Pulse Poem

Pulse Poem turns a short line of text into a tiny playable rhythm. Type a phrase, choose a mood, and play it back as animated pulses with optional Web Audio ticks and mobile vibration.

Live demo: https://bte808.github.io/fun-20260519-pulse-poem/

Why this exists

I wanted a small browser toy that makes writing feel physical. The idea was sparked by a recent JavaScript community thread where someone showed an audio-to-haptics web experiment: https://www.reddit.com/r/javascript/comments/1tem5bg/showoff_saturday_may_16_2026/

Pulse Poem borrows only the broad idea of tactile browser feedback. The code, design, copy, and rhythm rules here are original.

What it can do

• Converts words, punctuation, and rough syllable counts into a short pulse pattern.
• Plays the pattern as a canvas animation.
• Adds optional click sounds through the Web Audio API.
• Falls back to generated HTML audio ticks when Web Audio is unavailable.
• Uses the Vibration API on supported mobile browsers.
• Offers a Test sound button so the first-click audio state is obvious.
• Copies a readable tap score for sharing, with a .txt download fallback when clipboard access is blocked.
• Copies a reopenable share link for the current phrase and mode, or shows the link when clipboard access is blocked.
• Loads a deterministic Daily beat phrase so friends can compare the same dated rhythm.
• Stores the current text and mode in the URL hash, so a rhythm can be reopened later.

Who it is for

It is for writers, students, and bored people who want a quick way to turn a sentence into something they can hear, see, and tap along with. It is also a compact example of a no-dependency interactive web page.

Why it is useful

It gives instant feedback on the shape of a phrase. Punctuation becomes rests, longer words become heavier pulses, and different modes change the tempo. That makes it handy for checking slogans, poem fragments, short reminders, or presentation lines.

Why it is fun

The result feels like a pocket drum machine made from your own sentence. A boring line can become a tiny beat, and on phones with vibration support it becomes tactile instead of only visual.

How to run

Open index.html directly in a browser, or run a tiny local server:

npm start

Then open:

http://localhost:5173

Core loop

1. Type a short line or use the sample button.
2. Use Daily beat for a dated challenge, or pick Calm, Bright, or Drumline yourself.
3. Press Generate if you edited the line.
4. Press Play.
5. If the browser is quiet, press Test sound to confirm audio permissions or fallback support.
6. Copy the score, copy a reopenable link, download it as a text file, or keep editing the line.

Checks

npm test

The tests cover tokenization, rhythm generation, punctuation rests, mode differences, tap-score output, and share-state encoding.

Possible next steps

• Add a small library of saved local rhythms.
• Add an exportable PNG timeline.
• Add a metronome grid for stricter musical timing.
• Add more language-specific syllable heuristics.