Setup
(Sequence-only mode plays audio without 3D.)
SEQUENCE MAP — the read-head walks N→C · exposure & structure shape the sound
The Idea
A protein is read N→C like a score. Match biological timescale to musical timescale: per residue (fast) → rhythm & timbre; secondary structure (medium) → harmony & sections; the whole protein (slow) → key. And because brightness = exposure, you can hear the fold — buried core dark & low, surface bright & high. The genetic code is a language: nucleotides are letters, amino acids syllables; you play the language of life.
What
- Kick — every peptide bond, the backbone pulse.
- Reading N→C — the direction proteins are actually synthesised.
- Timbre — side-chain chemistry: hydropathy → cutoff, charge → bite, aromatic rings → resonance, size → register, flexibility → glide.
- Brightness — burial vs. exposure (the hydrophobic effect): buried = dark & low, surface = bright & high.
- Harmony & sections — secondary structure (helix / sheet / turn).
- Bass character — 3D backbone geometry: twist → rotation, flexibility → swirl.
- Key — the whole protein (its overall hydrophobicity & sequence).
Why
The same molecule voiced endless ways just by changing the code — the genome can sing. The idea formed in 2017, where gene sequencing met learning to write music.
System C gives each chemical class its own TB-303 voice — literally acid techno. System A sorts the 20 amino acids alphabetically into four percussion clusters; System B clusters them by chemistry. Structures stream live from the RCSB PDB.