Download Coactive in mp3 format: http://www.sgxmusic.com/
music/SGX%20-%20Coactive%
20%5BShort%20Edit%5D.mp3 and other music by SGX at www.sgxmusic.com.

For an in-depth tutorial how to play this (hopefully you won't need it), check www.sgxmusic.com/idontge
tit.htm.

This interactive Flash application was created to let the user build and arrange his or her own version of my song “Coactive” from premade audio pieces within a visually appealing graphical user interface. My goal was to make something interesting both visually and musically and to be able to arrange an entire song with real structure and development in the Flash application.

In “Coactive,” the user can turn loops of separate instruments, melodies, and beats on and off as he pleases. Each audio loop is accompanied by a visual animated representation of the audio. The application contains five different “sections” of the song. Each section allows the user to trigger a different combination of up to eight loops. The goal in the design of the audio controls was always to bolster a musical result; loops of audio do not begin as soon as they are triggered -they begin at the beginning of the next measure. The application only moves to the next section at the end of a four-bar period to allow musical phrases to be completed, and the user can pre-select which loops he wants to play automatically once the transition to a new section is complete.

For the design of the user interface, I deliberately kept it somewhat cryptic and not obvious. I didn’t want any words, letters, numbers, or identifiable symbols anywhere on the screen. All sounds and song structures are represented visually. The music is generally pretty abstract and non-specific in meaning, so I wanted the user interface to match that feeling. I’ve found that a lot of what is interesting in interactive media is playing with the system until you find out how it works. Hopefully the user will be able to figure out mine eventually, but learning it should be fun. If the user is stuck, there is a little tab with a question mark that initiates a help mode that explains the system.

I hope you have fun playing around with this.