We’ve been following Sinan Bokesoy’s work since the first versions of cosmosf. He’s a true genius of digital sound, usually involved in projects that push the boundaries of what’s possible in sound processing, visualization and interaction, plus integrating theory and speculation in a fascinating practical, graphical, mathematical way. His latest creation, PolyNodes, done in collaboration with the awesome media artist Daito Manabe aims to offer a new concept of sound generation and interaction.
“PolyNodes transcends traditional sound design by expanding two-dimensional waveforms into a dynamic 3D spatial navigation experience. PolyNodes extracts and analyzes the temporal properties of the input sound and maps them in a 3D space to create a visible geometric structure. This pioneering approach allows to identify key sound moments as geodesic points or nodes, interconnected through a network of triangulations. The result is a multi-scale complex sonic navigation through its input material.”
As other software developed by Bökesoy, this one is pretty aware of the time scale system proposed in microsound theory, in which quantum sound defines a conception of sonic matter structured in multiple scales. Sound here is particle-based, so it gets granularized in micro, meso and macro scales, which act here as references for the architectural approach PolyNodes offers, following the ideas of multi-scale composition proposed by other researchers of microsound aesthetics, such as Curtis Roads, who explores the idea of sound points, lines and clouds to develop the spectromorphological complex of a sound composition, or as they put it in PolyNodes: “sound as a structured entity, arranging its fundamental units akins to spatial architecture, embracing the generative essence of sonic creation” It works as follows:
- Each sound material generates a unique 3D geometric entity based on the macro, meso and micro level onset time analysis.
- The engine features multiple playheads, known as node agents, equipped with advanced re-synthesis and signal processing techniques to navigate on the 3D entity.
- Multiple navigation strategies to chose from for the macro, meso and micro level agents.
But it doesn’t stops there. We’re talking about SonicLAB’s most advanced sound design engine, with is to say a lot giving the complexity and advanced sonic processing Bökesoy’s tools have been. Here we’re talking 64bit architecture with 100% custom DSP that introduces something called DSP interactables, which allows to read specific data of the 3D geometry and interact with its values, from proximity to relational influence between objects and spatial components, which are directly related to processing, something called CuboidFX which uses 3D data to offer continuous dynamic modulation. This goes along with geometric morphing and an array of stochastic modulators to make things even crazier.
PolyNodes works on Windows and MacOS as standalone, with additional controller plugin in VST3/AU. Currently on sale at discounted price of €89 (regular €139).
