Interactive Music Visualisation
Glowified
In my first semester, I got in touch with Processing. Inspired by a photo I took, I soon started to experiment with particle systems. I developed a better understanding of how physical systems can be represented with code. Then came “Beyond Processing into VJing”, a class given by Christopher Warnow and Stephan Thiel.
Glowified is an interactive, audio-reactive music visualization made with Processing. Glowing particles are the key element of the system. Able to form various arrangements, they react on frequencies and beats recorded by a microphone. Additional parameters can be controlled via a touch interface running on iOS. The system is flexible enough to enable the user to adapt to different styles of music.
It all started with this photo of tinted water that I took while practicing flash photography. It inspired me for a long time. The process of diffusion, where particles move between areas of different concentrations, results in beautiful arrangements.
I wanted to recreate that system, but realized that I wouldn’t be able to get it at a good performance. It would require shaders and fancy algorithms. I refashioned my idea and came up with interesting systems that became part of Glowified later.
Finally, we had a live performance in a small club back in time. It was a nice experience and I realized that the system was flexible enough to deal with various music styles.