About ADdes
ADdes is short for Androids Do Dream of Electric Sheep, said like “Gladys”. It is made by SILO Apps LLC.
Where it comes from
ADdes is a spiritual successor to Electric Sheep, and a homage to Philip K. Dick and to Electric Sheep itself.
Electric Sheep was a screensaver whose luminous, twisting, elastic shapes evolved slowly and lulled people into a trance. ADdes sets out to bring back the awe of watching it, on modern hardware.
The name plays on Dick’s novel, in which androids might dream. Here, they do.
What it is not
- It is not a re-implementation of Electric Sheep, and it is not compatible with its genome files.
- There is no server, flock, voting or accounts.
- There are no recorded music tracks. The soundtrack is generated as it plays.
- It is not a meditation app. Why not.
The rules it is built to
- Desktop and VR, both
- The desktop is where most people will meet ADdes, as a screensaver, an audio visualizer, or something beautiful on a TV. VR is where it goes furthest. A feature that only works in the headset needs a reason.
- Yardsticks before code
- Each phase’s measures are written before it is built, so they can’t be chosen to fit what got built.
- The Trance Budget
- Intensity comes from colour, detail and depth, never from flashing, strobing or sudden motion. The limits are on the Calm page.
- Comfort
- Comfort is measured where it can be, and judged by you where it can’t. Defaults start gentle, and the controls let you go further.
- Fully offline
- It asks for nothing from the internet. The soundtrack is made inside the program, and your music is analysed inside it too.
How it is made
The program is written in Rust. The picture is drawn on the graphics card through wgpu on DX12. The soundtrack is generated live in pure Rust. The headset is reached through OpenXR, and other apps’ audio is captured with WASAPI process loopback, which excludes ADdes itself.
About this website: the clips, pictures and sounds were recorded or rendered from the app. The small live dreams on the Calm and VR pages are a re-creation that your own browser draws from a seed. They are not the program, and nothing about them is sent anywhere.
Questions and answers
Is ADdes a meditation app?
No. ADdes is not a meditation app, and it does not claim to be a meditation practice.
Meditation, as we understand it, is a quiet, focused moment of self-reflection, with expanded awareness as its goal. A light show is not that. People do come to ADdes for the mood: slow, soft and unhurried. That mood is the point of the Trance Budget. But if what you are looking for is meditation, here are two free, non-commercial places that explain what it is and what the research says:
- Mindfulness, from the NHS (UK National Health Service).
- Meditation and Mindfulness: Effectiveness and Safety, from the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
I am sensitive to flashing light. Is it safe?
The dreams are not allowed to flash at all: the limit is 0 flashes, where the web standard for flashing, WCAG 2.3.1, allows 3. Visualizer Mode is looser, and keeps to the WCAG limit instead. These are design limits enforced by measurement, not medical advice. If you have photosensitive epilepsy, or any doubt, speak to your doctor first. The limits, and a live meter, are on the Calm page.
Does it need the internet?
No. It stays fully offline.
Does it listen to my music?
It can respond to it. Other apps’ audio is captured with WASAPI process loopback that excludes ADdes itself, and analysed inside the program. Normally the music is applied as slow, bounded tints: it can make the dream breathe, and never strobe. Press D for Visualizer Mode and the dream dances to it. The soundtrack is on the Sound page.
Do I need a headset?
No. VR is optional, and the desktop gets equal attention. The headset side is on the VR page.
Can I share a dream?
Not yet. You can keep one for yourself: Ctrl + S saves the dream on screen, and it waits in Feels under Saved.
How do I say the name?
Like “Gladys”. The capitals are the first letters of Androids Do; the rest is Dream of Electric Sheep, folded away.