What is the microcosm playground?

microcosm is a generative artwork released by Night Sea as part of the “Under Neith” exhibition on Foundation’s Forever Projects. This playground lets you create your own custom design from the artwork’s algorithm by controlling the audio and visual.

How do I customize the audio?

microcosm’s audio is created by time-stretching and pitch-shifting a simple melody into multiple layers of sound. The audio source allows the following modifications:

• Selecting which synth instrument should play the melody
• Uploading your own audio file to replace the melody
• Recording audio with your mic to replace the melody

How is the audio source used in the artwork?

At the core of the audio system is a technique called granular synthesis. Granular synthesis is used to create new sounds by looping small portions of a sound file, in our case 0.05 seconds long. Unlike traditional methods of slowing or speeding up audio, this method allows changes to the playback speed without changing the pitch. The main audio layer is achieved by playing the original melody 100x slower.

Can I tweak the visuals too?

Yes! Using the control panel, you can control certain parameters of the visual experience. If you want to generate a new random set of visual parameters, click the “Refresh Visuals” button.

How can I share the results?

Click the “Record Video” button to record a 30 second video of the screen and audio for sharing purposes. For best results, a Chrome-based browser is recommended and keep the playground tab in focus.