Loop Maker — mandala of orbital voices and polyrhythms

Loop Maker is a minimal loop maker online: every tap adds a voice that orbits around the center. The radius becomes the frequency, the speed becomes the cycle. Several layered voices draw a mandala and create a hypnotic polyrhythm.

How to play

Tap anywhere to add a voice. The radius depends on distance from center. Pick a color from the bottom palette to set the hue of the next voices, or leave it on rainbow for a varied mandala. Tap directly on an existing voice to remove it.

Why it's satisfying

When two voices share an integer cycle ratio (2:1, 3:2…), they visually meet at regular intervals: that's what creates the mandala. The brain loves recognizing these emergent patterns. It's harmonography for the tactile gesture.

The idea behind it

Two voices with periods in a simple ratio, like 2:1 or 3:2, come back to the same position together after a short time, and the eye sees the meeting points as a pattern. Musicians call two rhythms played together a polyrhythm: three beats against two is the classic one, heard in West African drumming and in a lot of jazz. The drawing is related to the harmonograph, a Victorian machine where swinging pendulums drew similar figures on paper.

About

Loop Maker is part of Alcy, fifty free contemplative micro-games in your browser. If you like emergent patterns, also try Bloom (golden phyllotaxis), Spirograph (gear rosettes) and Constellation.