The Grid

Codrin Podoleanu

2022

Outline

An infinite monochrome grid stretches over the horizon. Fast broken beats stimulate the literal building blocks of this abstract pattern. They rise, jitter and flash in sync with the energetic music. Like drawn into a vortex you ride the stepped waves of cyberspace.

Video link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rcma62waXz4VjXyKXRNgsLhMpExpWFjm/view?usp=sharing

Technical Choices

My DAW of choice was Ableton Live since I already assembled a small library of synth presets I made in the past. Experience and belief in the power of its features also played a role in this choice. For the first part of the production process I choose the session view. I created small loops for each track which build on top of each other. Switching to the arrangement view made sense to lay out the actual linear structure of the track.

The percussion is mainly sample based, which provided a quick foundation to add the other elements onto. The synth voices are detuned and distorted in varying intensity to make them sound more organic and interesting. To glue the whole track together I sidechained the synth voices to the percussion tracks and added a single reverb to all synths.

I made extensive use of es6 class features, including private properties. This modularization was less motivated by reasons regarding code-reusability and more by avoiding tightly coupled code that would make the speedy iterative process of creative coding unbearable.

Artistic Approach

The idea of the Grid as as old as it is pervasive. One of the earliest examples of the grid is seen in Tron (1982). But compared to the grid's newer champions – retro-revival aesthetics like Synth- and Vaporwave –seemingly nothing has changed. It is apparent that the appeal of the grid lies in its simplicity and abstract appearance. My approach to illustrating the grid without deviating too far away from its iconic look is by assembling it out of boxes instead of lines. Instead of, for example, displacing the wireframe plane of the grid like it is often seen, in my grid the individual boxes are manipulated and break up the shape of the uniform grid.

The grid has a retrofuturistic quality to it; a past vision of the future. It is also synonymous with the digital realm, so the application of distinctly synthetic music makes sense. And what else feels like plugging into the matrix through a cyberdeck than good old frantic drum and bass?

Learnings & Reflection

Regarding music production I could very much feel the importance of getting into a "flow" state. Phases where producing felt contrived moved slowly and were little fun. As soon as a spark was ignited however, everything worked more smoothly. A prerequisite for that spark is some kind of base. Whether it is structural, conceptual, percussive or harmonic. Without some idea that provides orientation, production felt like a grind to me.

Another factor for friction is the lack of proper tools. In my case the lack of a musical keyboard. Without much music theory, the "playing around" approach of finding suitable pitches is the way to go. The degree of freedom and intuitiveness that a proper keyboard is incomparable to the mechanical computer keyboard.

While much of refactoring of my code probably came from a place of "effective procrastination", I believe the results actually helped me a lot in the later stages of the programm. Carefully thinking and modularizing my code made it easy for me to add features, make changes and debug errors. It's definitely possible to overdo, but in general refactoring is worth your time, even in smaller projects.