# Plotting patterns in music with a fantasy record player

DevFeed: [Plotting patterns in music with a fantasy record player](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/plotting-patterns-in-music-with-a-fantasy-record-player-21656.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.windytan.com/2020/12/plotting-patterns-in-music-with-fantasy.html>)

Author: Oona Räisänen (noreply@blogger.com)

Published: 2020-12-08T21:42:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Oona Räisänen](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/oona-raisanen.md>)

Topics: [Script](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/script.md>), [e-ink](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/e-ink.md>), [3D](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/3d.md>)

Tags: [3d](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/3d.md>), [art](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/art.md>), [audio-media](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/audio-media.md>), [blender](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blender.md>), [computer](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/computer.md>), [e-ink](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/e-ink.md>), [experiment](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/experiment.md>), [music](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/music.md>), [patterns](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/patterns.md>), [physics](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/physics.md>), [plotting](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/plotting.md>), [script](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/script.md>), [shower-thoughts](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/shower-thoughts.md>), [signal](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/signal.md>), [video](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/video.md>)

## AI overview

The article explores how a vinyl record's wavy surface pattern can reflect the tempo and beat structure of its music. It describes a script that plots FLAC amplitude into a tempo-based grid and discusses clearer patterns in quantized electronic, pop, and rock music, along with a 3D-rendered fantasy record-player experiment.

## Source excerpt

Back in April I bought a vinyl record that had a weird wavy pattern near the outer edge. I though I may have broken it somehow but couldn't even test this because I don't own a record player. *) But when I took a closer look at the pattern it seemed to somehow follow changes in the music. That doesn't look like damage at all. When I played the CD version it became clear: this was an artifact of the tempo of the electronic track (100 bpm) being a multiple of the rotational speed (33 1/3 rpm), and these were probably drum hits! My tweet sparked some interesting discussion and I've been pondering this ever since. Could we plot any song as a loop or grid based on its own tempo and see interesting patterns? (*) I know, it's a little odd. But I have a few unplayed vinyl records waiting for the day that I finally have the proper equipment. By the way, the song was Black Pink by RinneRadio from their wonderful album staRRk. I wrote a little script to do just this: to plot the amplitude of the FLAC into a grid with an adjustable width. The result looks very similar to the pattern on the vinyl surface! Note that this image is a "straightened out" version of the disc surface and it's showing three of those wavy patterns. The top edge corresponds to the outer edge of the vinyl. Later I wrote a little more ambitious plotter that shall be explained soon. Computer-conducted music gives best patterns After plotting several different songs against their own tempo like this it seemed that in addition to electronic music a lot of pop and rock has this type of a pattern, too. The most striking and clear patterns can be seen in music that makes use of drum samples in a quantized time base (aka. a drum machine): the same kick drum sample, for example, repeats four times in each bar, perfectly timed by a computer so that they align in phase. Somewhat similar patterns can be seen in live music that is played to a "click track": each band member hears a common computer-generated time signal