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Bytebeat: Experimental music from very short C programs

3 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
4 HN users recommended this demo4 months2014–2023 score 4
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN calls it the video that started the one-line-code music trend and recommends exploring the demoscene author's channel.

Viznut demonstrates bytebeat, experimental music generated by extremely short C programs. It is the first of a series of videos on the technique.

“The video that started it all” (HN, 2015)

4 recommendations · 2 citations · Demos · intro

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@bemmu Jun 2014 Recommends
on HN thread A texture-mapped raycaster in 128 bytes
You can also have procedural music. Viznut (a legendary Finnish democoder) did some experiments to see how short you could code something that still sounds at least interesting: [this video] I also wrote piece of JavaScript that can play these programs in case you want to try create your own: [link]
Viznut's experiments with very short programs that make interesting music
@msarnoff Nov 2015 Recommends
on HN thread Software developers describing their work in 1973 [video]
The video was posted by an awesome demoscene dude named viznut. Check out the rest of his channel. Experimental music from very short C programs: [this video] Robotic Liberation (VIC-20 demo): [link]
Experimental music from very short C programs by a demoscene author
@rzzzt Jun 2023 Recommends
on HN thread Play (1) Linux manual page
I've seen these floating around on YouTube, so you might have some luck searching there (be aware of your volume settings when playing these!) - [link] - [this video] And a longer write-up on the background from the second video: - [link] - [link] - [link]
Example of music from tiny programs with a longer write-up

Citations, criticism and jokes

@malnourish Jun 2014 Cites it
on HN thread A texture-mapped raycaster in 128 bytes
bemmu Hopefully you see this, unfortunately your comment is dead. Because I think your comment has value I will quote it here, please let me know if you'd like it removed. "You can also have procedural music. Viznut (a legendary Finnish democoder) did some experiments to see how short you could code something that still sounds at least interesting: [this video] I also wrote piece of JavaScript that can play these programs in case you want to try create your own: [link] "
Quoting a dead comment about Viznut's short-code music experiments
@sitkack Mar 2021 Cites it
on HN thread A Mind Is Born (2017)
Reminds me somewhat of "Bytebeat: Experimental music from very short C programs" [this video] in its compactness. Previously from [link] see also Ibniz, [link]
Related example of extreme compactness in code

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