TwoTone: an easy introduction to sonification

Last week, An online sonification tool called Twotone, developed by Datavized Technologies and supported by Google News Initiative, was launched. It is an excellent and easy introduction to sonification:

N.A.G. (Network Auralization for Gnutella)

N.A.G. was an application that used data from the Gnutella peer-to-peer network. The user would enter search words and the application would start looking for mp3 files matching those keywords. Due to the nature of Gnutella, a mp3 file is downloaded in fragments. These fragments form the core of the musical result: Instead of mapping data, the sound files themselves are transformed based on various parameters that can be set interactively by the user. The downloaded fragments are played back at a speed depending on the available bandwidth.

Listen to Wikipedia

Listen to Wikipedia sonifies and visualises activity on Wikipedia, offering limited interactivity. I have asked the authors, Stephen LaPorte and Mahmoud Hashemi, a few questions to explain the sonification process, which they were happy to answer.

Tweetscapes: sonifying Germany’s twitterscape

Continuing on the previous post, Tweetscapes takes on Twitter as well. However, there are notable differences. While Twinthesis can be used as an instrument and offers a few interaction possibilities, Tweetscapes is meant to be listened to, experienced without any direct possible interaction. However, the tweetscapes soundscape has been used as a base for improvisation in live music.