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The Automaton plugin from Audio Damage uses the rules of cellular automata for sequence and manipulation of audio. It's AU/VST format compatible and comes with four built-in effects, each with independently customizable behavior. Life simulating algorithms are being used for generative music more and more lately, and for good reason. These techniques can add evolving depth and detail to the oft-repetitive default behaviors of popular music software. Plus, they're fun to play with; set up a few parameters, hit play and listen to your song grow.
Though I've yet to take the Automaton for a spin, it seems a pretty good deal @ $49USD and I've enjoyed some of the developer's other offerings (including their freebee fuzz effect). Even still, I imagine similar tools using PureData/MaxMSP could be easily realized. Video demo & infos - Audio Damage::Automaton [via Create Digital Music]
More:
CellularRecombomat circuit-bent-cellular-automata-synth
Cellular Automata Video Synthesizer Kit & Game of Life LED board
See also: GlitchDS, an open-source Game of Life sequencer for the Nintendo DS.
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right! I've been meaning to check that out, alas my card is flakey as of late :(
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I liked it so much, I wrote a Flash version for people who don't own a DS or an R4.
http://failrate.com/b/GlitchCA.html
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