Skip to main content

Glossary

Acoustic Community​

An acoustic community is defined as an aggregation of species that produce sound using internal or external sound-producing mechanisms. These communities occur in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial environments.
An acoustic community is the biophonic component of a soundscape and is characterized by its acoustic signature — the distribution of sonic information in amplitude and frequency. Distinct acoustic communities can be identified by habitat, frequency range, time of day, or season.
Acoustic communities can also serve as a proxy for biodiversity richness.
Farina & James – The Acoustic Communities: Definition, Description and Ecological Role

Aural Community​

An Aural Community is conceived with the user-creator at its center: a system of procedural (non-linear) music and sound that combines the creativity of artists and user-creators with the platform’s developments. It enables unique sound works at every moment, seeking the co-creation of a meaningful and singular listening experience.
This community brings together concepts and tools from acoustic ecology, soundscape studies, game audio design, generative music, artificially creative musical systems, and new interfaces for musical expression.
Comunidad Aural – Maar

Axis​

One of an Orbiter's three performance controls: X, Y and Z. Moving an axis moves every control mapped to it, each between its own minimum, equilibrium and maximum. You move them on screen, by tilting a phone (Sensors) or with an LFO (the Cosmic LFO panel).
How to map a control to an axis

Body​

One of the three parts of an Orbiter: the World, the Star and the Moon. Each has its own rack of modules, in up to three dimensions.

Certificate of Authenticity​

A document that authenticates a piece of artwork. In digital contexts, it verifies that a program or object is a genuine, legal copy.

Drawer​

The panel in the Studio that shows a module's controls and its screen. It comes in several sizes; in the smallest, some screens hide and the knobs stay.

ENT (Entangled Token)​

An ENT is neither purely physical nor purely digital — it is both. Entangled Tokens exist simultaneously as unique physical objects and as unique digital records on the blockchain (NFT). This hybrid existence is interconnected from its creation through a certificate of authenticity linking both worlds.
Each ENT is associated with a sister project focused on promoting biodiversity regeneration or enhancing the well-being of Earth’s inhabitants.

ENT Cards​

A new paradigm for independent music distribution, merging physical and digital releases — connecting music making, listening, and ownership.

ENT Worlds​

A network of interconnected sonic planets and objects existing at the intersection of digital and physical worlds.

Equilibrium​

The value a mapped control takes while its axis rests in the middle, between its minimum and its maximum. Set it to the module's neutral value (Dry/wet 0 %, Amount 0) and a resting axis changes nothing.

Landscape​

We use “Landscape” instead of “nature” because in many cultures nature is defined as everything that is not human. “Landscape” allows us to describe an environment that is not separate from people, but part of the same continuum.

Launch grid​

The grid an Orbiter's starts, jumps and switches wait for, so that they land on a bar line. You pick it next to SYNC: None, 1 bar, 4 bars and so on.
Sync

LFO​

One of an Orbiter's slow waves, three per dimension (1cX … 3cZ, following the body with the most dimensions), that move things by themselves. The axes and every module of the Orbiter share them: each axis reads its own (X in dimension I reads 1cX), a module picks which one it reads, and an LFO set once moves everything that reads it.
The Cosmic LFO and the LFOs

Moon​

An Orbiter body that works as a send and return: the World is sent to it, and it returns only its effect, which the Main mix adds to the dry sound. A reverb or a delay shared by the whole Orbiter lives here.
Audio effects: three places for an effect

NFC​

NFC (Near Field Communication) is a technology that enables fast, short-range data exchange between devices. It is used to store, write, and read digital information inside ENT Cards.

Orbiters​

An initiative exploring the intersection of digital and physical worlds through intelligent music players and meta-musical instruments.
Orbiters form a global network of intelligent music tools that use algorithmic approaches to support listening and creation, allowing users to shape their sound in new ways. These tools are designed to be accessible regardless of musical training and aim to reactivate auditory awareness while expanding the possibilities of musical exploration.

Play surface​

The place where you play a Notes Orbiter by hand, in the Playback panel: the piano roll, and a tab for each generator in the chain (the Arpeggiator's keys, the Step sequencer's steps, the Drum sequencer's pads). It follows the dimension in focus.

Plantasia Space​

Plantasia Space is a platform designed for regenerative music — sounds published with the intention that audiences can listen to, recreate, and transform them into new forms. Inside Plantasia Space, you can publish sounds, place them inside entangled worlds — artistic representations of physical worlds — and use orbiters — spaceships that transform sound in different ways — to explore and regenerate those sounds, encouraging playful interaction and healthy sensory exploration.

Regenerative Music​

Regenerative music is music conceived and published with the intention that it can be listened to or recreated by the audience into new forms and aesthetics.
It promotes the use of cycles and frequencies found in the landscape, creating harmonies with the cycles of the multiverse.
Anything that sounds — if released with intention — can be music.

Room​

A session that several people join to play the same Orbiters together, each on their own device. Everyone in a room shares one tempo and hears the same notes.
Sync

Soundscape​

A soundscape is an environment of sound (or sonic environment) with emphasis on how it is perceived and understood by an individual or by a society. It depends on the relationship between the listener and the environment, and may refer to actual physical environments or abstract constructions such as musical compositions or montage.
Truax – Handbook for Acoustic Ecology

Star​

The Orbiter body on the main bus: after the Orbiter's Main mix blends the World and the Moon's return, the Star's effects play over everything.
Audio effects: three places for an effect

World dimension​

One of an Orbiter's three World chains, I, II and III, each with its own modules and its own way of mapping X, Y and Z. What World I plays (an audio, or notes) decides whether the Orbiter is an Audio or a Notes Orbiter.
Instruments: Audio or Notes