libraries

Random Synthesizer

Random Synthesizer

Tweak Ideas

Libraries Examples