Isle of Sound: a sequencer powered by little cars

Isle of Tune is a graphic musical sequencer; you build little "Islands" consisting of roadways lined with houses, trees and other terrain, then you set virtual cars running around the roads; each terrain item they pass makes a different sound. The island pictured here is the number one on the leaderboard at present; it plays an obscure pop song called "Beat It."

Isle of Tune (via Kottke)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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knoxblox

Ha! This is fun to play with, even for non-musicians!
AirPillo

Even more approachable than the famous music mode in Mario Paint
Frentick

http://isleoftune.com/?id=4498
civvie

WOOF!

http://isleoftune.com/?id=4662
Gregory Bloom

Loopy Logic: http://isleoftune.com/?id=4819
skysky

Oh man this thing is awesome! I wasted like an hour putting cool loops together. I’m not a musician, but it was still really fun to poke around. Here’s something I put together really fast: http://isleoftune.com/?id=3698 Looking at other people’s islands is fun too. A lot sound like a bad version of kraftwerk (mine does) but some are quite snarky, like this one: http://isleoftune.com/?id=3418
Anonymous

Likey Like! But why is the scale only pentatonic?? Now I can’t make a Philip Glass Island. Bugger.
cameronh1403

Very cool….good use of flash
Anonymous

Where’s the Never Gonna Give You Up Island?!?!!
cyberscythe

This is a very charming little flash app.

Reminds me of the playscape inside of Treasure World (that Nintendo DS no one except me “played”). Except this is, like, a million times better in terms of execution.
civvie

Suburban Epiphany
http://isleoftune.com/?id=5052
holtt

It’s like minecraft for music :)

Here’s my attempt at a round…

http://isleoftune.com/?id=3797
Frentick

Doesn’t load for me; the loading screen stops right before it finishes. Anyone else having the same problem? Did the site get slashdotted?
Anonymous

what the hell do it means
Anonymous

Reminds me very much of the Befunge programming language, and its various derivatives, especially those direction changing arrow squares.
Anonymous

super fun. great intro to making music. heres my creation http://isleoftune.com/?id=3789