This is an experiment in generative audio design created by Christoph Labacher. It’s micro-project coded in a day.
Different digits of the phone number are used to create a chord, which can be played with various instruments. The idea is that in a messaging app close friends could get a personal ringtone which would become recognizable over time – so you already know who wrote a message. The ringtones are still supposed to sound consistent, though. The different instruments could be used to symbolize different groups.
Try it yourself! (Supports Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox)
The sounds were created by the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios.
Seven digits of the phone number are used to create the chord. There are however significantly less than 9,999,999 possible combinations: Every digit except for the first one is altering between two or three states instead of nine. Because of this there are 1440 different results.
Then again, who has 9,999,999 contacts?
The phone number is flipped around, then every second digit is taken into consideration. Each one alters the chord according to the following table:
| Digit | Scale | Key | Seven | Second Tone | Third Tone | First Pause | Second Pause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | C | man | yes | down | up | no | yes |
| 1 | D | min | yes | - | - | yes | no |
| 2 | Eb | maj | no | up | down | no | yes |
| 3 | E | min | no | down | up | yes | no |
| 4 | F | maj | yes | - | - | no | yes |
| 5 | G | min | yes | up | down | yes | no |
| 6 | Ab | maj | no | down | up | no | yes |
| 7 | A | min | no | - | - | yes | no |
| 8 | Bb | maj | yes | up | down | no | yes |
| 9 | B | min | yes | down | up | yes | no |
Yes. There is no randomness involved – that’s kind of the point.
The MIT License (MIT) Copyright (c) 2014 Christoph Labacher
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
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