======================================================================== MAKE / BREAK issue #03 MAKE PURE DATA SCREAM MAKE - 23 Sep 2026 - by the Norfolk Hacker ======================================================================== This week's security in plain English, a 30-second check to see if you've already been breached, and the project: a little machine that plays music and never repeats itself. colour edition: https://makebreak.co.uk/issues/03.html Back to making. The news, a tip, then we build an instrument that plays itself -- and you can hear it right here before you build a thing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ 1. THIS WEEK IN SECURITY ] Three quick ones -- the theme is "things that look legit but aren't." * Fake online shops, by the hundred thousand. Researchers counted well over 100,000 scam storefronts -- polished, convincing, and built to take your card details and ship you nothing. They rank in search and run real-looking ads. -> do this: before buying from a shop you don't know, search "[shop name] scam", check the domain age, and pay with a method that fights back (credit card or PayPal), never a bank transfer. (source) [1] * Phishing pages are now built with legit browser tools. Attackers are using ordinary web-dev tricks to spin up convincing fake logins fast. Translation: "it looks professional" is worth nothing as a safety signal. -> do this: same golden rule as ever -- trust the address bar, not the look. If the domain isn't exactly right, don't type your password. (source) [1] * Good news for once: passwordless is spreading. More big services now let you sign in with a passkey -- no password to steal, no code to phish. The tech that actually fixes this stuff is finally becoming normal. -> do this: next time a site offers "set up a passkey", say yes. Future you will thank present you. (source) [2] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ 2. BEGINNER'S CORNER ] Want to know if any of these breaches already caught you? There's a free, trusted site for exactly that -- and it takes 30 seconds. * Check haveibeenpwned.com. Type your email; it tells you which known breaches it has turned up in. It's run by a respected security researcher and doesn't store what you type. Not spooky magic -- just a searchable index of public breach data. * For every breach it lists, change that password (to a unique one from your password manager) and turn on 2FA. Bonus: turn on its "notify me" feature so you hear about future breaches early. Knowing beats guessing. Check it, fix what it flags, move on with your day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ 3. THE PROJECT ] MAKE PURE DATA SCREAM A generative step sequencer: about a dozen boxes, and it improvises forever without repeating. Here's six seconds of it, rendered from the exact patch below: [ listen: https://makebreak.co.uk/issues/seq.wav ] download the finished patch (.pd) [3] Grab Pure Data [4] (free), open the patch, tick Media -> DSP, click the toggle. Or build it yourself below -- you should. >> 01. The engine Three ideas do all the work: a clock, a coin-flip so it isn't a rigid loop, and a scale so every random note still sounds right. [tgl] -> [metro 320] a bang every 320ms (your tempo) [metro 320] -> [random 100] -> [moses 22] ~22% of steps stay silent [moses 22] (right) -> [t b b] fires right, then left moses 22 sends numbers under 22 out the left, 22-and-up out the right. We act only on the right -- so roughly a fifth of steps rest. That single coin-flip is what stops it sounding mechanical. >> 02. A note that's always in key [t b b] (right) -> [random 5] -> [tabread mb_scale] -> [+ 50] -> [mtof] -> [osc~] mb_scale is a little array holding the minor pentatonic (0 3 5 7 10). A pentatonic has no wrong notes -- so however the randomness jumps, it always sounds musical. Constrain the randomness to a scale: that's the whole secret to "generative but not annoying". >> 03. The pluck, and staying out of the red [t b b] (left) -> [0.8 5, 0 200 5( -> [vline~] a fast pluck envelope [osc~] x [vline~] -> [*~] -> [*~ 0.35] -> [clip~ -0.95 0.95] -> [dac~] Multiply the tone by the envelope to get a plucked note; a gentle master gain and a clip~ safety net keep it from distorting. Tick DSP, click the toggle, and it starts improvising. >> 04. Now break it Smaller metro = faster. Bigger moses = sparser and more spacious. Swap the scale to harmonic minor (0 2 3 5 7 8 11, and bump random 5 to random 7) for a whole new mood. Feeling brave? Pd seeds its randomness the same each launch, so the "song" repeats between sessions -- seed it from the clock and it never will. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ 4. YOUR TURN ] * Give it a second voice -- a low drone or a bass note on every fourth step (hint: a second counter and select 0). Record ten seconds of your version and reply; the best one opens issue #04. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A new one every other week -- free, right here: https://makebreak.co.uk/issues/ No paywall, no ads, no sponsor telling me what to say. If an issue earned you a brew: https://buymeacoffee.com/androidacid -- the Norfolk Hacker prev: #02 Recon that isn't a checklist https://makebreak.co.uk/issues/02.txt next: #04 Make it confess https://makebreak.co.uk/issues/04.txt ------------------------------------------------------------------------ LINKS [1] https://thehackernews.com/2026/09/threatsday-200-android-flaws-browser.html [2] https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/09/a-week-in-security-september-7-september-13 [3] https://makebreak.co.uk/patches/makebreak-seq.pd [4] https://puredata.info ========================================================================