Sound Channel Brewer

Pick two sounds for two variables, such as pitch and loudness, and hear them together on made-up data before you tie them to real data. Click a cell of the matrix to listen, and watch the data, the score and the sound drawn under one playhead.

More details

Every piece on this site has to decide which part of a sound carries which part of the data: pitch for temperature, loudness for flow, how long a note lasts for day length. This page is for trying that choice by ear. Each cell of the matrix is a pair of auditory channels. You set how many levels each one carries, the layout (a steady pulse, a scattered cloud or held tones), the voice, the octave, and the shape of the made-up data, and a third variable can make the loop busier or faster. A drum lane adds one more variable on a single drum, a first look at a percussion layer. A bench lets you swap a channel into the matrix, such as vibrato for distance, to hear the same pair with one part changed.

The data are seeded random numbers, so the same seed always gives the same loop. The fold-down “How the data are made” shows the rules three ways: in plain words, as formulas, and as javascript. The pairs under “From our pieces” are mappings the pieces use or propose.

It will be more useful for listening, not ranking: the pair that sounds clear here may not work on real data, and no formal listening tests are developed yet. Headphones help with pan, distance and with small loudness steps.

The idea comes from Channel Brewer by Enrico Bertini, which does the same for visual channels (size, colour, shape and the rest) and is itself after ColorBrewer. This page is new code, written for sound.

It also works on its own, full screen.