The Infinite Drum Machine

Thousands of everyday sounds, organized using machine learning.
By Manny Tan & Kyle McDonald

Infinite Drum Machine

Sounds are complex and vary widely. This experiment uses machine learning to organize thousands of everyday sounds. The computer wasn’t given any descriptions or tags – only the audio. Using a technique called t-SNE, the computer placed similar sounds closer together. You can use the map to explore neighborhoods of similar sounds and even make beats using the drum sequencer.

Built by Kyle McDonald, Manny Tan, Yotam Mann, and friends at Google Creative Lab. Thanks to the London Philharmonia for contributing some sounds to this project.