Sound

In Ortgeist, sound is a tool for exploring the boundary between our world and the spirit world. Communication between the worlds is not always easily understood, and might be obscured in strange noises and music.

What is a Soundwalk?

Soundwalks encompass a variety of methods that incorporate sound into a space. They can be used to inform (as in museum tours), provide a critical commentary, or introduce incongruous and artistic effects. The development of portable music players such as walkmen, discmen, and mp3 devices made soundwalks technically possible, and more recent gps devices have allowed the listener to move in a more free-form fashion.

Interactive Audio
incorporates interactive soundscapes that use GPS signals on cell phones to allow for the sonic exploration. Sound may contain clues, either explicit or implied, or simply offer a layer of immersion into the "ortgeist." More details about the soundwalk can be found here.

Dynamic Audio – Dinner Party example
Sound can also be a source for feedback of player actions. In the spirit of exploratory adventure games like The Legend of Zelda, Ortgeist incorporates live dynamic audio. In the finale of Act I, shifting team dominance during the dessert argument is reflected in the coordinated shifting dominance of two representative team sound loops. Sharp and short sonic cues are more explicit forms of feedback. The sound of smashed glass can indicate a point for the nature spirits, while the sound of “cracking” thunder indicates a point for furniture. We used the DJ program Mixxx and the programming language ChucK (example from our project)to generate live audio.

Nature loop

Furniture loop