Generative Audiovisual Works by Night Sea Studio
visuals by Johan Ismael
audio by David Grunzweig

A series of hazy orbs merge and dissolve, producing apparitions of moonlit sea foam surging and receding on a cosmic shoreline. A soundscape exploring the haunting beauty of the night sky slowly unravels, punctuated by flickering crystalline tones, insects buzzing, and rumbling waves of distant thunder.

The soundscape utilizes a custom web-audio based granular synthesis engine, creating a complex soundscape by layering multiple versions of the same audio loop with various degrees of time stretching and pitch shifting. The audio used by the granular synthesizer is generated during page load using custom build FM and physical modeling synthesis code.

View On Foundation‍

Release Date: March 7, 2024

Included in the "Under Neith" Exhibition curated by Forever Projects

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.

A full article on the science and history behind this concept is available

What if the pen plotter was reinterpreted as a musical instrument? In this experiment, the unique sounds it produces while drawing are captured by a microphone and processed by various audio algorithms to produce a piece of sound art that explores some of the sonic possibilities of these machines. The visual design is inspired by graphical music scores, which modern composers used to write music for non-traditional instruments. The audio component revolves around a custom MaxMSP patch which uses granular synthesis, looping, and input processing techniques to create a full soundscape using only the sounds from the plotter.

l.o (pronounced el-dot-oh) is a series of audiovisual vignettes exploring a process at the heart of generative art and ambient music: creating complex forms by repeating and transforming a simple input. Inspired by starling murmurations, the repetition of a line, dot, or ring forms a flock of flickering particles rippling across the canvas.
Within the sonic component, filters and echoes manipulate a sustained chord until subtle melodies and rhythmic structures appear, resulting in a hypnotic and evolving soundscape unfolding from an elementary source. The signal path relies solely on bespoke code built using Web Audio, including an implementation of an early computer music algorithm called Karplus-Strong which utilizes tuned delay lines to simulate the physics of stringed instruments. The audio effect design is also inspired by the magical warmth of vintage analog equipment like tape loop echo units.