Understandable evolution
The next 8×16 state is visible beside the active beat. Switch between bounded and wrapping edges, then compare each generation without guessing what the rule will do.
Cellular automata drum sequencer
Turn Life rules into a cellular automata drum sequencer.
Draw a beat, lock the cells you want to preserve, preview the next generation, then hear the pattern evolve around you. Every drum voice is synthesized in your browser—no sample pack and no account required.
Compose · evolve · capture
A cellular automata drum sequencer where the next bar follows a living system.
Conway Cadence maps eight drum voices to the rows of a sixteen-step grid. An active square sounds when the playhead reaches its column. At the end of a loop, the familiar birth and survival rules can produce a new pattern. The bounded setting treats the outer edge as a wall, while wrap mode connects opposite edges like a musical torus. The preview always shows the next state before you commit to it.
Use cell locks when a kick, backbeat, or accent must survive. Mute and solo controls make it possible to inspect one rhythmic layer at a time, and every track has its own output level. Four original seeds provide useful starting gestures without copying an existing song or pattern. You can step the automaton forward, restore earlier generations, share the complete state in a URL, or record the synthesized master output as a WebM file.
Original browser audio
Kick, snare, hats, clap, tom, rim, and shaker are produced with oscillators and filtered noise in Web Audio. No third-party samples are downloaded or embedded.
Portable patterns
The Share URL control stores cells, locks, tempo, subdivision, and boundary mode in the link itself. Recording uses the browser’s MediaRecorder support and stays on your device.
How the 8×16 cellular grid becomes rhythm
A sixteen-step row represents one measure at the selected subdivision. Moving downward changes instrument rather than time, so vertical neighbours can influence a different drum voice while horizontal neighbours connect nearby moments in the loop. This mapping is intentionally simple enough to read at a glance. If you want a detailed control-by-control walkthrough before composing, the sequencer guide explains drawing, transport, mixing, and recording in order.
What bounded and wrap edges change
Boundary mode changes which cells count as neighbours at the outer rows and columns. Bounded edges end the world at the frame, often making activity decay near the perimeter. Wrap edges connect opposite sides, letting a phrase cross from step sixteen to step one or from the shaker row to the kick row. The preview recalculates immediately, so you can compare both interpretations before advancing the pattern.
Why locked cells matter in a generative beat
Pure cellular evolution can erase a useful downbeat as quickly as it creates an interesting fill. A lock protects either an active or inactive state while surrounding cells continue to evolve. That makes it possible to keep a four-on-the-floor anchor, reserve silence for a break, or preserve one backbeat while the hats mutate. The design decisions behind this balance are described on the About page.
Share or record without an account
A shared link contains the compact grid, locks, tempo, subdivision, seed label, and boundary setting. Anyone opening it receives the same starting state without a profile or cloud save. Recording captures only the synthesized master stream in the browser and downloads it locally. Review the privacy explanation for the exact data boundary and the role of optional consent-based analytics.