A Synthetic Cicada Soundscape Controlled by Breath

Toby Gifford

A Synthetic Cicada Soundscape Controlled by Breath
Image credit: Toby Gifford

Abstract:

This paper describes an interactive installation featuring a generative soundscape with breath control, that aims to capture the feeling of being in a forest full of cicadas. Inspired by a period of deep listening to cicada stridulations – in which I found the spatio-temporal pulsation of the sound mass reminiscent of breathing – this installation uses breath control to give a sense of breathing with a forest. The sound mass consists of multiple generative sources, each loosely modelled on an individual cicada stridulating. Each ‘cicada’ comprises a temporal hierarchy of pulse trains modulating a carrier frequency, with a simple sonic spatialization algorithm applied to give the sense of immersion in the sound mass. The algorithm is implemented in the Extempore audiovisual programming language, and utilizes an architecture in which each sonic parameter is inherently stochastic, much as the sound production mechanisms of actual Cicadas exhibit natural variation.