Coastal Foghorn

How it's made

Source

compressed air drives a diaphone piston; 78–140 Hz harmonic oscillation carries the blast. Quiet pink turbulence follows the same pressure envelope, rather than forming a separate wind bed.

Body

eight coherent integer partials model the horn's broad resonances; harmonics 2 and 3 are strong. A 0.35 Hz pressure wander shifts pitch by less than 0.3%; distance rolls off energy above 0.7–2 kHz.

Envelope

air builds over 0.16 s, holds for 1.6–2.5 s, then loses pressure over 0.5 s. The piston drops to 57–78% of its running frequency during shutdown, producing a low terminal grunt.

Layers

a 21 Hz flutter emerges only in the dying pressure; upper harmonics fade before the bass.

Space

delayed, low-passed coastal reflections at 0.13–0.51 s feed two all-pass diffusers (43/71 ms). Reflection and direct energy fade smoothly by 4.05 s; no surf or unrelated background is included.

Variation

seeded pitch offset is within 0.4%; pitch, blast length, distance and grunt depth are exposed. Presets distinguish a coastal beacon, low offshore horn, closer harbour and reflecting headland.

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