In February we completed the “New Prototype Kittolith” and debuted it at the Space Cat Cavalcade. This 5′ tall Catolith was printed by Re3D in Houston, Texas. The sound and lights were created by Theremin Barney, Artur Pyrogovskyi, and Aaron Winette. In this video I am demonstrating the motion detection based sound/light interactivity that Barney engineered using passive infrared sensors. The cat itself is a speaker. A kind of transductive speaker is affixed to the perimeter wall of the cat statue and the entire plastic cat vibrates to produce the sound. The sounds are solfeggio tones that Artur programmed in a randomized cycle to be triggered by the voltage signal transmitted from Barney’s motion detection circuit. This is still a work in progress, but we are developing this system to be used in the ring of six Catoliths that will be installed at Patricia’s Green.
Catoliths and Interactive Solfeggio Sound Effects
The effect I’d like to achieve with the Catoliths is similar to a set of windchines. Motion detection creates the chiming of the Catoliths. Each cat has an infrared sensor mounted in its chin and facing downward. This creates a cone of interactivity wherein a visitor to Cathenge will hear the cats “intone” their respective notes. Additionally, triggering one cat will trigger notes in the other cats (ideally, this is a random or semi-random pattern).
Six Catoliths
Thanata = 396hz = DO = Tonic C = Saturn
Fortuna = 417hz = RE = D = Jupiter
Lyrata = 528hz = MI = E = Mars
Erotica = 639hz = FA = F = Earth
Lunata = 741 = SO = G = Venus
Solara = 852 = TI = A = Mercury
The above equivalencies connect each catolith to a specific solfeggio frequency. Above (396 – 852) is the solfeggio scale used in Gregorian chanting.
Gregorian Chant:
Because planets with larger eccentricities have a greater variation in speed they produce more “notes.” Earth’s maximum and minimum speeds, for example, are in a ratio of roughly 16 to 15, or that of a semitone, whereas Venus’ orbit is nearly circular, and therefore only produces a singular note. Mercury, which has the largest eccentricity, has the largest interval, a minor tenth, or a ratio of 12 to 5. This range, as well as the relative speeds between the planets, led Kepler to conclude that the Solar System was composed of two basses (Saturn and Jupiter), a tenor (Mars), two altos (Venus and Earth), and a soprano (Mercury), which had sung in “perfect concord,” at the beginning of time, and could potentially arrange themselves to do so again.
Musica universalis (literally universal music), also called Music of the spheres or Harmony of the Spheres, is an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies—the Sun, Moon, and planets—as a form of musica (the Medieval Latin term for music). This “music” is not usually thought to be literally audible, but a harmonic, mathematical or religious concept.
The idea continued to appeal to thinkers about music until the end of the Renaissance, influencing scholars of many kinds, including humanists. Further scientific exploration has determined specific proportions in some orbital motion, described as orbital resonance. – Ref: Wikipedia
Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:
There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.
– Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice“
