Nuclear Musicians: Radioactive Orchestra at TEDxGöteborg

Published on Nov 2, 2012 by TEDxTalks

The audio demo starts after the 11:00 mark.

"Radioactive orchestra is a cross-boundary collaboration of nuclear physicists, a DJ and one media artist. The project wishes to inspire young people to learn about the natural sciences, but it also has an artistic aim to find new musically interesting patterns. By giving every radioactive isotop its own sound based on scientific algorithms they turn nuclear science into music, hence making a world available to us that our senses can not otherwise percieve."

AfroDJMac's Wind Chimes

Published on Oct 4, 2012 by AfroDjMac

via AfroDJMac:

"I've released a new Ableton Live Collection and 4 track 'Wind Chime Ambience EP,' all created with samples from beautifully hand-crafted-and-tuned metallic wind chimes. The Ableton Live Pack includes 5 Instrument Racks, 4 Drum Racks, 4 Effect Racks, plus 10 additional presets. These Ableton Racks are quite diverse and easily manipulated with macro knobs. A couple of the instruments use wind chime samples that were recorded directly to reel to reel tape, adding to the organic feel.

Also included are the Live Projects for each of the 4 tracks on the 'Wind Chime Ambiece EP.' This gives full access to how the tracks were created and how the different instruments can be manipulated to create a wide variety of sounds."

You can find the download and EP here.

What the Earth Sounds Like in Space - Gumby on the Moon!

Sounds of Space: 'Chorus' radio waves within Earth's magnetosphere

Published on Sep 15, 2012 by captaincynicforum

Sinewave filter sweeps! Gumby got it right:

Gumby on the Moon


Description for the top video ( Sounds of Space: 'Chorus' radio waves within Earth's magnetosphere):
"The audio 'Chorus' in this video was recorded on Sept. 5, 2012, by RBSP's Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS).

Audio Credit: University of Iowa
Visualisation Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Video Compilation Credit: Captain Cynic Science Forums"

via http://www.captaincynic.com/thread/94889/sounds-of-space-chorus-radio-waves-within-earth-s-magnetosphere.htm
"'Chorus', also known as 'dawn chorus', are naturally occurring electromagnetic radio wave/s emitted from the Earth’s magnetosphere that are audible by the human ear. These radio waves are caused by particles within Earth's magnetosphere. A magnetosphere is the region surrounding a planet that is dominated by the planet's magnetic field. Solar winds (charged particles coming out of the Sun) blast against against Earth's magnetosphere, causing it to be shaped the way it is.

The sounds in the video below were recorded recently on Sept. 5, 2012 and the sounds were picked up using radio receivers. This video has numerous 5 second recordings of 'chorus' sounds played one after another without any gaps in between.

The chorus phenomena has been known about for decades. The reason they are sometimes referred to as 'dawn chorus' is because often the sounds are more easily picked up in the morning. A similar occurence is the auroral chorus - which can occur during auroras - caused by geomagnetic storms.

All these sounds basically seem to arise out of the interaction of solar winds with our magnetosphere.

The visualization accompaniying the audio in the video depicts magnetic field lines which which represent the magnetosphere (magnetic field) surrounding Earth."

Synthesizing the Sound of Cloth, Garments & Fabrics

Motion-driven Concatenative Synthesis of Cloth Sounds (SIGGRAPH 2012)

Published on Jun 19, 2012 by DougLJames

Clothing sounds synthesized using the approach from our SIGGRAPH 2012 paper, and PhD thesis work by Steven S. An.
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/projects/Sound/cloth/

Steven S. An , Doug L. James, and Steve Marschner, Motion-driven Concatenative Synthesis of Cloth Sounds, ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH 2012), August 2012.

Abstract: We present a practical data-driven method for automatically synthesizing plausible soundtracks for physics-based cloth animations running at graphics rates. Given a cloth animation, we analyze the deformations and use motion events to drive crumpling and friction sound models estimated from cloth measurements. We synthesize a low-quality sound signal, which is then used as a target signal for a concatenative sound synthesis (CSS) process. CSS selects a sequence of microsound units, very short segments, from a database of recorded cloth sounds, which best match the synthesized target sound in a low-dimensional feature-space after applying a hand-tuned warping function. The selected microsound units are con- catenated together to produce the final cloth sound with minimal filtering. Our approach avoids expensive physics-based synthesis of cloth sound, instead relying on cloth recordings and our motion-driven CSS approach for realism. We demonstrate its effectiveness on a variety of cloth animations involving various materials and character motions, including first-person virtual clothing with binaural sound."

via Engadget

Precomputed Acceleration Noise for Improved Rigid-Body Sound (SIGGRAPH 2012)

Published on Jun 19, 2012 by DougLJames

"Acceleration noise sounds synthesized using the method from our SIGGRAPH 2012 paper.
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/projects/Sound/impact/

Jeffrey N. Chadwick, Changxi Zheng and Doug L. James, Precomputed Acceleration Noise for Improved Rigid-Body Sound, ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH 2012), August 2012.

ABSTRACT: We introduce an efficient method for synthesizing acceleration noise--sound produced when an object experiences abrupt rigidbody acceleration due to collisions or other contact events. We approach this in two main steps. First, we estimate continuous contact force profiles from rigid-body impulses using a simple model based on Hertz contact theory. Next, we compute solutions to the acoustic wave equation due to short acceleration pulses in each rigid-body degree of freedom. We introduce an efficient representation for these solutions--Precomputed Acceleration Noise--which allows us to accurately estimate sound due to arbitrary rigid-body accelerations. We find that the addition of acceleration noise significantly complements the standard modal sound algorithm, especially for small objects."

"Solar Variations" by Project Planetaria - Sound Influenced by the Sun

"Solar Variations" by Project Planetaria from starvelab on Vimeo.

Project Planetaria is a UCSD Center for Humanities research fellowship presenting a new work called "Solar Variations" at the new Experimental Media Lab in UCSD's Visual Arts Department. Whew! The Project Planetaria Fellows are Professors Adam Burgasser (Physics), Tara Knight (Theater & Dance), and Michael Trigilio (Visual Arts).

Hook

YouTube Published on Aug 10, 2012 by bassling

"A collaborative performance by musician Vic McEwan and sculptor John Wood."

No synths in this one, but quite the exploration of sound. Filing this one with the mechanical, nature and art installation labels.

Sound Alchemy w/ Ableton Live: 'The Singing Dunes' - Advanced Instrument Racks

YouTube Published on Jul 23, 2012 by DubSpot

"More info: http://bit.ly/LIs3KB
Dubspot instructor, composer, and producer Raz Mesinai kicks off a brand new Ableton Live video tutorial series, focusing on creating Effect and Instrument Racks in Live based on natural sonic phenomena. In the first installment, Raz explains and demonstrates how to create an advanced Instrument Rack inspired by the Singing Dunes.

I heard about the Singing Dune phenomenon years ago from several friends, all from the Middle East. After searching online I found a few recordings, but none really clear enough to capture the experience. Later, I contacted Chris Watson (formerly of Cabaret Voltaire), who is now one of the most exquisite field recording artists I've ever come across. (I highly recommend his recordings on the UK-based Touch label). He told me that he had been trying to record the dunes but had had no luck as of yet (this may have changed since then). After more digging I eventually discovered this site which has some very good recordings of the phenomenon (http://www.fonik.dk/works/oman.html). I suggest you check them out prior to watching this tutorial, but use headphones or speakers with plenty of sub — you won't hear a thing on your laptop speakers.

From there I set off to experiment in a little sound alchemy. Using Operator and Analog, I first focused on the main elements of the 'landscape' where this is taking place. There is a base drone, representing the dune, a layer of noise, representing the sand moving, and modulation as a way to make the sand 'blow' in the wind at different rates.

From there I looked for a story to latch onto. The story is based off of the description that Marco Polo wrote down in the 13th century during a stay in the Gobi Desert. He described this phenomenon as being the voices of evil spirits which "at times filled the air with the sounds of all kinds of instruments, and also the drums of clashing arms." This image of Marco Polo, perhaps sleeping in a tent in the desert, suddenly being woken up by these strange sounds, which to him were completely mysterious as his quote suggests, conjures two things for me. Firstly, it allows a lot of freedom for me to conceptualize this Instrument Rack, and secondly, it affirms my beliefs that bad things happen when white people go to the desert.

The intention of this tutorial is not to imitate the Singing Dune phenomenon, rather, it is to use these sounds from the earth as a source of inspiration, allowing me to conceptualize a soundscape that goes with an imaginary story that is seen through sound.

I hope you enjoy it! -- Raz Mesinai"

Junction: New York City Taxis Generate a Real-Time Soundtrack

YouTube Published on Jul 7, 2012 by kamoni

"Junction is a sound sculpture generated in real-time by thousands of New York City taxi cabs. Through the use of publicly available live footage from New York's Traffic Management Center, Junction tracks the movements of taxis in some of the city's busiest intersections. It uses their position, velocity and overall density to synthesize sounds. The onlooker gains a feeling of omniscience, as if "watching from above", while every tracked taxi's indeterministic movements become part of a larger symphony."

Huun-Huur-Tu - Live

YouTube Uploaded by JaroMedienGmbH on Jul 15, 2011

"Huun-Huur-Tu at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California November 18, 2008"

Resonant filter sweeps with the human voice starting shortly after the 5:50 mark.

via @hamsterdunce aka Dave of http://umop.com/, home of the Packrat and more.

Tuvan throat singing.

ヨウムとクラフトワーク (Grey Parrot v.s. KRAFTWERK)

YouTube Published on Jun 15, 2012 by unyo303

"お気に入りですか?"

Avian Physical Modelling.

Also see:
Nature's Synthesizers - The Frozen Sea & Seals
Weddell Filter Sweeps - "Encounters at the end of the world"
And of course the nature label below.

Bibio - Sampling in the garden...

YouTube Published on Mar 28, 2012 by mrbibio

"Sunshine in England is precious, so when the weather is fine it feels sinful to be cooped up in a studio, I'm very lucky to have the choice, so why not choose?

When the weather is fine, I like to take a few bits of gear outside and enjoy being creative in a different environment, plus there are all sorts of other sounds to explore outdoors, and in this case, sample.

A quick video of me making beats entirely out of recordings of objects found in the garden. No previously recorded samples were used.

Capturing sounds with a vintage Sennheiser MD-21 microphone, then using the EMU SP1200 for its inimitable fidelity, then resampled and sequenced on an Akai MPC 5000.

Videoed by me on a Canon 5D mkii."

Fun with Sinewaves on the International Space Station - Electric Digideroo

Science off the Sphere: Space Soundwaves II- Electric Didgeridoo

YouTube Published on May 30, 2012 by PhysicsCentralAPS

"In his off-duty time, NASA Astronaut Don Pettit likes to explore scientific curiosities of his own design. Sometimes that means cutting his shirt up and playing the space station vacuum cleaner like a didgeridoo. Answer the challenge question at www.physicscentral.com/sots for a chance to have your name read from space!"

The Sound of Space

YouTube Uploaded by Chicken10843 on May 19, 2009

"Sounds from space with a machine combined.
thanks to NASA.

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/features/halloween_sounds.html"

via Marc-Henri aka RADIOKLOW

Nature's Synthesizers - The Frozen Sea & Seals

Sounds of frozen sea. Odessa, Ukraine. February 2012
Как скрипит замерзшее море. Одесса, февраль 2012.

YouTube Uploaded by TheTeacwr on Feb 7, 2012

"Weird sounds of frozen sea. Arcadia, Odessa

video courtesy http://www.youtube.com/user/Dron008?feature=watch"

Seal Sounds from Encounters at the End of the World

YouTube Uploaded by QipsyDotCom on Jan 14, 2009

"The out-of-this-world sounds made by waddell seals in Antartica from the movie "Encounters at the End of the World" by Werner Herzog."

via TRASH_AUDIO

Also see: Weddell Filter Sweeps - "Encounters at the end of the world"
And the nature label below for more.

Shudders

YouTube Uploaded by BrianWilliamGreen on Dec 14, 2011

"I created this piece by tracking it from a max-msp patch that was playing back field recordings from the Charles River in Boston, Ma and a drone made from the water."

The Signal: Electronic Music Project Featuring UVB-76 Russian Shortwave Radio & AudioCubes

On Kickstarter, where you'll find relevant links to more info.

"The Signal is a project about communication, technology, conspiracy theories and community.

UVB-76 is an arcane, shortwave radio frequency based somewhere in Russia that has been broadcasting a steady stream of beeps, blips, buzzes and chirps since the Cold War. And no one knows what it is (except possibly whoever is broadcasting it). (Read more about UVB-76: Inside the Russian Short Wave Radio Enigma, Wired)

This project is an attempt to communicate the experience around listening to an encoded stream of information and trying to decipher it, and the community of individuals around the world who are actively trying to do that with UVB-76 through instrumental electronic music.

The key tools I want to use for this project -- and the basis for Kickstarter funding -- are AudioCubes by Percussa. Some examples of AudioCubes in use are in the video above, on Percussa's website and YouTube. The method by which one can create evolving music through the use of AudioCubes would lend itself perfectly to this project.

This project is going to happen even if the project goal isn't reached. If I don't get funded, I am still going to make the album, just maybe without the cubes (although that would be sad). The project will be written, produced and recorded during the month of February for the RPM Challenge. If we meet our funding goal, it will be mastered by Colin C. (Slighter/Visitor 7/The Pushers) -- who will actually be able to be paid for his services. Depending on where we are in the final funding amount, I may print a limited run of physical discs for anyone interested, otherwise all backers will at least receive a copy of the album in digital format."

via Percussa

orange

flickr By custer_flux

"this orange has a dog on it."

monotron in the background.

Sun Boxes - Lilly

Uploaded by MUUDMusic on Oct 14, 2011

"A solar powered sound installation by Craig Colorusso. 2 field recordings from Massachusetts. On Colored vinyl with a digital download. Recorded by Kevin Belli.

http://www.sun-boxes.com"

Dovinia "Sylvania" - modular synthesizer improvisations

YouTube Uploaded by Dovinia on Oct 7, 2011

"Sounds from my garden blends with the Doepfer A-100. I'm using a Dark Time sequencer for the harp-like arpeggio. For the technically interested: This is an all analog recording multitracked to audio cassette using a Tascam 424 MkIII. Mastered to a Sony wm-d6c and transfered to my Satellite lap top directly through the line in jack using the generic sound recorder application. The reverb and delay ambience in this recording comes from the A-199 Spring Reverb and A-188-1 BBD (4096 stages) modules."

drill n bass

YouTube Uploaded by squeakyfromme69 on Sep 29, 2011