Game Of Life Music Sequencer For iOS, Runxt Life

Runxt Life (App Store link) is a $3.99 generative music application created for the iOS platform, based on the cellular automaton theory “Conway’s Game of Life” by John Horton Conway.

The ‘game’ is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input from humans. One interacts with the Game of Life by creating an initial configuration and observing how it evolves.

To use the sequencer, you draw single cells or a predefined pattern stamp on a two dimensional grid. This pattern will evolve according to the rules of “Conway’s Game of Life” after you press ‘play’ or ‘step forward’. Five different colors each represent a different sound or channel.

Runxt Life uses the output of the grid, affected by a few parameters, to either generate sounds or send MIDI notes to your computer with the help of the Runxt Life – OSC to MIDI application. In this application you can configure which color is sent to which MIDI channel.

5 thoughts on “Game Of Life Music Sequencer For iOS, Runxt Life

  1. while this isnt a new idea, its one that is very interesting and deserves further development. ive been waiting for a program like this on ios. creating music that evolves thru gaming environments is fascinating to me.

  2. dmac – yes – there need to be more options for controlling the output, though, or the result reflects the designer more than the user. Eno's Bloom or Air are examples of this.

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