This is a live audio stream generated by an ongoing software development project initiated in 2019, exploring real-time sonification of WiFi network activity.
This system of distributed software translates WiFi network packets into sound, using MAC addresses as unique identifiers for audio generation. Each captured MAC “voice” is tabulated and assigned musical characteristics such as MIDI note values, and envelope parameters. The software organizes sample assignment to voices and the sequencing of notes within chord progressions. Audio parameters such as DSP and granular processing may be set by the user, or determined dynamically according to network parameters. This adaptive sound mapping allows network traffic patterns to influence the quality of audio output.
This portable system has been tested and optimized to operate across a variety of environments—from dense urban networks to sparse rural WiFi landscapes — each location producing a distinct sonic signature characterized by varying density and variability of network traffic. Networked versions of the system have been configured to play locally the patterns of WiFi captured from remote locales.
This software has also been used to sonify datasets such as the genetic sequence of SARS-Cov-2 virus in a live, performance setting. In this case, data read from a list at a given rate would be assigned to note values or samples within the software and reassigned through the performance.
A complementary sequencer (a secondary version of the WiFi player) also contributes to the sound of this live stream. It’s tempo and varying note/rest/swing/sync durations are determined from dynamic analysis of WiFi traffic density.
The software is written in the SuperCollider programming environment. Mixdown is in Ableton Live before upload to this Icecast server.
WiFi Player (2024/10)
Sequencer (2024/10)
News: (7/31)
Daily development and weekly testing continues. Recent focus on expansion of the system, to manage multiple sound-producing clients as a mobile, site-specific installation. Top-down rewrite of the antennae software improved efficiency, provides new modes of WiFi traffic selection. Improved animation and scripting of events added. Onboard soft-synths, effects processing. A new player captures network traffic as a clock divider, setting tempo from simple tablature of network values.
Aesthetics: This live steam is usually unmanned 23 of 24 hours. As a work of experimentation and serendipity, a daily set-up is stabilized to degrade or to develop until a system crash (silence) or the next human intervention.