Innovators at NCSA have created a graphical interface that allows users to hear the chaos created in Chua's circuit and alter the sounds it produces. Not only have composers gained from our work, it has passed along to the scientific community. A manifold surface for navigating the control space of Chua's circuit. Both input circuit parameter values and output signal are displayed in the same space. This interface was designed by Insook Choi for exploring chaotic systems and generating musical signals.
Musical instruments are some of the most sensitive real-time interactive tools made by humans.
The interface presents a digital representation of a ball that can be moved across a textured plane. Changing the peaks and valleys on the plane or moving the ball to a different area of the plane produces different sounds. A graphic representation of the chaotic trajectory floats above the plane in the CAVE so users can see how the sound evolves. This interface can produce sounds from almost any numerical data, which makes it valuable to scientists and composers. Chua, creator of the chaos circuit, is a leading researcher in chaos and nonlinear dynamics and editor of the Journal of Bifurcations and Chaos .