05 / machines · small machines · berlin · 2026

SMALL MACHINES

A growing world of original browser instruments, songs and encounters between machines. SID/65 makes a three-voice city, PAULA/68 brings samples and tracker patterns. Three records — and seven films computed from the scores, one for each piece of Allein und zusammen.

07: films
17:11: running time
02: machines heard

playlist · allein und zusammen plays in order · I – VII

SMALL MACHINES SID/65 · PAULA/68 load the playlist from youtube-nocookie.com · only after this click

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films / allein und zusammen

Computed from the score,
not from the sound.

Seven films for the seven pieces of Allein und zusammen. Every note, sample, envelope and section becomes an image event on the sixteenth where it stands in the music, so the same score always yields the same film. SID is line and light; Paula is a thing — a petal, a hole in paper, a mark on tape. Each player loads only after you choose it.

I – II · SID/65 aloneThree synthesized voices driven by a 6502 music routine. Line and light.

i / drei stimmen im neon SID/65 · 2:17

load the film from youtube-nocookie.com · only after this click

SID/65 · SM001 “Drei Stimmen, eine Stadt” · track 2 · 118 BPM · A minor

Drei Stimmen im Neon

Three neon tubes by a wet street, each bent into the waveform of its voice: pulse for the melody, sawtooth for the bass, noise and triangle for the drums. With every note a tube takes on the number of cycles of the new pitch, strikes with a brief flicker and glows as brightly as the chip's envelope allows. The rain mirrors the three voices.

computed from the score · 1080p · 30 fps open on youtube

ii / ein bit von dir SID/65 · 2:31

load the film from youtube-nocookie.com · only after this click

SID/65 · SM001 “Drei Stimmen, eine Stadt” · track 4 · 80 BPM · B minor / D major

Ein Bit von dir

Two lights far apart. The triangle melody sends each note across as a bit on an arc – the higher the note, the higher the arc – and the pulse voice answers from the right; the held bass is the horizon. Every flight leaves a trace, and over time a bridge is woven. In “Nähe” the lights move closer; the distance stays open.

computed from the score · 1080p · 30 fps open on youtube

III – IV · PAULA/68 aloneFour sample channels and a bounded 68000 music core. A thing: a petal, a hole in paper.

iii / papiermond PAULA/68 · 2:30

load the film from youtube-nocookie.com · only after this click

PAULA/68 · SM002 “Diskettenblumen” · track 4 · 94 BPM · F minor

Papiermond

A paper-cut diorama. Each key of the electric piano punches a hole into the moon – left to right as the piece goes on, the pitch setting the height – so the moon waxes note by note. The plucked answers light windows in the rooftops, the sub bass makes the light behind the paper breathe, the kick drum shakes the layers, the shaker scatters paper dust. “Schwerelos”: glass circles rise. “Gute Nacht”: the curtains close.

computed from the score · 1080p · 30 fps open on youtube

iv / diskettenblumen PAULA/68 · 2:03

load the film from youtube-nocookie.com · only after this click

PAULA/68 · SM002 “Diskettenblumen” · track 2 · 132 BPM · C minor

Diskettenblumen

Time runs as an angle – eight bars make one turn – and the radius grows with the piece. Every sample becomes a petal where the read head stands at that moment: the bass turns inward as a calyx, marimba in gold, glass as ice, toms as embers, hi-hats as pollen, claps as bright strokes, keys and pads as broad leaves in between. Repetition in the music becomes symmetry in the flower. At the end the disk is ejected; an afterimage remains.

computed from the score · 1080p · 30 fps open on youtube

V – VII · togetherSID and Paula on one sample clock. The window light and the tape; the question and the answer.

v / fensterlicht auf magnetband SID/65 × PAULA/68 · 2:54

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SID/65 × PAULA/68 · SM003 “Wo die Maschinen sich treffen” · track 2 · 92 BPM · D minor

Fensterlicht auf Magnetband

A tape runs between two reels across the frame. At the record head Paula writes her samples as marks – the kick as bars, keys as strokes at their pitch, glass as bright lines, the snare as scratches, the shaker as dust – and what has been written drifts out to the left. The SID is the window light: the long triangle voices are broad beams, the pulse melody a narrow strip that moves with its pitch, the bass a light on the floor. “Band läuft aus”: the end of the tape passes the head.

computed from the score · 1080p · 30 fps open on youtube

vi / zwischen zwei takten SID/65 × PAULA/68 · 2:09

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SID/65 × PAULA/68 · SM003 “Wo die Maschinen sich treffen” · track 3 · 126 BPM · E minor

Zwischen zwei Takten

A tracker screen: seven columns – three SID voices, four Paula channels – one row per sixteenth, 64 rows per pattern, 16 patterns. Question on the left, answer on the right; the cursor stays in the middle while the score runs through it, and what is coming already shows faintly below. Behind it, copper bars flare with the kick drum. “Offene Türen”: the halves move apart. “Halbe Geschwindigkeit”: taller rows, slower scrolling.

computed from the score · 1080p · 30 fps open on youtube

vii / was im speicher bleibt SID/65 × PAULA/68 · 2:47

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SID/65 × PAULA/68 · SM003 “Wo die Maschinen sich treffen” · track 6 · 72 BPM · F♯ minor / A major

Was im Speicher bleibt

A dark field in which every sound leaves an ember. A note's place is its pitch: the note name gives the direction (circle of fifths), the octave the distance from the centre. The key becomes a region of the sky, and repetition makes it brighter. The SID melody draws lines from note to note like a star chart. The camera pulls back until the whole is a constellation; faintly, the afterimages of the other six films appear. The last chord remains.

computed from the score · 1080p · 30 fps open on youtube

source / process

small-machines

The workshop stays open.

The instruments, the editable scores, the rendering tools and the film sources live in one repository; the films themselves do not — they are computed from the scores there and kept on YouTube. Small Machines is the artist name; the end cards name the piece and the machines heard. Music and instruments: Frank with ChatGPT. Images: Frank with Claude. The descriptions and the workshop say who did what.

source / privacy

The films are hosted on YouTube. This page embeds a player only after you press play on a film or the playlist, in privacy-enhanced mode. Until then no request leaves for YouTube or Google; the stills are served from this site. Details under legal & privacy.