Dome of the day

Listening room 'Mozart' at Fraunhaufer Ilmenau

Holy surround arrays, Batman!

The view from above [H.I.V.E. Project]

Here's a 2D sketch of what the HIVE looks like from above, a sort of 'floor plan' i created to figure out how many people would fit inside of it. From the diagram, it looks like capacity will max out at seven individuals. Note the computers and projector sit to the back and are exterior to the main listening area. The two amp racks are to the sides. Little circles indicate speakers, big circles indicate subwoofers.

Cool chair for surround-sound listening

Ok, so i came across this today, and am thinking it would be the perfect listening chair to use in the H.I.V.E. sweet spot. Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you - it is in fact an exact replica of Captain Kirk's chair. But just look at it - A low seat back to allow for delivery of a full, unobstructed periphonic audio experience to both ears. A raised platform to move the listener up vertically into the array center. A useful swivel base. And authentic control panels that could be hacked and re-purposed for soundfield control.

Sensorama - The First H.I.V.E.

"The Sensorama was a machine that is one of the earliest known examples of immersive, multi-sensory (now known as multimodal) technology. Morton Heilig, who today would be thought of as a “multimedia” specialist, in the 1950s saw theater as an activity that could encompass all the senses in an effective manner, thus drawing the viewer into the onscreen activity. He dubbed it “Experience Theater”, and detailed his vision of multi-sensory theater in his 1955 paper entitled “The Cinema of the Future” (Robinett 1994). In 1962 he built a prototype of his vision, dubbed the Sensorama, along with five short films to be displayed in it. Predating digital computing, the Sensorama was a mechanical device, which still functions today.

Howard Rheingold (in his 1992 book Virtual Reality) spoke of his trial of the Sensorama using a short film piece that detailed a bicycle ride through Brooklyn, created in the 1950s, and still seemed quite impressed by what it could do more than 40 years later. The Sensorama was able to display stereoscopic 3D images in a wide-angle view, provide body tilting, supply stereo sound, and also had tracks for wind and aromas to be triggered during the film. Oddly enough in hindsight, Heilig was unable to obtain financial backing for his visions and patents, and the Sensorama work was halted and today remains primarily a curiosity in the expansive lore of Virtual Reality." [Source: Wikipedia]

Beautiful spherical object for nuclear fusion

Today i had the opportunity to take a guided tour of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence-Livermore National Laboratory. This newly completed research facility is home to the world's more powerful laser and was constructed for a very specific purpose: to create the world's first self-sustaining nuclear fusion reaction. At the core of the apparatus lies a large, hollow, and strangely beautiful spherical structure, an object that would not entirely seem out of place if one were to stumble upon it on the playa at Burning Man. This is the NIF's main reaction chamber, where 192 separate high-energy laser beams will enter through points on the sphere surface, and converge with unimaginable precision on a single small pellet of deuterium-tritium 'fuel' placed at the exact center. This in theory will trigger ('ignite') a fusion reaction, in effect creating a tiny little star for a brief moment. Imagine the NIF as a giant, $4 billion dollar zippo lighter.

Of course, after taking a look inside of the thing, the first thing i thought was "I wonder if you could put a bunch of speakers in it and re-purpose it for 3D sound?" The chamber interior walls were actually covered with something that looked to me like Sonex, the stuff recording studios use to deaden sound reflections. In fact, the material was designed to eliminate light reflections, as our tour guide explained. So this thing actually was an anechoic chamber, but one that was free of light-echos. In a 'deep thoughts' kinda moment, i realized something rather interesting-- that this ignition chamber's primary purpose is to focus light waves in a very specific and phase-controlled manner, using laser 'transducers'. In an Ambisonic array, you are focusing sound waves in a very specific and phase-controlled manner, using speakers as the transducers. however, the subjective experience of sitting in the 'sweet spot' of the NIF could prove to be....intense.





Some photos: