Atoms

Electro's science-fiction imagery expresses an afrofuturist vision of Black technological futures

Electroclash's cheap, dated sound was a deliberate punk-DIY aesthetic, not a budget limit

Electronic music leans on a handful of workhorse chord progressions, each with a genre home

Elements moving in the same direction are perceived as a group

Encoding structure as an algorithm lets a whole arrangement be produced and restructured in one move

Engage an input pad when a source clips the preamp even at minimum gain

Engaging MATHS Cycle makes the channel self-oscillate, turning the function generator into an LFO or audio-rate oscillator

Enharmonic intervals sound identical even though their spellings and names differ

Env.new specifies an envelope as arrays of levels, times, and per-segment curvatures

Enveloping the Modulator's amplitude brightens an FM tone over time, replacing the subtractive filter sweep

EnvGen's doneAction argument controls what happens when a finite envelope finishes

EQ blend carves the midrange of an instrumental to make space for an incoming vocal

EQ cannot isolate a single instrument because every instrument's harmonics spread across the spectrum

EQ feathering applies small amounts of equalization at adjacent frequencies instead of a large boost at one frequency

EQ's crucial mix job is reducing frequency masking, not beautifying soloed sounds

EQ's primary mix function is achieving a stable level balance, not improving individual instruments in solo

Equal-loudness contours (Fletcher-Munson curves) show that perceived loudness varies with frequency at the same SPL

Euclidean rhythm notation is a first-class idiom in TidalCycles/Strudel, compressing a groove to two integers

Euclidean sequencers in modular distribute a set number of triggers evenly across a pattern length to generate rhythmic patterns quickly

Euphoric frenchcore is a ~2016 Peacock Records offshoot that fused frenchcore with hardstyle's melodic sensibility

Event-driven sync lets a concurrent voice block on a named cue and be woken by a broadcast — distinct from time-grid quantization

every applies a transformation to a pattern on every nth cycle, leaving other cycles unchanged

Every great mix requires six elements: balance, frequency range, panorama, dimension, dynamics, and interest

Every Pd message is a selector plus arguments, built from float, symbol, and pointer atoms

Every person has a characteristic subjective color palette that reveals personality and is different from objective color harmony

Every Resolume video effect has an Opacity slider that blends the processed output with the original

Every running synth is a node in the server's Node Tree; .free removes one node, ctrl+. frees them all

Every Strudel mini-notation pattern has an equivalent JS function form, but mini-notation has only a handful of modifiers

Every Surge XT LFO has a built-in 6-stage DAHDSR envelope that shapes modulation depth over note lifetime

Every Surge XT LFO slot can run as a wave LFO, envelope, step sequencer, MSEG, or Lua formula

Every three.js program is built from a Scene and Camera passed to a Renderer that draws them to a canvas

every turns a static pattern into an evolving one by transforming it on every Nth cycle

Every visual animation is a parameter driven by a function of time — the character of motion is entirely in that function

Expansion and gating reduce unwanted low-level signals by reversing dynamic range compression

Exponential (not linear) envelope segments sound perceptually linear because hearing is logarithmic

Extended (unbounded) color range allows values outside 0–1 for HDR and wide-gamut workflows

Extracting magic numbers into named variables makes a generative sketch explorable by tuning

Fast attack catches and suppresses transients; slow attack lets them pass through before compression engages

fast(n) and slow(n) scale a whole pattern's tempo, the function forms of * and / in mini-notation

fBm in shaders is built by summing noise octaves with exponentially decreasing amplitude and increasing frequency

FBM sums octaves at doubling frequency and halving amplitude — more octaves add finer natural detail across scales

Feedback gain near 1 causes runaway whiteout — leave headroom and decay each frame

Feeding a frequency-shaped copy into a compressor's detector makes it react only to those frequencies

Feeding an FM operator back into itself converts it from a default low-passed wave to a true sawtooth

Feeding an output buffer back as its own input makes tiny changes compound into emergent patterns

FFT analysis of real sounds requires windowing to reduce spectral leakage from discontinuous segment boundaries

FFT decomposes audio into frequency bins that can be mapped to individual visual elements

Fill factor (density times duration) determines whether a granular cloud is sparse, covered, or packed

Filter automation controls perceived energy without adding notes: opening a lowpass raises energy, closing thins for a breakdown

Filter house's drama comes from manipulating a minimal set of elements, not from adding new ones

Filter keytrack at 100% makes filter cutoff follow note pitch harmonically, preserving timbre across the keyboard

Filter pole count determines the steepness of frequency rolloff: each pole adds 6dB per octave of attenuation

Filter slope steepness is measured in dB/octave; each pole adds 6 dB/oct of attenuation

Filtering a looped disco sample with a sweeping resonant filter is the core French house production move

Filtering an LFO with a lowpass filter smooths abrupt transitions and removes click artifacts

Filtering by key when selecting the next track narrows choices and improves harmonic flow

Finger-drumming captures natural timing and velocity variation that is hard to draw in manually

Fixture channel type determines HTP or LTP priority: Intensity types follow HTP, all others follow LTP

Fixture Modes let one fixture definition cover multiple channel-count configurations

Flashing each pattern element as it becomes active gives a live coder direct visual feedback on timing