Soundwaves sonifies real-time ocean wave data from NOAA buoys stationed off coastlines across the United States. Each buoy reports the energy distribution of the ocean swell at its location — essentially, a snapshot of which wave periods are present and how strong each one is. Those measurements are mapped directly to a bank of 46 oscillators, one per frequency band, so what you hear is a sonic translation of the actual ocean spectrum at that buoy in that moment. Diatonic mode snaps those 46 pitches to a major scale; microtonal mode lets them sit at their raw mapped frequencies. The camera feed shows the same buoy's view. The image and audio rotate through stations automatically, cycling counterclockwise around the coasts, as follows:
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