This Interactive Site Lets You Make Music From Cellular Machines

Hear the music of life.

In a nutshell, the aim of generative music is to structure randomness to create an infinite, ever-morphing stream of sound. But while Brian Eno used randomization scripts for his newest infinitely generating album, Reflection, why not use the principles of the most random thing out there: life?

That is the basic idea behind an interactive sound project by CIVIM. Billed as a project that tries to “make music without musical instruments,” the source of the generative music comes from an implementation of the mathematics game, “Game of Life”.

The game was invented by the British mathematician John Horton Conway as a way of conceiving of a hypothetical machine that had the ability to create copies of itself. These “cells” have become keys and instruments in the CIVIM iteration. And, via a series of weird coding tricks, they come to make some pretty out-there noises. Even better: the site is interactive, meaning you get to influence the generating sound patterns as cells emerge and die around you. Head here to start playing.

Read more: Watch Brian Eno explain why music is like gardening