Harmonata

A free, online, harmonograph creation tool for instantaneously exploring the extraordinary geometries of harmony. Inspired by the old Victorian harmonograph "toy".

A old fashioned harmonograph typically consisted of three independant oscillators (pendulums): a rotary oscillator which moved some paper, and two lateral oscillators (x, y) which controlled a pen. You'd set the pendulums swinging, lower the pen, then wait as the pen traces its path and the swinging motions naturally decay. Now you don't have to wait. Modern technology also allows the pen hue to oscillate.

Instructions

The vertical sliders may be used to set the properties of the oscillators. Double-click a slider to return to its default value. Press "random" to generate example harmonograms.

"View Gallery" in the "Share" menu for inspiration.

Buttons

Share

Opens share menu. "Share URL" to generate a shareable link to your harmonogram. "Share Image" and "Download Image" produce a static image file of your harmonogram. "Upload to Gallery" and "View Gallery" allow interaction with a public Harmonata gallery.

Hide

Hide the user interface. Bring it back with a double click.

Random

Randomizes the harmonograph parameters.

?

Brings up these docs.

Sliders

amp

The amplitude of an oscillator. Note the lateral oscillators share an amplitude and decay rate.

decay

The (exponential) decay rate of an oscillator. See above.

freq

Oscillator frequecy, constrained to integer values from convenience.

fine

Fine (de-) tuning of the oscillator frequency.

phase

Adjust the starting point of the oscillation.

auto

Automatically progress the phase of the oscillator.

off

Offset of the oscillatior value. Only available for ther hue oscillator.

t0

Starting time of the simulation. All oscillators share the time controls.

t

Finishing time of the simulation.

dt

Time increment in the simulation - reduce for highest resolution (slow) or increase for potentially pleasing discretization effects.

Thanks!

If you enjoy Harmonata you may also be interested in Spiralator. Other stuff: suprdory.com

Contact me: suprdory@gmail.com