Disquiet Junto Project 0712: Zebra Code
The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code?

Step 1: Locate something you purchased or received that has a zebra code, or bar code, on the packaging.

Step 2: Interpret the bar code from Step 1 as a rhythm.

Step 3: Make music using the rhythm from Step 2.

This project was proposed thanks to Jason Richardson (aka Bassling), who shared this Boing Boing post:

https://boingboing.net/2025/08/19/will-it-riff-turns-product-barcodes-into-heavy-metal-jams.html

Deadline: Monday, August 25, 2025, 11:59pm (that is: just before midnight) wherever you are.

Details: disquiet.com/0712

Disquiet Junto Project 0712: Zebra Code

Disquiet Junto 0712 invited us to interpret a barcode as a rhythm.

The first barcode patent was issued in 1952, but they didn't look like the ones we usually see now: they were bullseye-shaped. Today's linear barcodes use what is called "many-width symbology", meaning that the vertical lines ("modules") in the barcode are different widths, from 1 to 4. The lines are printed vertically instead of horizontally so that if the ink smeared during printing, the code would still be legible and no information would be lost. 

Barcodes almost failed in the retail space, because no one wanted to be the first to invest the money to adopt them when they were unproven. They were a lot  more popular more quickly in the railroad business, where by the early 1960s optical scanners could read the color-coded barcodes on train cars as they rolled past at full speed.

The barcode I chose as source material for the prompt was from a tape dispenser that I bought to help my daughter pack to leave home. This piece is probably an aural photograph of the feelings I'm having right now, but that's neither here nor there. Where was I?

Instead of reading the barcode as if it were visually measuring out beats, I decided to decode the modules and transcribe the widths. This turned into the sequence 2 1 3 2 1 4 4 1 / 2 1 2 3 1 1 1 3 / 3 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 / 1 1, which I incorporated into this piece in several ways.

First, the percussion pattern is built by breaking the sequence into chunks of four numbers. These four numbers indicate the beat position of a series of drum kit components on a 16-step grid. So 2-1-3-2, the first sequence, means the kick drum hits on the 2nd, 1st, 3rd, and 2nd beats of the four divisions of the pattern. Next would be the snare, then the tom, and finally the hihat with 1-1-1-3. The sequence also determines the note length and note number of the "melodic" sequence. 

Finally, I translated the sequence into steps in a custom arpeggiator, with the width of the modules transposed into the vertical axis of the beats in the pattern. There are two arpeggiated synth tracks, running at different rates, played on the Logic ES2 and Alchemy software synths. A triggered vocal sample rhythmically reflects the numeric sequence. The rest of the synth parts came from the Roland boutique Studio Electronics SE-02, a reissue of the "Moog-adjacent" SE-01 analog monosynth of 1982.

There's a lot going on in this piece, but there's a lot going on over here, too. The sound that a single mom makes in her empty nest. Snapshot of a moment in time at 90bpm.

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/.

The Passage (disquiet0712)

Beats generated from barcode, other modular synth and piano.

Bar Beats  disquiet0712

A short electronic noise track inspired by a barcode, sounds created using Audacity with databending, delay, reverb, etc.

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/.

Barcode Blend (disquiet0712)

sound art for disquiet0712.

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/.

leaf litter (disquiet0712)

This is my submission to this week's Disquiet Junto assignment.

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/

250822 [disquiet0712]

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/

abc iodized request - disquiet712

read more at lines https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0712-zebra-code/72862

[disquiet0712] the number of our days

barcode disquiet0712

Barcode Love [disquiet0712]

exercise for disquiet junto 0712, barcode inspired. all sounds are generated from a midi representation of a single barcode at various scales.

the cover image’s horizontal lines are drawn directly from a screen grab of the project’s MIDI notes.

the barcode is from Ryoji Ikeda's Matrix CD. (at the end i've layered some field recordings i made at his exhibit at Atlanta's High Museum)

barcode [disquiet0712]

This track was inspired by this week's Disquiet Junto project: The barcode of the softcover Penguin edition of Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" was used as the timeline for the rhythm, and the track was created with this beat as inspiration.
The other elements followed, found through intuition or happy accidents.
The result is a far groovier track than I initially assumed.

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/

Thinking Fast and Slow (Disquiet0712)

I created this track for Disquiet Junto Project 0712. The assignment involved creating a rhythm by interpreting a barcode. I interpreted the thin lines of the barcode as snare hits and the thick lines as kick drum. I programmed the snare and kick hits into my sequencer with spacing loosely following the spacing in the barcode. I improvised various keys parts over this rhythm. The number code in the barcode guided note selection. To decide which notes I could select from, I set 0 at a Bb, then counting up or down in half steps I could use any notes that were numerically represented in the barcode. 
More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/.

Code Read [disquiet0712]

a submission for this weeks disquiet junto: riffing off a bar code. abrcode from a water bottle



More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/.

disquiet0712waterbottleriff

Response to Disquiet Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a barcode? The first :30 of the piece consists of the barcode: vocal sounds to represent each size of the lines, and one sounds for the biggest space - followed by improvisational vocal sounds repeats of the barcode. More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — — at https://disquiet.com/0712/.



disquiet0712 Al Dente

Ii|1|]:'IIll|:!! [disquiet0712]

Created for Disquiet Junto 0712 Zebra Code, created in response to a prompt to use a bar code as a rhythmic source.

l.ife (Disquiet Junto 0712)

We use a lot of olive oil in our cooking so I took the barcode from a bottle in our cupboard to inspire this music.

First, I converted the barcode to a sequence of pitches, where each digit is the number of semitones from the root note. I used that 12-note pitch sequence in multiple tracks (bass, pad, lead) at different tempos.

Next, I created a percussion track by taking the unique non-zero digits from the barcode (1,2,5,6,7,8) and interpreted each as the number of sixteenth-note rests between notes for each of six percussion instruments. This made an interesting polyrhythm.

Finally, I arranged the parts in Ableton, added a touch of reverb, then used a few tablespoons of olive oil to prepare dinner.

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/

popeye's girl - disquiet0712

Recorded, edited, mixed & mastered on 24 Aug 2025 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa, USA.

Synths, drum samples, 12-string electric guitar, effects

Photography/Art - Jim Lemanowicz, 19 Aug 2017, Massapequa, NY, USA

Music & art © 2017, 2025 Jim Lemanowicz

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This original version of “Walking To Other People’s Footsteps” was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0712: Zebra Code The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code?

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/.

Walking To Other People’s Footsteps  (disquiet0712)

Track created for Disquiet0712 Challenge. Foundation rhythm generated from decoding a UPC bar code. No Kind Breakfast Protein Bars were harmed in making this track. All sounds created with SurgeXT VST Synth.

The track is in 7/8 with the following decoded pattern as the rhythmic foundation:
Each number represents the 1/8 note duration value per a bar.

1114 3211 2122 1114
1231 2122 1132 2221
2112 1411 3211 3211

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/.



Ictus UPC-Disquiet(0712)

This was my contribution for Disquiet Junto Project 0712: Overclocked. The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code?

Here’s a copy of my post on the Disquiet Junto 0712 discussion thread on Lines:

I recently added Daphne Oram’s book An Individual Note: of Music, Sound, and Electronics, to my reading stack. So decided to use the barcode on the back cover for this project. The original intent was to create something that aligned with her more experimental work, but as often happens with these projects, it morphed into something different. This time, into an IDM like rhythm based track.

This was put together in Ableton Live 12 using mostly Dillon Bastan’s Rhythmorphic max for live MIDI effect. It’s a “non”-euclidian sequencer that uses the brightness values of an image or video to generate note patterns with modulations. A little bit like the way Daphne’s Oramics machine works with light and dark. I used the image of the barcode from the book on three different tracks using Slate + Ash and Madrona Labs instrument plugins. Also created additional tracks via a MIDI keyboard, as well as a couple of short, sliced and manipulated samples of her music and sound experiments. Hopefully she won’t mind too much with me using them.

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/

Daphne's Dancing Dream [disquiet0712]

My 33 1/3 series book about the Aphex Twin album <i>Selected Ambient Works Volume II</i> was published in 2014. The book was one of the top 5 bestselling titles for the calendar year, and in 2015 was ranked by Pitchfork as one of the "33 best" of the 100-plus books in the 33 1/3 series. It has subsequently been translated into Japanese (2019) and Spanish (2018)

Since 2012 I have moderated the Disquiet Junto group, which began on SoundCloud. More at disquiet.com/junto. 

I've written for Nature, Pitchfork, The Wire, Down Beat, Boing Boing, NewMusicBox, Red Bull Music Academy, Art Practical, the website of The Atlantic, and many other publications. 

I've exhibited sound art at galleries in Los Angeles (Crewest), Manhattan (apex art), and Dubai (DUTAC), and I had a audio-visual installation at the San Jose Museum of Art as part of its 45th anniversary.

And since 1996 I've run the website Disquiet.com about the intersection of sound, art, and technology.