Parallax – Wave Field Synthesis



In the past months I worked on a composition for the Wave Field Synthesis system from Game Of Life. This system has 192 speakers installed in a square and is using a custom made DAW to compose in, WFSCollider. Because of this high spatial resolution and things like reverb and distance being implemented, very realistic spatialisation techniques can be applied. A composer is able to place sounds in the head of a listener or next to it,  make it move in circles, at random or in more complex trajectories.
So while listening, please bear in mind that all the sounds of this piece were not cramped together over a stereo signal like you’re most likely listening to it, but spatially arranged over 192 speakers in a room. It is simply impossible to experience this without sitting inside the speaker system.

The composition I made consists of sounds recorded only in the space where the system is situated. This is a relatively small office space in the MOOOF building in The Hague. The sounds are recorded with a Zoom H4N Pro, a Soma Ether and different induction microphones to record the sounds all electronic devices in the room are constantly emitting. All the recordings are processed and editted in Ableton and the results of this are arranged and spatialised in WFSCollider.