Joni KorpiAug 26, 2025

For almost 20 years my technique for attacking any design problem has been to multiply things with the golden ratio until the problem goes away.

Multiplying rotation angles is especially effective, and that’s exactly what this does. Can’t wait to use it! https://bsky.app/profile/xordev.com/post/3lxcrxxhxws2n

Xor (@xordev.com)

Introducing "Dot Noise". This is a super lightweight alternative to 3D Simplex Noise, which in many cases is overkill shadertoy.com/view/wfsyRX

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Show threadJoni KorpiAug 26, 2025

Btw. lately I’ve been dismayed to find my “technique” doesn’t seem to work in audio design. Golden ratio overtones sound precisely like the worst thing imaginable, and it doesn’t usually help with amplitudes either.

Instead every solution I find ends up involving jumping back and forth between exp2() and log2() a whole lot. I guess it’s just a different realm.

Show threadNikita LisitsaAug 26, 2025
@jonikorpi Makes sense: in music rational frequency ratios with small numerators/denominators are what sounds the most pleasing, and golden ratio is the most irrational number!
Show threadJoni KorpiAug 26, 2025
@lisyarus I wonder if there’s _any_ corner of audio design where irrationality is good? I expected to find at least _some_.
Show threadNikiAug 27, 2025
@jonikorpi
Well it's kind of obvious, but you can probably still use it to create noise.
Which you could then maybe shape with an EQ or use as-is for some percussion-y sounds.
I wonder if there's some golden-ratio based noise that sounds interesting (compared to just plain random white noise).
Or a golden-ratio echo that just never quite hits the beat - maybe fun if you use it sparingly to create tension.
Show threadJoni KorpiAug 27, 2025

@niki There’s some unshaped noise here (have to click play before the audio starts). It sounds… violent? https://www.shadertoy.com/view/ltB3zD

Echo sounds like a neat idea! I guess it could be useful for some reverb settings too (it’s apparently used by some in room acoustics), just not sure what.

Show threadNiki
@jonikorpi Yeah, sounds a lot like any old white noise to me, but I guess that just means it's a cheap way to generate some noise for audio purposes, which is still neat, I guess!
Aug 27, 2025 at 9:23amWeb