mf://TODO/

Michael Forrest's Museum of Unfinished Projects

1. The Dubstep Machine

Here is something I started a couple of years ago when dubstep still seemed quite cool.

I was searching for the secret to making those types of musical progressions and came up with this app for interactively toggling and tuning tempo-locked loops. The visual aspect was important to me - I wanted to make sure there was always accurate graphical feedback tightly synchronised to the sound a la Teenage Engineering OP-1. I built this prototype in about a day but then I stalled…

What happened?

I needed:

  1. graphic design
  2. some decent loops

Also, I’d decided to devote the bulk of my time to completing my Happiness Mood Tracking Journal App and this app didn’t really in with the ‘Apps For Life’ brand I was developing for Good To Hear.

Has anything changed since then?

I subsequently finished my ‘dubstep anthem’ Believe It so I do have some decent loops for it now.

I had some ideas about the graphic design style too - I’d like to see a grungy pixel art aesthetic referencing areas of London.

I discovered this Mac App PaintCode that would be a good place to figure out some nice dynamic rendering.

Can it be revived?

Probably. I might rebrand it Death To Dubstep or something like that - “the last nail in dubstep’s coffin” to make it seem less dated. But it’s a very low priority at the moment.

Is there any way to help?

I dunno. If you’re good at music visualisation or iOS programming you could help me get this finished.