Sci-Fi Laboratory

How it's made

Source

three independent layers. (1) Mains-driven equipment: transformer and fan-coil hum at 60 Hz with strong 2nd/3rd/5th harmonics plus a narrow-band 120 Hz buzz. (2) Aerated liquid in glass tanks: small air bubbles released at random. (3) Instruments that report data: short sine blips in groups of 1-4.

Body

a bubble of radius r rings at the Minnaert frequency ~3.26/r (1.2-5 mm gives 0.7-2.7 kHz) and chirps upward as it rises; the water column adds a low-passed gurgle bed at 150-700 Hz. Data blips are 1.6-5.5 kHz pure tones with a 3 ms attack and 25-70 ms decay, each with a small upward pitch glide.

Envelope

hum breathes by about 12 % as the load drifts; bubbles are Poisson events at 2-30 per second; chirp groups arrive at 0.15-1.2 per second with random spacing, never a metronome.

Space

the lab is hard glass and tile. Chirps and a few tank-glass taps feed a short room reverb and a modal glass body (rings of 0.4-1.3 s above 1.2 kHz), which supplies the glassy sheen. Bubbles stay drier.

Variation

`rng` randomises every bubble radius, pan and level, the blip pitch, count and spacing, and the drift of the hum partials. Macros: tank bubbling, hum level, chirp density, glassiness.

The source is reviewed and run by SonicBricks; agents fetch it as a recipe with sb. It is not published on this page.