Atoms
5,034 knowledge atoms — one concept each, the smallest teachable units. This is the reference library, not a course: atoms back the hands-on lessons on the two course paths and are here to look up, not to learn from in order. To find something specific, use search or browse by domain, level or type.
Showing 1,441–1,500 of 5,034 · page 25 / 84
A MIDI-CV interface converts MIDI notes into the pitch voltage and gate a modular understands
A mix is a finite budget — spectrum, stereo width, and headroom shared between all voices
A mix's low-frequency rolloff point reflects its bass instrumentation and genre
A model's depth can be measured either as computation-graph length or as concept-hierarchy depth
A modular kick drum is synthesized by modulating a sine wave's pitch downward with a fast envelope
A module reads any voltage above about +3V as a high gate and below 1V as low
A monosynth's note-priority setting decides which held key sounds and has a drastic effect on playing
A naive digital sawtooth resets only on sample boundaries, causing aliasing
A NAND-gate Schmitt-trigger oscillator can be gated on/off by a control input, letting one oscillator modulate another
A near-monochrome ground with one saturated accent — letting contrast do the work, not hue variety — is the geometric palette recipe
A nn~ model's methods each define a distinct processing pipeline with its own inlet/outlet count
A no-input rig patches outputs back to inputs and is recorded live because settings are unrepeatable
A normalized parabola 4t(1−t) is a clean parametric signal for bounce, squash, and stretch animations
A passive resistor mixer sums multiple audio signals without amplification and is inherently bidirectional
A path tracer is technically a type of ray tracer that accumulates indirect lighting via random sampling
A Pd object only fires from its leftmost (hot) inlet; other inlets are cold and merely store
A pedal-tone holds one pitch while chords change above it, anchoring ambiguous harmony and adding tension
A percussive noise stab is made from a noise source through a fully open filter with a fast envelope
A PerspectiveCamera's frustum determines exactly what is visible and what is clipped in three.js
A phaser with feedback adds sweeping notches and a resonant peak that animate a static chord
A photoresistor between audio signal and ground acts as a passive, optically controlled audio gate with no batteries needed
A photoresistor converts light intensity into resistance, serving as a hands-free gestural controller
A physically meaningful base albedo is around 0.18–0.2, not 1.0, for correct lighting response
A Piezo driver and contact mic on a resonant object create a cheap plate reverb or sculptural signal processor
A plagal cadence is chord IV to chord I — the 'amen' ending heard in hymns
A projector must be an extended (not mirrored) display before launching projection software
A pulse wave's duty cycle sets its harmonic content: 50% is a pure square of odd harmonics, and moving away introduces even harmonics and thins the timbre
A Pure Data object's creation argument only sets an initial value; incoming signal or messages override it
A pure sine wave plus EQ and light reverb is sufficient to build a controlled sub-bass patch
A random-walk melody uses small steps through scale degrees so stepwise motion reads as a tune
A ratchet-retrigger subdivides a single step into a fast burst while a drum roll retriggers across multiple steps
A ray is modeled as the parametric function P(t) = A + t*b to enable intersection math
A reactive Hydra parameter must be written as a () => … thunk — a bare expression is evaluated once at eval time and frozen
A reactive visual parameter that spends most of its time pinned at its min or max fails the sanity check and needs its base, gain, or scale retuned
A real drummer has only two hands and two feet — programming more simultaneous hits than limbs allow breaks realism
A Reese bass gets its characteristic movement from overlapping glide notes that trigger portamento
A Reese bass is a detuned, filtered bass whose beating oscillators give warm, moving low-end
A reference-list SDF is dropped into a shader by adding an offset parameter subtracted from p
A render pipeline's fragment targets array must match the texture format of the color attachments used in the render pass
A Resolume composition is the top-level container for one whole performance setup
A rhythm necklace is an equivalence class of cyclic rhythms that disregards the starting point
A rhythmic motive is a short, identifiable rhythmic cell that can be repeated and varied to drive a groove
A rising audio energy arc can be mapped to rising visual motion rate or scale so that both domains accelerate together during a build
A room reverb over a sliced break restores the sonic cohesion lost by rearranging the hits
A salvaged tape head wired to an amplifier becomes a hand-played instrument reading any magnetic media
A Scene captures a snapshot of selected channel values and fades to them on playback
A semi-looping random CV source (Turing-Machine style) balances a repeating loop against occasional new random values
A Sequence is a Chaser bound to a single Scene whose steps share the same channel set
A sequencer controls an oscillator with two connections: pitch (V/Oct) and gate (trigger)
A sequential voltage source steps through programmed voltages, driving pitch, amplitude and duration at once
A shared reverb across the drum bus places every hit in one acoustic space, gluing separate samples into one kit
A shift-register sequencer like the Turing Machine generates evolving CV by looping a window of random bits, steered rather than programmed
A short downward pitch envelope models the higher-tension membrane transient at drum impact
A short pitch-envelope sweep at note onset adds punch to a modular bass sound without a distortion stage
A signed distance function (SDF) returns positive distances outside a shape, negative inside, and zero at its boundary
A single 'energy' scalar driving multiple motion parameters makes the whole image rise and fall coherently
A single label (International DeeJay Gigolos) functioned as the 'germ cell' of the electroclash scene by gathering its key artists
A slow phasor~ scaled and passed through mtof~ produces a repeating one-octave pitch sweep
A slow warp of a simple texture is the richest single source of visual complexity — it beats a complex static texture
A small single-driver mono speaker spotlights midrange balance and mono compatibility