In the ’80s, a turtle taught kids how to code, with the educational programming language Logo. Now the browser-based music sequencer turtle.audio combines Logo and Mario Paint to let you program synth loops.
Turtle.audio is less intuitive than a lot of other online music toys, because there are some programming principles involved. Unlike sequencers such as Google’s Song Maker, where all your music tracks follow the same timeline, Turtle.audio works in 2D. Black dots—like the moving turtle in Logo—follow programmed paths, playing each coloured note they hit. The same note can lie on different dots’ paths, which encourages users to synchronise their dots into pleasing complementary tunes.
MetaFilter users made some cute tunes on turtle.audio, including this Undertale loop by NMcCoy, and this Aeon Flux-sounding factory loop by bongo_x, depicted above.
They also demonstrated what is, to a connoisseur of internet music generators, the difference between a robust music sequencer and a mere toy: everything you produce with a toy sounds good, because other options have been stripped away from you. But with a robust sequencer like turtle.audio, you can make some heinous shit.
For example, I’ve vandalised a perfectly nice grid by MetaFilter user codacorolla and twisted it into this: turn down your headphones.
Now that I’ve set the bar low, go make some music.
turtle.audio | via MetaFilter
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