Music 220a - Final Project: A Journey Through Space


For my final project, I created a ChucK file that (somewhat) simulated the experience of a journey through space. Specifically, from Earth to Neptune. NASA has assembled an extensive library of 'planet noises' it has collected over the past 50 years of space exploration. Many stellar bodies emit EM radiation - NASA uses plasma antennae onboard its deep space probes to collect these emitted waves and them clips them to within the range of human hearing. I only collected the sonified data that had the most pleasing sounds, although they are all representative of a dark ambient noise. The ChucK file starts you off your journey through space and uses the length of the underlying track (in this case "Prophecies," by Philip Glass) to gauge how much of your virtual has been completed. At any time in your journey you can 'ping' a planet by pressing the keyboard key mapped to that body. The gain and panning location, however, will vary according to your virtual location in relation to that planetary body. Enjoy! And feel free to modify key mappings or add additional planetary bodies into the file - the only variable that needs adjusting in each sporkable function is the name of the new WAV file and the body's distance from Earth in AU.


Chuck Files

WAV Files