BenStullsBets
a3ec09af7e
Sound for the experience, plus the design to control it. Soundtrack layer (ambience), all license-clean (PD/CC0), recorded in docs/audio-candidate-pool.md (media gitignored; re-sourceable): - cosmos: Pillars of Creation sonification (NASA, PD) - orbit: station room-tone hum (CC0) - coast: sea waves + terns (CC0) - reef: 6-layer NOAA soundscape + CC0 submerged bed (PD + CC0) - abyss: blue-whale moan (NOAA, PD) Solution Design (proposed): split the bundled Content selector into two orthogonal dials, Visual (on/off) x Audio (off/soundtrack/white-noise), unlocking white-noise+video. Soundtrack follows the single Altitude dial; white noise is altitude-independent. Reframes the networked-control-surface spec SS3/SS5 (still proposed/unbuilt -> clean pre-impl edit). Music layer deferred. Dev panel: links to the clip + audio review galleries; sticky stage/panel layout. gitignore: audio media, review_audio.html, .DS_Store. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
6.7 KiB
Audio candidate pool — rotating pools per altitude (2026-06-26)
Candidate soundtrack/ambience for the "audio + video" setting. Following operator
feedback, each altitude now has a rotating pool (mirrors the video Scale.pool
model — random pick per landing, or pairable per-clip).
Two audio layers per altitude (operator, 2026-06-26)
The "audio + video" setting layers two kinds of audio per altitude:
- Ambience / audio track — the soundscape (waves, reef crackle, chorus, etc.). This is what we're sourcing now.
- Music track — a separate composed musical layer. Deferred until the ambience tracks are settled across all altitudes.
Pools below are the ambience layer unless marked music. Distinction (operator):
the ambience/soundtrack layer is an environmental, real-world soundscape (waves, reef,
whale, room-tone hum) — not composed music. A musical pad/track, however nice, belongs
in the music layer, even for "atmospheric" altitudes like cosmos/orbit.
Media is gitignored (simulator/sample_media/**/*.{wav,mp3,…}); this file is the
re-sourceable record. Files: simulator/sample_media/audio/<altitude>/<name>.<ext>,
served at /media/audio/<altitude>/<name>.<ext>. Review gallery (gitignored):
simulator/static/review_audio.html → /review_audio.html with the sim running.
Round-2 feedback applied (operator, session 2026-06-26)
- abyss ✓ kept (blue-whale moan) · coast ✓ kept (waves + terns)
- cosmos ✗ plasma static "hurt my ears" → replaced with 3 NASA sonifications
- orbit ✗ whistlers "sound like lasers" → replaced with gentle Earth chorus (+ wind)
- reef ✗ "shouldn't have whales (too deep for a reef)" → whale removed; now crackle + diver
- Operator: "try all three… rotation of audio like the video, or per-video audio track."
Design arc
Descending the dial is one journey: cosmos & abyss = vast/dark/sparse siblings; coast = warm human middle; orbit & reef = transitional membranes. The science recordings (NASA/NOAA) keep the "machines reshaping perception" thesis literal.
Pools
| altitude | id | clip | source | dur | license |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🌌 cosmos | cosmos/pillars |
✓ KEEP — Pillars of Creation (M16), twinkly sweep | NASA/CXC/SAO — https://chandra.si.edu/sound/m16.html (sounds/m16_all.mp4) |
30s | PD (NASA, credit) |
| 🌌 cosmos | cosmos/music |
🎵 music track — TBD (deferred). Black-hole drone DROPPED (too creepy, not awe-inspiring); Galactic Center dropped earlier | — | — | — |
| 🛰 orbit | orbit/spaceamb |
✓ KEEP — station room-tone hum ("inside the orbiting craft") | Sonicfreak — https://freesound.org/s/174450/ (cdn.freesound.org/previews/174/174450_746632-hq.mp3) |
2:31 | CC0 |
| 🛰 (music) | deferred | 🎵 "Frozen Star" warm pad — moved to MUSIC layer (it's music, not ambience) | Kevin MacLeod / incompetech — https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/mp3-royaltyfree/Frozen%20Star.mp3 | 3:41 | CC-BY |
| 🐠 reef | reef/soundscape |
✓ richer reef (round 4) — 6-layer bake: submerged underwater bed (bubbles/sloosh) + shrimp crackle + fish chorus + toadfish + grouper + damselfish | NOAA SanctSound (FK+GR *_snappingshrimp_*, FK02_01_fishchorus, GR01_01_toadfish, FK03_01_redgrouper, PM05_01_damselfish) + DCSFX "Underwater [Loop] AMB" https://freesound.org/s/366159/ (cdn.freesound.org/previews/366/366159_6725579-hq.mp3); loop-to-60 + amix + dynaudnorm |
60s | PD (NOAA) + CC0 (underwater) |
| 🏖 coast | coast/waves |
Sea waves + tern calls | BigSoundBank #0267 — https://bigsoundbank.com/sea-waves-and-seagulls-s0267.html (/UPLOAD/mp3/0267.mp3) |
57s | CC0 |
| 🕳 abyss | abyss/whale |
NE Pacific blue-whale "AB call" | NOAA PMEL — https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/acoustics/multimedia/NETS_bluWhale.wav | 13s | PD (NOAA) |
Sourcing rule (learned 2026-06-26)
Source only from a browsable page the operator can open and whose license is stated.
The Mixkit clips were pulled by raw CDN asset id (assets.mixkit.co/.../<id>-preview.mp3)
with no findable catalog page — operator couldn't see them, so they were removed. Good
hubs: NASA SVS / Chandra, NOAA PMEL/SanctSound (PD), BigSoundBank (CC0), Pixabay
(visible license). Avoid asset-id grabs and ND/NC licenses.
Open items / next pass
- orbit — ✅ SETTLED:
orbit/spaceamb(Sonicfreak station room-tone hum, CC0). Rejected en route: laser whistlers, Earth chorus, plain wind, "Frozen Star" pad (music). A real NASA ISS recording (Hadfield "Space Station Noise", SoundCloud) remains the authentic upgrade if ever wanted — needs a harder fetch (no yt-dlp; brew install denied). - ambience layer COMPLETE — all 5 picked: cosmos/pillars · orbit/spaceamb · coast/waves · reef/soundscape · abyss/whale. Next is the production pass + wiring (below) and the music layer.
- reef — ✅ round-4 6-layer bake (
reef/soundscape): NOAA PD biological layers + a CC0 submerged underwater "you're under" bed (DCSFX freesound #366159, hq preview). License clean. SanctSound clips:files/SanctSound_*.mp4athttps://sanctsound.ioos.us/files/(extract audio). - music layer — separate composed music track per altitude, deferred (cosmos slot reserved).
- Production (after picks): loop seams, length normalization, cross-altitude crossfade (mirror video); cosmos/abyss clips are short → loop.
Re-download / re-bake
A=simulator/sample_media/audio; FF=$(python -c "import imageio_ffmpeg;print(imageio_ffmpeg.get_ffmpeg_exe())")
mkdir -p $A/cosmos $A/orbit $A/reef $A/coast $A/abyss
# NASA sonifications (mp4 -> mp3)
for u in perseus_sonification:blackhole m16_all:pillars galactic_all:galaxy; do
f=${u%%:*}; o=${u##*:}; curl -fsSL "https://chandra.si.edu/sound/sounds/$f.mp4" -o /tmp/$o.mp4
"$FF" -y -i /tmp/$o.mp4 -vn -q:a 4 $A/cosmos/$o.mp3; done
curl -fsSL "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011000/a011073/Earthsong-540-MASTER_high.mp4" -o /tmp/es.mp4
"$FF" -y -i /tmp/es.mp4 -vn -q:a 4 $A/orbit/earthsong.mp3
curl -fsSL "https://assets.mixkit.co/active_storage/sfx/1162/1162-preview.mp3" -o $A/orbit/wind.mp3
curl -fsSL "https://www.nhm.ac.uk/content/dam/nhm-www/discover/audio/sound-of-coral-reef.mp3" -o $A/reef/crackle.mp3
curl -fsSL "https://assets.mixkit.co/active_storage/sfx/1242/1242-preview.mp3" -o $A/reef/scuba.mp3
curl -fsSL "https://bigsoundbank.com/UPLOAD/mp3/0267.mp3" -o $A/coast/waves.mp3
curl -fsSL "https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/acoustics/multimedia/NETS_bluWhale.wav" -o $A/abyss/whale.wav
# layered reef
"$FF" -y -i $A/reef/crackle.mp3 -i $A/reef/scuba.mp3 \
-filter_complex "[1:a]volume=0.55[s];[0:a][s]amix=inputs=2:duration=first,dynaudnorm" -q:a 4 $A/reef/layered.mp3