You're the Conductor with Interactive Song "Jazz.Computer"

Let the good times scroll.

June 5, 2015, 2:45pm

Even the most tone deaf user can become a jazz sensation with browser-based interactive song, "Jazz.Computer." The site comes from the joined efforts of musician/programmer Yotam Mann and animator/designer Sarah Rothberg, who have built a platform open to anyone with a phone or computer, indifferent to the individual's musiciality—or lack thereof. By scrolling up and down, down then up, Jazz.Computer riffs with a melodious spectrum of chords, arrangements, and tibres while, in the meantime, the background flashes with looping GIFs worthy of a technicolor pop video, and rounds out with IRL emojis.

Behind Rothberg's bright designs is the programmed horsepower of the entire operation: Mann's original open source Javascript library Tone.js, which churns out realtime synthesis, playback, and browser effects through Web Audio API. “Creating an interactive song like 'Jazz.Computer' is very different from other music production," Mann tells The Creators Project. "It's sort of like patching together an elaborate modular synth and then letting listeners fiddle with the knobs. I don't have full control over what happens. I set up a structure over which users can improvise and explore.”

Although you need to visit the site for its full cool cat effects, below are a few of the creators' screencaps from "Jazz.Computer."