Final Documentation – Rachel’s Diary

Introduction

An audio-visual live coding project attempt to showcase the story of summer and Japanese mourning, so called “Matsuri”, created with Hydra, Strudel, and p5.js live by Rachel and Ting.

Collaborative Reflection

The division of labor for this project was very clear. I was responsible for the music composition, while Ting focused on the visual design. Before moving into the technical production, however, we spent time discussing the overall narrative of the performance together. Drawing from our shared love of anime culture, we chose the summer festival as our core storytelling theme, and eventually referenced Summer Time Rendering as a narrative inspiration. This process allowed us to create a performance layered with atmosphere, emotion, and rich visual and musical elements.

Notion Link for our co-creation script

Proposal Slides

Technical Documentation

For me, the technical part of this project was not particularly challenging, as I continued working with Strudel for music creation. I’ve become increasingly comfortable with its tools, such as importing samples and shaping emotional progression. On the visual side, our group explored real-time visuals using p5.js live, and Ting invested a tremendous amount of effort into developing this part. We initially planned to experiment with Ting’s MIDI controller, but later realized that the existing elements were already rich enough, so we decided not to include it.

Additionally, we originally intended to use OBS for integrated screen casting, but Viola helped us resolve this issue smoothly. Many thanks to Viola 🙂

Process & Experience

Due to the intense final schedule, I compressed the entire music composition process into just three days. On the first day, I mainly used GarageBand to sketch drafts. Surprisingly, GarageBand’s random melody generator was very inspiring, and many of the traditional Japanese instrumental motifs—which I’m least confident writing—actually came from these initial library-based drafts.

On the second day, I began integrating all the creative fragments into a more cohesive structure. I revisited some of my previous works and selected well-written drum patterns and decorative sounds, adapting and incorporating them into this project. The bright and cheerful Part 2 was the first section I fully completed and confirmed. That day, I recorded about fifteen minutes of material, which made it clear that it was time to start editing and refining.

On the third day, Ting and I worked side by side to polish the transitions between sections. For example, we experimented with abruptly cutting from Part 2 to Part 3 using the sound of fireworks. While some suggested adding more layers to emphasize the beauty of the fireworks, we ultimately preferred the strong contrast created by the sudden silence. That same day, I also took advice from my friend Lucas and reworked the sampling of Ghost in the Shell, making the elements in Part 3 feel more original and distinct.

Overall, this was my music creation process. Throughout it, I kept questioning whether I could create something that surpassed my previous works. In the end, however, I’m genuinely satisfied with the result. More importantly, this experience reminded me never to assume that I’ve run out of creativity—once I begin, new ideas always emerge.