Wanted to mention this for some time but kept on pushing it in hopes that I would find time to make some music with it first... but alas to no avail so better mention this now as for me this and Oscilab Pro is the two new apps that made me most excited 2015.
Bytebeat is a more or less new phenomena and have only existed for some years now.
It is writing lines of mathematical equations that generate a chiptunish sound/noise so it is interesting as it is a way to accomplish minimal compositions in a new way.
But think that it is a way to find inspiration for new tracks and rhythms that is hard to get in other ways and mixed in with other elements it can certainly give your tracks an edge.
There is two other Bytebeat apps on Android- Droidbeat and as a machine insert in Caustic.
All three of these apps have advantages but maybe this is the one I prefer for some reasons...
As both Droidbeat and Bytebeat Machine is for free so i suggest to download both and use as needed. Maybe I should mention as well that Caustic is for free without being able to export wav/midi but like Droidbeat it is possible to record directly into a DAW and the last session is saved. Plus that there is a fully functional version for PC...
The Caustic version do have two engines in one instance that can be mixed together plus that it comes with sequencers and of course the possibility to use 14 of them in a composition. The presets are more meant to be used as instruments and not as whole composition but that is a small detail.
Droidbeat machine is great and it have something that the others do not have.
It have the possibility to change the sound using four sliders. Meaning that if it is hard to write the code to get good results it is easy to use a preset and just phuck around with the sliders until something nice comes up. To be able to save directly to wav file there is a paid version but the free one saves presets and can of course be recorded directly into a DAW etc.
Bytebeat machine do have one very nice trick up its sleeve and instead of being confined to low digital rates and bytes it is possible to use a cleaner sound setting with variations. This makes it more flexible as it can fit into mixes better depending on what you are looking for... The other advantage is that it comes with very good presets and presets with the inventor of Bytebeat!
Just listening to them makes me inspired to start new tracks.
The Playstore page (as in this post underneath) and the app have a good explanation of how to create your own Bytebeat compositions without being to confusing. Well worth a read if you are using Caustic or Droidbeat.
There is of course also the possibility to take a equation from one app to another...
If there is someone using Bytebeat as part of a composition please send to musicalandroid@yahoo.com want to use some Bytebeat myself but never know with time etc and it would be nice to hear this utilized mixed in with other sounds...
Play Store info:
Bytebeat Machine is an experimental software synthesizer. Instead of structured composition or instruments it uses functions to generate audio in real-time.
Sometimes simple input functions contain a large amount of musical structure. Sometimes the result is unexpected.. and interesting. Or you can ignore all that and just use this app to generate bleep and glitch noises. Bytebeat Machine has several preset examples to get you started.
Features
• Free. No ads or other tracking garbage.
• Two modes: bytebeat (8-bit) and floatbeat (32-bit).
• Selectable sample rates from 8kHz to 44kHz.
• A number of preset input functions. Save your own input functions for later use.
• Custom text input mode with copy, paste, undo, mystery button (?) and more.
• Export output as .wav file.
• Various output visualizations. Yay.
• Speed slider (kind of hidden under the presets).
What is bytebeat?
Bytebeat output is fully defined by the input function. There are no pre-set instruments, samples or structures. Even slight changes in the input function produce significantly different output (as a hint, prime numbers generally result in less repetition).
Input function has a time index (t) and usually various bitwise and arithmetic operations. Input function is evaluated constantly and time index is incremented by one in each iteration.
The simplest input function is "t", which produces numbers 1, 2, 3, ... and outputs a sawtooth wave audio. Sawtooth wave is generated because the result is wrapped to 8 bits (bytebeat): 0-255 remain unchanged, but 256 becomes 1, 356 becomes 101 and so on.
Input function "t * 2" decreases the wavelength and produces a result one octave higher. Input function "t & 128" produces a square wave. Bitwise operators << and >> can be used for more interesting results. Input functions can be combined with bitwise operator "|" or even "&" and "^", for example "(t>>9) | (t>>13)".
Bytebeat Machine uses 'C -type syntax' and basic arithmetic operations, bitwise operations as well as comparisons are supported:
- arithmetic operations: +, -, *, /, %
- bitwise operations: <<, >>, &, |, ^
- comparison operations: <=, >=, ==, !=
Bytebeat was first introduced late 2011 in a blog posthttp://countercomplex.blogspot.com/2011/10/algorithmic-symphonies-from-one-line-of.html by 'viznut'. Online tools such as http://wurstcaptures.untergrund.net/music/ surfaced soon after, followed by a theoretical introduction http://countercomplex.blogspot.com/2011/10/some-deep-analysis-of-one-line-music.html and a paper http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.1368. Active community discussion and development in IRC and various forums (pouet.net) lasted a couple of months.
This app might be developed further based on interest and feedback. #bytebeat
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