Atoms

Music source separation splits a stereo mix into isolated stems (drums, bass, vocals, other)

Musical patterns gain complexity from interference between simple layers — not from the complexity of individual layers

Musical structure operates across multiple nested timescales from microsound through the perceptual present to formal sections

Musique concrète built music from recorded real-world sounds rather than notation for instruments

Muted-kit and rhythmic variations drive a track's build-ups and breakdowns

Named threads in Sonic Pi prevent duplicate instances when Run is pressed multiple times

Natural motion follows arcs rather than straight lines, giving animation flow and biological authenticity

Near-coincident arrays add arrival-time differences to produce a more spacious stereo image

Negative space is a deliberate compositional choice, not a deficiency — emptiness amplifies the subject

Nested loops over a grid of tiles are the foundation of parametric tiling patterns in p5.js

Nested SC expressions evaluate inside-out; proper indentation makes nesting depth visually explicit

Network jitter in OSC streams can be mitigated by buffering, rate-limiting, or smoothing incoming values

Neurofunk evolved from techstep as producers pushed bass design beyond distortion

New beat emerged when Belgian EBM groups incorporated hip-hop and acid house into a slower offshoot

New modules are added in VCV Rack by right-clicking an empty rack space to launch the Module Browser

nn~ exposes RAVE encode, decode, and forward as Max/MSP or Pure Data audio-rate methods

nn~ is a translation layer that runs any TorchScript (.ts) model as a live Max/MSP or Pure Data object

nn~ model attributes are model-defined, live-controllable parameters set via 'set NAME VALUE' messages

nn~'s circular buffer amortizes neural model compute across time, at the cost of added latency

No-input mixing generates sound by routing a mixer's outputs back into its own inputs to self-oscillate

NoDerivatives (ND) licenses forbid syncing a track to video, because sync counts as making a derivative work

Noise artists build custom and circuit-bent instruments to produce sounds unavailable from conventional tools

Noise-field is coherent — nearby points are similar yet non-repeating — making it the foundational texture primitive for organic imagery

Noise, dust, saturation, and distortion are intentional aesthetic choices in filter house, not problems to fix

Noisia's Stigma set a technical benchmark for neurofunk via bass resampling and transient design

Non-integer C:M ratios in FM synthesis produce inharmonic spectra for metallic and bell sounds

norm(), lerp(), and map() convert and interpolate values between numeric ranges

Normalizing UV coordinates to clip space (−1 to 1, aspect-ratio-corrected) makes shaders independent of canvas resolution

North American bands fused EBM bass sequences with hardcore punk and thrash metal, producing industrial metal

NRG's sub-names (nu-NRG then hard NRG) track the sound getting progressively darker and fiercer

Nu-disco distinguishes itself from purely electronic house by keeping live guitar and bass licks as primary groove elements

Nu-disco's drum groove uses four-on-the-floor kick with an organic, lively feel drawn from classic disco recordings

Octave doubling enriches chords by repeating root and fifth across registers; open vs. closed spacing changes density

octs generates a ring of the same note across multiple consecutive octaves

off delays a transformed copy of a pattern by a fraction of a cycle and layers it over the original

Offline pitch correction gives more control and sounds more transparent than real-time autotune for isolated notes

Offsetting loop lengths in polymeter yields minutes of non-repeating combination from short loops with zero randomness

ofImage loads and draws image files with a two-call setup/draw pattern

ofImage.grabScreen() captures the current frame to a PNG in bin/data

ofSoundPlayer loads and plays a sound file from bin/data with load() then play()

On Maschine, tempo-matching must be done before chopping because its Sampler cannot warp in real time

One coherent noise source well-warped beats many uncorrelated textures fighting — texture should support form, not compete with the focal-point

One or two motions at a time — a still figure on a flowing ground reads far better than everything moving

One-shot mode plays a drum sample to its full decay; gate mode ties sample length to note length

Onset/voice density over time is the most reliable lever for controlling perceived energy in an arrangement

Opaque flat colors can create a convincing illusion of transparency when precisely calibrated as a middle mixture

Open Stage Control loads a JSON file that defines a portable OSC control surface

openFrameworks addons are added via projectGenerator or an addons.make file

Orbital used MMT-8 hardware sequencers in a loop-switching live setup that performed music by swapping patterns rather than triggering samples

Orca encodes values 0–35 in base-36 using digits 0–9 and letters A–Z

Orca is a 2D grid where every alphabet letter is a live operator

ORCA is a grid-based live-coding environment where single-letter instructions form music machines by spatial adjacency

Orca variables store and retrieve single characters via V, enabling cross-grid wiring

Orca's C clock outputs a counting value while D delay emits a bang on the modulo

Orca's colon operator sends MIDI notes with channel, octave, and note arguments

Orca's R operator outputs a random value between min and max each frame

Orca's T (track) operator sequences melody by indexing into a character string

Organic geometry builds natural-looking forms from strictly geometric primitives

Organic palettes use analogous color harmony — neighboring hues with low contrast and smooth gradients

Original-vocal Jersey club (2018-2020) unlocked radio by replacing sample-based remixes with songs