Livecoding: Ping pong delays

This livecoding piece crafts a suspenseful and ambient sonic environment built entirely from mallet percussion. The music is generative, meaning the system dictates the events and structure in real-time, resulting in a unique, non-repeating experience for every performance.

The core of the sound design lies in a recursive 'ping-pong' technique. This method involves striking the mallets and then using the decay of that sound to inform the timing and intensity of the next strike. The sounds echo and rebound between virtual spaces, creating complex, ever-shifting rhythmic patterns that are both hypnotic and unpredictable. The final effect is a constantly evolving soundscape that retains a chilling, underlying tension.

Credits

• Livecoding software: Extempore
• Sounds: Ableton Live
  • Pong instruments: Ableton Collision Mallets
  • Drone: Ableton Collision Slow Pad
  • Pad: ZebraHZ Eeries High Mono

Full source code on Github: 2024-03-pongs-delay.xtm