A drone that breathes on a long scale. Volume rises and falls on a slow sine cycle. 30 seconds to 3 minutes per full breath. Optional gulls at the low end. Optional wave wash at the peak. Audio shaped like dynamics, not like a song.
CHORD
PERIOD · 90s per swell
LAYERS
CYCLE—
LEVEL—
STATEat rest
MASTER
What makes tide tide
Most music is shaped by harmony — chord changes that move you forward. Tide is shaped by dynamics — volume rising and falling on a slow cycle while the harmony barely changes. Brian Eno called this "ambient music" in 1978; tape composers had been doing it for decades before that.
The page holds one chord (your pick of six) and runs the master gain through a sine LFO with period equal to whatever you slide. At full volume you're at high tide; at silence you're at low tide. Optional sub-layers come in only at the right phase: gulls fire occasionally during the low half of the cycle, wave wash crests during the high half.
Sound architecture: each chord is a 4-voice detuned-saw pad through a soft low-pass at 1.4kHz. Gulls are 900-1300Hz triangle blips with pitch sweeps, scheduled every 4-12s during low tide. Wave wash is bandpassed white noise (1100-2400Hz) modulated by the high half of the cycle.
Pair with /cast-cradle (one-way fade for sleep), /cast-wander (generative chord progression), /cast-room (synth ambience for behind another tab).
