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▸ tap the pond

Vibe Lab·SPIRO

Two pendulums, one drawing pen

A pixel-art harmonograph — the Victorian drawing toy that draws by swinging. Two pendulums per axis carry a pen across the page; each one swings with its own frequency, and each one slowly loses energy to friction. The pattern winds tighter and tighter into knots, stars and rosettes, then resets with a fresh tune. Tap or drag to wiggle the pen back to life and nudge the pattern somewhere new.

What it does

Two pendulums per axis, four damped sine waves total. The pen position is x = A1·sin(t·f1+p1)·e^(-d1·t) + A2·sin(t·f2+p2)·e^(-d2·t), and y is the same with different parameters. Each frame steps t forward by ~60 sub-samples and connects them with a Bresenham line, so a fast-moving pen still leaves a smooth curve.

In the real world

An actual harmonograph was a wooden table with two pendulums and a pen, popular in the 1840s — it drew pictures of music. The same math describes Lissajous figures on an oscilloscope, the looping curves a vibrating guitar string traces in slow-motion video, and the orbital resonances that lock Pluto and Neptune into a synchronized dance.

Painted with these colors

Every VibeBoy lab paints with these 16 colors — the same palette PICO-8 made famous. Constraints are what make pixel art feel like pixel art.

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