Audification of the Earth's Surface

In this project, Flo Kaufmann maps the earths elevation data onto a 12 inch disk and uses a record player to make that information audible.  The result is a surprisingly rhythmic experience in which knowledge of the earth's surface is acquired acoustically.

From the gallery:

EARTH_TO_DISK is a project that uses the earth elevation data. The height informations of the globe are analogically transposed on a 12 inch record. A standard turntable can after that read this relief. The chain of the elevation data crossed during the playing is directly transposed into audible sound vibrations. By every rotation of the disk, we can recognize patterns corresponding to the relief of the crossed continents. The engraving of this elevation's information on the surface of the disk generates in consequence a subtle image of the earth. This image may remind us the representations that are proposed to us since the stellar exploration during the 60's, until today with applications like google-earth.

Sonification for Music Induced Movement Analysis

Music Induced Movement (MIM), also known as dancing, characterizes the diversity of movements made in response to music. By attaching markers to the body and exposing subjects to different music, these movements can be analyzed scientifically. In this domain, sonification provides a creative and intuitive method for analysis, allowing the listener to perceive the movements in the same medium as the music. The following three videos, created by researcher Petri Toiviainen from The Finnish Center of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Music Research, are examples of this point. In the sonification, see if you can hear all four rhythmic levels. How do these rhythms match with the rhythm of the music? Which level matches best?

Sonification and Music

Music Alone

Sonification Alone

fMRI for Music Analysis

fMRI uses cerebral blood flow to measure activation of different cortical areas. One application for this type of tool is the analysis of cortical responses to music. Researcher Petri Toiviainen from The Finnish Center of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Music Research created this video to show how the brain reacts to Tango music. Notice how points of expectation seem to escalate the response.


The Tango Brain from Petri Toiviainen on Vimeo.

Jaime Oliver uses computer vision for an extended instrument using a drum frame with a pliable black membrane.  In the video, you can see how the computer becomes sensitive to the number of fingers touching, their force and distance from the camera.  Equally as inspiring as the simplicity of the controller is his choice for sound synthesis.  Further, he demonstrates experience in sound design that is unparalleled.  I have posted one of his movies using the Silent Drum
Silent Construction 1 from Jaime Oliver on Youtube.

The T-stick

The T-stick was created in 2007 by Joe Malloch in collaboration with the composer D. Andrew Stewart.  It was originally part of the McGill Digital Orchestra project, but has grown in popularity since then, being played actively in international performance.  In the shape of a staff, the T-stick creates sound by an array of sensors along its shaft.  It is sensitive to touching, tapping, twisting, tilting, squeezing and shaking.  All of these "gestures" can be used by a performer or composer for musical expression.

This performance, by D. Andrew Stewart, took place at the International Computer Music Conference 2009 in Montreal.  He's playing on the soprano t-stick which he calls the "sonar jo".  The piece is called "Everybody to the Power of One"


Everybody to the Power of One (ICMC Performance) from Joseph Malloch on Vimeo.

The Sonification Handbook Chp. 5: Sonic Interaction Design

The fifth chapter of the sonification handbook introduces the emergent field of Sonic Interaction Design (SID).  Although the authors discuss the use of SID in interactive art and music, they largely miss the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) literature, focusing instead upon more simple interactions and product design.  They acknowledge a difficulty inherent in evaluating interfaces and believe that Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) needs to consider culture, emotion and experience rather than simple function and efficiency.  

Metaphor, the authors propose, is the most important question for mapping in SID.  The metaphor should be "convincing to the user, need little explanation, be in unison with the users expectations, and create sounds so rich in complexity that users are not bored or annoyed by them (p.106)"  Model-Based Sonification (Chp. 16), they argue, is very promising as the user can be expected to naturally discover the relevant bindings.

This video demonstrates how sports devices can be augmented to convey configuration using interactive sound.  There are more examples here.

Source: J. Hummel, T. Hermann, C. Fraunberger and T. Stockman.  Interactive Sonification of German Wheel Sports Movement, Proceedings of the ISon 2010, 3rd Interactive Sonification Workshop, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden, April 7, 2010.

The Sponge

New instruments, lesson one: keep it clean. Composer, performer, and instrument designer Martin Marier exemplifies this statement in The Sponge, a foam-like instrument about the size of a bible that can be twisted, shook, contorted, and most importantly used to generate sound.  I've included some rare footage of a performance at CIRMMT this past year.

Clarinette (Albino Butterfly) - live@CIRMMT from Martin Marier on Vimeo.