# The Interactive MPC

Canonical: https://seangarschi.com/work/interactive-mpc

Client: Ye, Daft Punk editions, and more. Type: Interactive build. Year: 2024. Role: Concept, Interaction design, Engineering. Stack: Web Audio API, Canvas, TypeScript, Edge hosting.

The Interactive MPC is a browser-playable drum machine loaded with an artist's own stems, built so that anyone can make something with the record within seconds of landing on the page, and then post what they made.

A drop page nobody bounces off. Sixteen pads, the artist's stems, zero instructions needed, and every session ends with a screen recording that promotes the release for free. Shipped as a series: the Ye Runaway MPC, Father, Power, and a Daft Punk edition.

## The problem with drop pages

A release microsite usually asks for one thing: click through to stream. The visit lasts four seconds and produces nothing the visitor can show anyone.

The alternative is to hand people the record itself, broken into parts, and let them do something with it. Participation beats presentation. A person who made something with your stems has a reason to post about your release that has nothing to do with liking you.

## The build

Sixteen pads mapped to stems pulled from the record, loaded and decoded before the first tap so there is no latency on the first hit. Web Audio scheduling handles timing off the main thread, which is what separates something that feels like an instrument from something that feels like a website with sound.

The interaction had to survive a mid-range Android on cellular data. Asset budgets came first and design came second, a beautiful build that stutters on the device most of the audience is holding is a failed build.

The session captures to a shareable file, and the layout is composed for a vertical screen recording, because that is the format the moment travels in.

## Why it travels

Every good interactive build has one mechanic you can describe in a sentence to someone who has not seen it. Here it is a sentence: you can make a beat with the album. People forward the sentence, not the URL.

Live: https://growthr.com/ye/

Source: https://seangarschi.com/work/interactive-mpc
Contact: start@growthr.com