True Random Number Service

Testimonials - The Arts

RANDOM.ORG is a true random number service that generates randomness via atmospheric noise. This page contains testimonials from users of the service.

Fractal Landscapes

From: Fuller Thompson
Date: 2 May 2010
Below are 3 fractal landscapes I created with the help of these numbers. The first 2 used Bryce 6.3 and pictures from webshots.com which are then converted into fractal islands. The rest detemines trees, grass, objects, sky, sea and textures. The last one used Vista Pro where you can use the numbers as fractal seeds and alterations to what you choose to put in the landscape.
Link: http://community.webshots.com/album/569867756RqliuR

Randomization of John Cage Recordings

From: Glenn Freeman from OgreOgress Productions
Date: 24 April 2010
We've used your Random Number Generator on many occasions to perform various chance operations used for the purpose of assembling our recordings of John Cage's Number Pieces.

Choosing Lengths for Fibre Optic Lighting

From: Tim Glover
Date: 12 August 2009
Just a quick note to say thanks for providing the service. I use a lot of things on the internet that almost do what you want but Random.org saved me lots of time and gave me just what I wanted. I used it to generate lengths for some fibre optic lighting I'm having installed, just went through after and modified any adjacent numbers the same and it gave me exactly what I wanted. Easy to set the limits and size and shape of number results - great.

Musical Note Generation

From: Jesse Wolfe
Date: 11 August 2009
I just wanted to say thanks for the free services rendered from random.org. I learned a lot from the site, including how truly inferior computer generated pseudo-randomness is. After learning all about random numbers, I updated my musical note generation program to use random.org, instead of the Rnd() function in Visual Studio. Basically, I use the program when I am stuck in songwriting to help inspire/write parts of songs, and I feel that much more confident knowing that the notes are, in fact, truly random. The program is available for free from http://knifed.strangled.net/rng.html

Upright Bass Practice

From: Jack Clark from Idyllwild in California, USA
Date: 3 July 2009
I am using the List Randomizer to randomize lists of music chords so as to improve my skill at sight-reading�music by practicing moving quickly from one chord to another on my musical instrument (upright bass) without either mind memory or "finger memory" interfering by allowing me to increasingly do the exercise without actually having to read the chords. (I have found this to be a major fault with books supposedly designed to improve sight-reading.) While I am sure that for this rather pedestrian purpose a PRNG would serve as well as a TRNG, yours was the first List Randomizer I found after long web sessions of searching, and it's perfect for what I need. The nondeterministic feature of your TRNG--while perhaps overkill for my purpose--is definitely appealing.

Paintings Exploring the Limits of Control and the Reach of Randomness

From: David Nelson
Date: 30 December 2008
Thanks for your random website! I'm an artist who has been fascinated with the dynamic tensions in art and life: intellect/emotion, reason/intuition, order/chaos, planned/accidental, judgment/grace, etc. I've used your website in making my paintings. I use only red, yellow and blue, and the spattered paint lands according to your random sequences. The viewer's eye mixes the colors. Thanks!

Musical Composition

From: Will Orzo
Date: 18 November 2007
I am a musician with a general fascination with randomness, computational complexity and the like. I also use the generator to produce 12-note tone rows, in which the the integers 0-11 stand for the pitches C-B. Basically I just think the whole thing is cool and I just want to show my support by checking out all the services which are available.

Mixed Media Animations

From: Dominic Brown
Date: 17 November 2007
I make mixed media animations as a hobby, and have recently been exploring non-sequential abstract patterns, as both a visual 'static' effect, and as dynamic planes and surfaces for figures. While sometimes a typological approach appropriate, like taking a photo of a section of every page in the weekly newspaper and running it at high speed so it becomes non-figurative (to be used as an overcast sky), I often need more specific sorts of abstract, and drawing or otherwise generating thousands of frames of images, often for a minute or two of footage can be time consuming. So, I routinely get around this by making a fraction of that amount, and I used to pad the remaining time out by repeating frames in 'random' order, off the top of my own head, results less than impressive. Now, thanks to your random, I generate integers corresponding to existing frames, which eliminates obvious loops and repetitions, creating a much more believable and smooth non-sequential series. Also, being subject to whimsy, I occasionally include snapshots of said numbers in the odd frame, or even the URL, considering it subliminal advertising.

Mathematical Music Composition

From: Jakub Gaudasinski
Date: 18 June 2007
My name is Jakub and I'm writing to thank you for the random number service that you have provided. Like many on your testimonial page, I have used the service and the numbers it provides to aid me in music composition using a mathematical music composition toolkit that I have devised myself. The aim is to create music procedurally with minimal human intervention without having it sound like 50s "blip-blop" modernism. So far, the results have been very promising, in large part thanks to the ease of use and the quality of your random number generators. I have a suggestion. Is there any plan or even a possibility of implementing a choice of different distributions of the numbers. The current setup produces integers with equal probability for each [white noise] but it would be good if the users could choose between different distributions such as white, pink and Brownian. This would be great especially in the world of music. Other than that, thanks once again for the great service. All the best to you.

Runic Puzzle Keys for Sci-Fi Story

From: Nik
Date: 27 February 2007
Hi, Mads! I've just got several sets of random numbers & sequences off your generator to create pseudo-random 'Three Letter Acronym' puzzle keys in Younger Futharc runic. That old Danish script only has sixteen symbols, so lends itself to semi-cryptic 'Hex' applications. Um, by the time I've finished collating the sets they'll be 'pseudo-random', because there's a free key to begin, and several infuriating overlaps to complicate matters... Thank you! Nik

Cello Exercises

From: Jonathan Draper from the UK
Date: 16 January 2006
I'm a professional cellist, and I have a study book of about a thousand short technical exercises. I use your site like the sax player, Jeff, to pick a few at random to work on when I practise, so that I'm always working on a different aspect of my playing. It helps keep my music fresh.

Random Desktop Wallpaper

From: Gus Polly
Date: 31 July 2005
I think I've foud the strangest use for random.org's services: I retreived a 256x256 random bitmap and changed the colors, and I use it as my Windows XP desktop wallpaper. I find that it's easier on the eyes than a large, screen-sized photograph; a small, repeated pattern; or even a solid color. I think of it as shag carpeting for the desktop. The two colors I actually use are #0055AA and #002B55, which I find fit well with the Windows XP color scheme. Now, what would be cool is if I could generate random bitmaps with more than two colors.

Jazz Improvisation

From: Jeff Sackmann from Astoria, New York in the USA
Date: 26 January 2005
I'm yet another musician who has found random.org very useful. Much of my music for jazz orchestra is centered around improvisation, so when I write certain passages (especially ones using twelve-tone rows), I don't want to influence the choices of notes and use your sequences tool. Also, I practice saxophone from a book with over 1300 scales & patterns to choose from. To keep things interesting, I have random.org give me 10 or 20 numbers for each day's practice. Thank you for the great site!

Advent Calendar Ornaments

From: Lisa from New Zealand
Date: 27 November 2004
Hiya! Just a quick email to pass on my use for your website. I am making an Advent Calender and wanted all the ornaments to be in a true random order. My partner showed your website and I now have a fantasticly random order in my Calender.

Dance Choreography

From: Anita Cheng
Date: 25 September 2004
I use your site, random.org, on a regular basis for my modern dance choreography. I apply the randomly generated numbers to assigned variable constraints, such as time, space and movement order. Please visit: www.chengdance.org, and www.dailydance.org. With appreciation for your source of quality random numbers, Best Wishes, Anita Cheng Dance

Random Lighting for Concerts

From: Chris Wessels
Date: 25 September 2004
Hey Mads, I just wanted to drop you a quick note on how I have been using your random.org random number generator. I program automated lighting for concerts, and very often want to select random groups of fixtures, set colors to random values, or randomize strobes. Although some control consoles have a random feature built in, I would much rather have a predictable, random set that I know is truly random, yet predictable for each show. Thanks for helping me keep my shows nice and randomly flashy!

Knitting Pattern

From: Barb Gates
Date: 13 February 2004
I wanted to knit a sweater and use yarn that I already had. In no single color was there enough yarn to finish the sweater. But I did have a type of yarn in equal amounts of 6 different colors, which when combined would be enough for the sweater. Blended together the colors looked great but I wanted the look to be random. Using numbers 1 through 6, your random number generator gave me a beautiful sequence for the colors. I also wanted the number of rows done in any one color to vary randomly from 1 to 3. A second list tells me how many rows to knit before changing colors.

Literature

From: Hetty Witham
Date: 16 May 2003
Donation: Mads's Amazon Wishlist
Hi! I'm writing a book and have all of my notecards numbered. I use the random generator to pick out the next two cards I'm going to "connect." It's perfect because the book is about integration and so, in theory, any two random cards should be related, even if the topics are completely different. Thanks!

Randomness in Music

From: Doyle R. Dean
Date: 10 April 2003
I'm an artist in New Harmony, Indiana. I've used your site to help generate a random sequece of elements for use in a 'quasi' random piece of music I'm completing. It's called The Utility Project, as all of the artists are playing a utilitarian role and allowing a pair of dice to make the creative decisions. I was very happy to discover random.org.

Exterior Decoration

From: Tom Pankratz
Date: 25 March 2003
I used your generator to distribute 15 colored tiles in random positions among 70 white tiles for my front entrance. I knew I would be looking at this entrance for years and did not want to see a self-made 'optimal' pattern that I would eventually hate, so this way I can blame it all on you! Kidding. I just like color to be uniquely spread out.

More Musical Composition

From: Michael Byron
Date: 17 April 2001
I am in your debt for providing a service compatible with directions in advanced musical composition. I have used your service to generate systems of random digits integral to my compositional processes. It will not come as a surprise if other artists exploring extended musical forms and cross-media find your help valuable in their work.

Musical Composition

From: Harold Cowherd
Date: 27 July 2000
I am currently using your random number generator to produce lists of numbers from 0 to 11 (notes in the chromatic scale) and 0 to 6 (notes in a diatonic scale) that will later be assigned pitch names and used in a musical composition entitled, "Millennial Chances" for violin, clarinet, and piano...a work commissioned by the Verdehr Trio, a trio in residence at Michigan State University. I wanted a composition whose pitch set is derived from random processes and have plans to to several more in the same vein. I've been looking for several years for a resource such as this as was pleasantly surprised to find your wonderful and useful tool.