Contrary to form , allow ’s talk about something honest-to-god - fashioned : music boxes – specifically , the kind that are attached to Charles Percy Snow ball .
You may still have one of these vacation - themed tchotchkes on display at your sign , although it might take on a forlorn air now thatFestivusis over . You cognize the exercise : flip them over , wind them up , and revel a few minutes of sedate bliss , reliving a magical week in which you were n’t at work , people were spontaneously giving each other gift , and your biggest headache included whether the pattern was too loud on that cashmere scarf you bribe for your chum .
Now , essay to opine a 21st century update on the music box C globe – a way to bring this quaint old piece of machinery into the world ofSpotifyandSiri . Maybe the snowflakes , rather than a separate music boxful , would provide the sound , generate new , unique music each sentence you shook the thing up . And instead of old - timey Christmas carol , you ’d get forwards - thought process , abstract sounds matching the quiet beauty of any euphony box .
Interested ? EnterMicrocosm ( free ) , a new app from Apposite Labs for Apple Io devices . It does all of the above , marrying beautiful , interactive 3D vitality to a sound - generating proficiency known asgranular synthesis(more on that below ) . Tilt your iPhone , iPad , or iPod Touch , and a cloud of slight particle will drift around accordingly , sort of like eccentric in a snowfall globe . Each of those midget snowflakes corresponds to a minuscule part of the sound you discover . As they float around and rearrange themselves , you ’ll discover the sound grow and change . It ’s really something .
Granular synthetic thinking , in simple condition , is a process in which a phone is chop up into infinitesimally modest pieces and manipulated in a number of room . Moving these small chunks of sound aside in time and then fill in the gaps produces a time - stretching effect , while scramble them into a random rules of order and playing them back creates the cloud - like texture for which granular synthesis is best sleep together .
Nevermind if that sounds too wonky ; the way it ’s employ in Microcosm could n’t be simple . There are no knob to twiddle , no meter to check . Just that swarm of sonic snowflakes , hanging in space , waiting for you to throw off them up .
Microcosm creator Gregory Wieber ( also the creative thinker behindPolychordand a partner in theOMACmusic apps go-ahead ) toldEvolver.fmabout his app ’s zen - comparable simplicity , how its visuals relate to its sound , and the snowglobe ’s connection to particle organisation .
When people talk about granulose deductive reasoning , you often pick up them look up to thepsychoacousticeffect being like a ‘ sonic swarm . ’ Rather than toy back a reasoned transcription as a linear affair , you ’re ‘ move into into ’ a transonic space . A particle system is a good way to guess a swarm visually , but there ’s still the interrogation of how you interact with it . You could shirk with parameters or have it be automated , but that sort of requires you to intend about what all of those parameter are for - so there ’s a bit of a disconnect . We looked at a snow globe and think , well that ’s essentially a particle system of rules that even small fry can approach and get it right away .
We agree . By replacing the technical controls of a traditional granular deduction tool with this natural , visual way of interacting , Wieber has produce an environs where the simplest gestures tolerate extraordinary fruit .
If yougive it a effort , note the refined effect that encounter when you zoom along in and out of the swarm . Not only does the phone get louder as you surge in , but it feels more present . Zoom your elbow room into the middle of a swarm of corpuscle and it sounds like you ’re literally in the middle of it ; surge back out to hear it languish into the distance . Wieber told us these result were achieved “ using the same three-D sound set techniques as a fate of iOS game . ”
This is a brand young app , and kinks remain . An former test ravel yielded no auditory sensation at all . And if you play with the app for too long without touching the screen , your phone goes into projection screen lock chamber , killing the sound recording . When I brought these issues up with Wieber , he was already well cognizant of them and working towards fixes . For now , he commend military group - quitting and reopening the app if you encounter the no - sound bug , and assures that the sound recording stopping trouble is “ high on our to do listing . ”
Wieber sees Microcosm as not only appeal to gearheads and electronic musicians , but also to non - geeks ( or maybe just other form of geeks ) who would enjoy something as simple as a nose candy globe or euphony box .
Evolver.fm observe , rail and analyzes the music apps view , with the belief that it ’s crucial to how man live music , and how that experience is evolving .
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