Synthesis and analysis of sounds developed from the Bose-Einstein condensate: Theory and experimental results

Abstract

Two seemingly incompatible worlds of quantum physics and acoustics have their meeting point in experiments with the Bose-Einstein Condensate. From the very beginning, the Quantum Music project was based on the idea of converting the acoustic phenomena of quantum physics that appear in experiments into the sound domain accessible to the human ear. The first part of this paper describes the experimental conditions in which these acoustic phenomena occur. The second part of the paper describes the process of sound synthesis which was used to generate final sounds. Sound synthesis was based on the use of two types of basic data: theoretical formulas and the results of experiments with the Bose-Einstein condensate. The process of sound synthesis based on theoretical equations was conducted following the principles of additive synthesis, realized using the Java Script and Max MSP software. The synthesis of sounds based on the results of experiments was done using the MatLab software. The third part or the article deals with the acoustic analysis of the generated sounds, indicating some of the acoustic phenomena that have emerged. Also, we discuss the possible ways of using such sounds in the process of composing and performing contemporary music.

Hybrid duo

“…What is possible is that the results of such experiments, expressed in the form of a chart, a table and a formula, can be used to synthesize the sounds. This is exactly what we did with the Quantum Music project: results of the experiments and theoretical predictions related to the Bose-Einstein condensate were sent to audio engineers who generated individual sounds by using the additive synthesis methoded (Novković et al 2018), and compiled them into a bank of quantum sounds. Only then, we received this newly-created sound material that we could further manipulate both in our interpretation of existing works and when creating new ones, using computer programs and digital software such as Virtual Studio Instruments (VST).…”

“…For a thorough explanation of the behaviour of particles in the condensate and the particle-wave dychotomy see other articles in the present issue: Mølmer 2018; Garner 2018;Novković et al 2018. 15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4oW3lphecg…”

The advent of quantum computer music: mapping the field

“…But with very few exceptions they would fall into one of the approaches listed above or a combination thereof. For instance, the system Quantum Music Playground, an educational tool for learning quantum computing concepts [68,94]. Of particular interest, is a piece entitled Bose-Einstein Condensate.…”

What does quantum music sound like and what would Pierre Boulez think of it? Super position (many worlds) by Kim Helweg (2017)

“…The first direction was the technological one, which led to a creation of a new hardware that transformed the classical piano (be it grand or upright piano) into a hybrid analogue-digital instrument (Lončar and Pavlović 2018). This was complemented by a creation of a new software interface for this new hardware, as well as soundbanks synthesized on the basis of quantum equations (Mølmer 2018;Novković et al 2018). The next direction was artistic and involved composing new music and rearranging pre-existing music for the new hybrid instrument (Lončar and Pavlović 2018;Helweg 2018).…”