Ratio #21

[This project has audio, click on the live view to start.]

Night Sea presents Ratio, a generative audiovisual piece examining the underlying acoustics of tuning systems. By considering the relationship between sound frequencies rather than musical notes, the piece explores the possibilities of harmony without the constraints of an instrument.

Utilizing specific intervals which the human ear perceives as balanced, the algorithm creates a chord by computing a set of frequencies which are multiples or subdivisions of the interval. Combining this algorithm with the hash, Ratio produces a unique chord for each mint, with varying levels of tension, brightness, and microtonal deviation.

The sound field washes up against visuals which evoke streams of light falling across a series of panes. Sound data slowly illuminates and transforms the panes over time, creating a meditative respite for viewers.

A full length fx(text) article about the theory behind Ratio is available here: https://bit.ly/ratio-theory

~ Interaction ~

• Press “f” to toggle fullscreen mode
• Press “r” to record a 30-second video clip with audio. Use Safari for highest quality video and mp4 format. Chrome is next best but can only output the webm format (which you can then convert to mp4 via an online tool such as https://www.freeconvert.com/webm-to-mp4)
• Press “1” to toggle between the generated chord and the closest possible match on a piano

~ Aspect Ratio ~

Outputs will automatically switch between landscape 16:9 or portrait 9:16 based on the size of your window. If you’d like to enforce a specific aspect ratio, you can append the parameter “?aspect=[number]” to an output’s URL. For instance, “[output_url]?aspect=1” will enforce a square aspect ratio regardless of the window size and fullscreen mode.

~ About Night Sea ~

Ratio is the second generative audiovisual project by Night Sea, following their first release, l.o, on Art Blocks in September of 2023. Their other work includes Sonatina for Plotter and Laptop, presented at Art Blocks Marfa in 2023, a project exploring the sonic possibilities of a pen plotter. Their work as a music duo has been released on the labels Silent Season and Huinali, and they have performed at music festivals like Mutek SF and Chillits.