Atoms

A reference track calibrates your ears to a room and system before mixing

A sample-and-hold circuit samples a voltage on a trigger and holds that value until the next trigger

A sampler collapses the distinction between documenting and creating sound

A sawtooth contains every harmonic with the nth at 1/n the fundamental's amplitude

A second wave of Detroit techno broke through in the early 1990s around UR and +8

A set of colors is harmonious when their mixture yields a neutral gray

A signal can be reconstructed only if sampled above twice its highest frequency

A slew limiter caps how fast a voltage can change, turning stepped CV into glide (portamento)

A solderless breadboard allows rapid, reversible circuit assembly for prototyping before committing to a soldered board

A song is a block of time broken into smaller sections, and arranging is assembling those sections

A Sonic Pi live_loop with no sleep and no sync throws a 'did not sleep' error and stops

A sound spectrum is the complete set of frequency components with their amplitudes and phases

A sound's envelope is its amplitude contour over time, and that shape is a primary cue for instrument identity

A standardized, color-coded session layout frees attention for mix decisions

A stereo mix must survive summing to mono, so mono compatibility must be checked

A SuperCollider Array is a collection whose messages return transformed copies and whose arithmetic broadcasts element-wise

A SuperCollider pattern's degree defaults to C major unless a scale, root, and octave are given

A SuperDirt sample name must match a dirt-samples folder; sound "kick" is silent because the folder is bd

A synth maps a note number to frequency and keystroke velocity to amplitude before any sound is generated

A synth voice's character is set by how its oscillator generates sound — the synthesis method

A synthesis envelope is a control curve that shapes a parameter of the generated signal over time

A tilde or hyphen in mini-notation inserts a silent step that preserves the grid

A time signature specifies the number of beats per bar (numerator) and the beat note value (denominator)

A trailing tilde marks Pd signal objects, distinguishing the audio level from the control level

A trance track builds tension to a peak, then strips percussion in a breakdown before rebuilding

A trance track is unified by one central hook that recurs throughout the whole song

A triad stacks root, third, and fifth of a scale degree; its quality is set by the semitone intervals

A Unit Generator (UGen) is an object that generates or processes signals entirely in the server

A VCA sets signal level in proportion to a control voltage, acting as a voltage-operated volume knob

A VCF is a Eurorack filter, usually low-pass, whose cutoff can be swept by control voltage

A VCF shapes timbre by removing frequencies above (LPF), below (HPF), or outside (BPF) the cutoff

A VCO generates a periodic waveform whose pitch tracks an incoming control voltage

A waveform's shape determines its harmonic content, fixing its timbre before any filtering

A wavetable is a collection of single-cycle waveforms that can be scanned sequentially to animate a sound's timbre

Abandoning the quantise grid can be a deliberate aesthetic, not a timing error

Absolute (perfect) pitch names a note with no reference, unlike the relative-pitch skills most ear training builds

Abstraction hides implementation details so programmers focus on what code does, not how

Accessible capture technology transforms media consumption from one-way broadcast into participatory two-way culture

Accessible sampling technology enabled home production and broke the gate-keeping of studio access in jungle's formation

Acid house is built on the Roland TB-303's electronic squelch, developed by Chicago DJs in the mid-1980s

Acid house triggered Britain's Second Summer of Love (1988), dissolving social divisions through shared dance and ecstasy

Acid house was born when Chicago producers twisted an unprogrammed Roland TB-303's knobs to make squelching basslines

Acid house was created by manipulating the TB-303's knobs live rather than following its intended programming method

Acid house was discovered accidentally when Phuture misused a Roland TB-303 in 1987

Acid techno emerged from applying Chicago acid house's TB-303 squelch to harder European techno

Active listening with variable-speed and filtering tools is itself a compositional practice

Adding drum machines to DJ sets triggered house music's transition from DJing to producing

Additive (Linear Dodge) blend mode sums pixel values, producing glowing brightness that clips to white on overflow

Additive light mixing yields white; subtractive pigment mixing yields gray-black

Additive synthesis builds complex timbres by summing many sine partials with individual amplitude envelopes

Affordable Roland drum machines and the TB-303 bass synthesizer were the defining production tools of Chicago house

Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock fused Kraftwerk's European machine music with the Bronx, seeding a universal electronic sound

AI-generated audio is permitted on Freesound if tagged with GenAI and the generating model is named in the description

Algorave embraces alien, futuristic aesthetics as a deliberate departure from mainstream dance music

Algorave inherits a lineage of algorithmic dance music running from Eno's generative practices through 1990s rave/techno

Algorave is a named live-coded dance music genre and social format that expanded live coding's audience beyond specialist contexts

Algorave is tool-agnostic: multiple live coding systems produce its music and visuals

All great arrangements are built on tension and release — contrast between full and sparse, loud and quiet

All of Western music can be expressed with two Sonic Pi commands: play (pitch) and sleep (timing)

All Strudel voices default to orbit(0), so their reverb and delay sends share one bus — split voices with .orbit(n) for independent wet levels