!SHAKE!

!SHAKE! is a physical model of a hypothetical shaker. It begins with a white-noise signal, which is shaped by a bandpass filter centered around a user-defined frequency with subtle variations. The patch generates eight independent voices of this filtered noise, each with a slightly different center frequency and delay, thereby simulating the sound of multiple grains inside a shaker such as a maraca, caxixi, or egg shaker.

The duration of one cycle is set in milliseconds. Each cycle consists of two shakes: the first reaches maximum intensity, while the second is slightly softer, imitating the natural motion of a shaker with an initial action followed by a rebound as the hand moves back and forth. Within this continuous flow, the noise~ object is interrupted by the train~ object, whose constant oscillation models the chaotic behavior of many grains moving at once. A BANG button allows the process to reset to a new set of random values.

Additional realism is introduced through two cycle~ oscillators, which modulate dynamics between 0 dB and –15 dB. This recreates the small, natural fluctuations in loudness typical of a human performer.

In short, rather than searching for recordings of different shakers, !SHAKE! allows you to generate a convincing digital imitation, controllable in frequency, speed, and dynamic variation, offering a flexible and natural-sounding alternative.