Art, music, and science. Featuring "I Can Drive 55!," innovative photographic interactive Mandelbrot/Julia fractals, classical guitar, ringtones, Markov analysis for ion channels, alternative clocks, and more. Presented by Christopher Nicolai.

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mandelics.com
Christopher Nicolai (@)
Art
Interactive fractals, games, clocks
Fractals, games, clocks
Music
Classical guitar, MIDI apps, piano tuning, and ringtones
Guitar, MIDI, tuning, ringtones
Essays
On fractals, speed governors, and counting
On fractals, governors, counting
Apps
"Buffalo Open Data" apps for local 311 and trees, and more
BuffaloOpenData and others
Utilities
Timer, spectrogram, clocks
Timer, spectrogram, clocks
mandelics.com

Mohawk Place

Start the app

Browse calls to Buffalo's 311 hotline, sourced from Buffalo Open Data.

  • While this dataset claims to be updated daily, it is often several days out of date.
  • No details are available, just the general call type, e.g. "POT HOLE."
mandelics.com

Art

Photo Fractals
Color camera with Mandelbrot/Julia swirl effect
Touch & tilt fractal camera
Mandelbrot/Julia
Interactive fractal with tilt control and camera input
Touch & tilt fractal with camera
Mandelic Spiral
A look at the inside of the Mandelbrot set, one point at a time
Mandelbrot attractive orbits
I Can Drive 55
The faster you drive, the faster Sammy Hagar sings
Audio speedometer
Beat Governor
The audio sequencer that plays at your speed
Audio speedometer/sequencer
word4word
Online game: Spell 4 words across and down with the letters you're given
Spell 4 words across and down

The Waiting Game
Online game: who can stay on this page the longest?
who can stay on this page the longest?

Addiction and Distraction
Online game: How well can you add single-digit numbers?
Adding up numbers

True Local Clock
Local noon is when the sun reaches its highest point
Adjusted for high noon

BeOnTime Clock
Wrong by a random amount, so get moving!
Randomized

Crop Mandala
Interlocking circle pattern I first saw in a crop circle pic
Interlocking circles
mandelics.com

Essays

Dancing Photo Fractals
The story behind the Photo Fractal app.
The story behind the Photo Fractal app.

Generalized Realtime Julia Set Fractals Using WebGL and Computer Algebra
Visualizing the iterative dynamics of arbitrary complex functions. Exploring all of the Julia sets.
Exploring all of the Julia sets

Speed Governors
Lost to history, rediscovered on your phone.
Lost to history, rediscovered on your phone.

Numbers, by the numbers
How many numbers are there in the Book of Numbers? And what do they all add up to?
Adding up numbers like Melville chasing down whales

Christopher Columbus — Italian-Americans can do better
The time for fake news is past
The time for fake news is past
mandelics.com

Music

Classical Guitar
Experimental music, and recordings of Bach, Brouwer, Domeniconi, Villa-Lobos, and others
Experiments and Albums
FMSynth
Plays MIDI notes (from an external keyboard) with a customizable frequency-modulated tone
Tone generator for external keyboard
PlayFast!
Plays a melody at ludicrous speeds
High-speed sequencer
GyroMIDI
Outputs MIDI pitch bends, etc. generated from remote cell phone gyroscope signals
Remote gyro/local MIDI controller
Remote MIDI
Transmits MIDI from one device to another
Transmits MIDI from one device to another

Piano tuning

in Buffalo, NY; Specializing in modern and historical tunings e.g. Young-Vallotti, Kirnberger
in Buffalo, NY; also historical tunings
to make an appointment, text 716-830-4801
Ringtones and notifications
For your phone
For your phone
mandelics.com

Apps

Local311
Explore service requests from Buffalo, NY
311 calls from Buffalo, NY
Trees
Explore Buffalo, NY's tree inventory
Buffalo, NY's tree inventory
Photo Fractals
Color camera with Mandelbrot/Julia swirl effect
Touch & tilt fractal camera

Urgency — Kitchen Timer
Four burners and the oven count down independently
5 independent timers

Random
number/word generator
number/word generator

Spectrogram
Audio visualization, with analysis by Loris
Audio visualization
word4word
Online game: Spell 4 words across and down with the letters you're given
Spell 4 words across and down

The Waiting Game
Online game: who can stay on this page the longest?
who can stay on this page the longest?

Addiction and Distraction
Online game: How well can you add single-digit numbers?
Adding up numbers

True Local Clock
Local noon is when the sun reaches its highest point
Adjusted for high noon

BeOnTime Clock
Wrong by a random amount, so get moving!
Randomized
mandelics.com

Science

Generalized Realtime Julia Set Fractals Using WebGL and Computer Algebra
Visualizing the iterative dynamics of arbitrary complex functions. Exploring all of the Julia sets.
Exploring all of the Julia sets
PlayFast!
Disproving the so-called "Coltrane Fractal" using Web Audio and a little calculus
tl;dr: there's no "Coltrane Fractal"
mandelics.com

Utilities

Urgency — Kitchen Timer
Four burners and the oven count down independently
5 independent timers

Spectrogram
Audio visualization, with analysis by Loris
Audio visualization

True Local Clock
Local noon is when the sun reaches its highest point
Adjusted for high noon

BeOnTime Clock
Wrong by a random amount, so get moving!
Randomized

Random
number/word generator
number/word generator
Ringtones and notifications
For your phone
For your phone
mandelics.com: Apps

Local311

Start the app

Browse calls to Buffalo's 311 hotline, sourced from Buffalo Open Data.

  • While this dataset claims to be updated daily, it is often several days out of date.
  • No details are available, just the general call type, e.g. "POT HOLE."
mandelics.com: Apps

Trees

Start the app

Browse and comment on Buffalo's tree inventory, sourced from Buffalo Open Data.

mandelics.com: Visual Art

Photo Fractals

Start the app

Take pictures and make them into fractals. Tap, drag, pinch, and tilt to customize the Mandelbrot/Julia swirl function. Animate with mic or music. Realtime WebGL fractal photography on your phone's graphics card. Might not work with older/slower phones.

Read more about how these fractals were developed.

mandelics.com: Visual Art

Mandelbrot/Julia

Start the app

Tap, drag, pinch, and tilt to explore Mandelbrot and Julia fractals. Use photos as source material. Realtime WebGL fractals on your phone's graphics card.

Read more about how these fractals were developed.

mandelics.com: Visual Art

Mandelic Spiral

Start the app
Usually, Mandelbrot graphics draw the complementary set--the points which escaped. This app shows some trajectories from the black zone inside the Mandelbrot set.
mandelics.com: Kinetic Art

I Can Drive 55

Start the app

In the 80's, Sammy Hagar couldn't drive 55. If you can drive exactly 55 MPH, you'll hear him singing about it. Drive too slow or too fast, and the music will slow down or speed up.

I've been wanting something that can limit my speed, without staring at the speedometer or going to full cruise control. Mechanically, it would be called a governor. Read more about governors...

mandelics.com: Kinetic Art

Beat Governor

Start the app

Sequencer and sampler with playback speed that's tied to your physical speed as reported by GPS. Great motivator for bicycling and running, or an alternative to the dashboard if you're driving blind.

I've been wanting something that can limit my speed, without staring at the speedometer or going to full cruise control. Mechanically, it would be called a governor. Read more about governors...

mandelics.com: Music

Classical Guitar

Start listening
Albums
mandelics.com: Music

FMSynth

Start the app
Generates tones using frequency modulation. Requires an external MIDI keyboard, and Chrome (a browser with WebMIDI support). Use "control change" signals (e.g. from MIDI knobs) to adjust tone parameters.
mandelics.com: Music

Remote MIDI

Start the app
Transmits MIDI from one device to another.
mandelics.com: Apps

word4word

Start the app
Spell 4 words across and down with the letters you're given.
Game by Robin and Chris Nicolai
mandelics.com: Music

PlayFast!

Start the app
Is there really a "Coltrane Fractal?" No, but I built this super fast and accurate sequencer to investigate the question.
mandelics.com: Music

Ringtones

Notification sounds