Mapping the highs band to glitch intensity makes corruption spike with hats and transients — the closest proxy to onset-triggered glitching

For the glitch style, audio-reactivity means corruption rises and falls with sonic energy. The highs band (a.fft[3]) carries hat hits, transients, and high-energy content — the most percussive and aggressive part of the spectrum — matching the glitch aesthetic’s own energy profile. Driving glitch intensity (channel-offset amount, pixelation block size, grain density) from this band produces corruption spikes that track the music’s most transient moments. However, this is envelope-following reactivity, not onset-triggering: the corruption ramps smoothly with the band’s amplitude, not as a discrete event on each hit. True onset-triggered glitch bursts (‘corrupt on each snare’) are not yet possible — they require onset detection that the 4-bin rig does not provide.

Examples

Hydra: .shift(()=>a.fft[3]*0.05, ()=>a.fft[3]*0.05) — chromatic shift spikes with hats. Or .pixelate(()=>256-a.fft[3]*200, ...) — block size shrinks (more pixelated) with transient energy.

Assessment

Explain why the highs band is the natural reactive band for glitch visuals. What is the difference between envelope-following and onset-triggered reactivity, and why does the 4-bin rig only support the former?