Whoa there, cowboy. You can put away your trigger finger for today. Come to think of it, while you're at it, why don't you let the gears between your ears cool down a bit? Pulsate by André Michelle is a relaxing little musical webtoy where you just click to create. Click anywhere within the black play area to create an orange circle that will expand until it touches another. When the two collide, they emit a tone and then shrink back down before expanding again. You can create as many circles as you want, including circles within circles, and the result is a simple but calming melody that sounds a bit like rain and a bit like a sedate toddler on a xylophone. Hit the [spacebar] to clear the screen.
It's lovely, it's relaxing, and it's just a shame that there's no way to share your musical explorations with people you can't physically pull into the room your computer is in. The ability to also just delete a single shape instead of the whole lot would have made it easier to experiment. Still, Pulsate is one of those simple little things that can put a smile on your face, and that's always a good thing. Despite a distinct lack of space aliens to blow up or princesses to rescue, it's a great way to spend some time. So go ahead and create a little; we promise you the universe will be safe for one afternoon without you.
Finally, a "game" that forces people to play casually! ^^
But it's not really a game though... since there really isn't a defined goal. :S
I love webtoys like this. You get some really cool effects by clicking the same spot several times at a regular beat.
Lots of fun. There's one glitch though, where if you have a circle bouncing back and forth between two really small circle, the bigger circle will eventually "leak" through one of them. It sounds cool while it lasts, though.
Combine keith's idea with a circle outside the concentric circles to get an even better effect.
This is beautiful and awesome. I commented at the game itself saying that it reminded me of wind chimes. I'm quite glad I checked JIG today.
This is really neat. For something so simple, it's really a lot of fun.
This is an awesome webtoy. i spent a long time experimenting with pattern transfer in this game, and i think it'd add a lot if we were able to delete some circles after starting them.
Can sound like rain, and visually reminds me of ripples in rain puddles. It was lovely to be playing with patterns and randomness. Really beautiful.
Spent hours exploring Andre Michelle's other creations as well. He's a super smart guy!
So Zen and so Hypnotizing...
I'm going to start this beautiful webtoy in the morning, with the speakers up loud, and do my housework...
Brilliant... not only does the toy sound like rain, but the contracting and expanding circles remind one of raindrops hitting a body of water's surface...
, ' , ' . ' , . ' ,
. , . , , . . . ' '
. ' . . ' ' ' , .
But the fun is just beginning... I agree with Chiktionary: Andre is a genius!
Try the Tone Matrix
Now combine the two toys. For more layers, add a second tone matrix (Chrome works great here).
Now zoom Pulsate, and you have more circle area to play with.
Recording can be done with Audacity.
Actually there is a limit to the amount of circles you can generate - it's around 35. D:
This would make a great computational puzzle. Given just the audio output and knowledge of the rate at which circles expand, could you figure out a) how many circles there are and b) what their relative x and y coordinates are?
Is there a minimum number of tones one would need to fit a solution?
I agree with the comments that a touch/iPad version of this - with the ability to move or delete circles would be incredible. Maybe even add different kinds of circles with different expansion rates or different types of tones.
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