when I've made my yearly disk-cleanup last month I've stumbled upon a small little application I've made 2 years ago.
It reads text files and converts the ASCII-values into notes which it plays (in fact it can play every file type, but keep in mind that some binary files like .exe or .dll may contain binary values which are interpreted as 'end of file' makers and therefore my application won't load those files completely).
Of course such an application is more or less completely useless, that's why I like it
Pretty Underground, huh?
Some instructions:
- Unpack the .zip file to whatever folder you like best and start the application.
- Note Length: here you can adjust how long a single note plays. Increase it for a more psychedelic experience, or decrease it if you're one of those techno loving people.
- Gain: gain output control.
Some random information:
- Tests showed that, for whatever reason unknown to mankind, .pdf and .ppt (Powerpoint) files sound pretty good.
- Using earphones is recommended to hear all those little stereo effects.
- It's NOT assembler optimized. Buy a faster computer if it's too slow on your PC.
- On some machines, when you start it for the very first time there maybe some crackles during playback before the internal state machine is fully initialized. Dunno why this happens, but it goes away after some time.
- Files with lots of sequences with the same ASCII value produce, when played fast, some trance like sequencing sound.
- Each note is context sensitive, that means how it is played and how it sounds may or may not be influenced by the notes played before. Some effects (like the desert storm sound) may never get played in one file, whereas it's always there when a different file is played. You'll find out.
- You can also play with whatever MIDI-input device you have at hand, but keep in mind that notes played via MIDI don't pass the internal harmonics sequencer and therefore may create unpleasant feedback loops. MIDI input is a side effect from testing, not a feature.
- The notes are computed in a deterministic way, but the results are sometimes non-deterministic, so the same file or note sequence doesn't always produce the same sound or melody. No, there's no random generator inside. No I'm not EXACTLY sure why this happens. Maybe some magic happens there...
Thank you for wasting your time
Tom
