Birdsong as code
summary
Code transcribes birdsong into explicit models using Clojure + Overtone inside Vim, synthesizers and harmonic-series envelopes to recreate a pied butcher bird species call, mapping harmonics to keyboard positions. The comparison pits a linear (harmonic) scale vs exponential (12th-root-of-2) scale and reports mean squared differences roughly 942 vs 563, so the linear harmonic model fits this clip noticeably better. The live synthesizer and keyboard mapping produce recognizably similar phrases — convincing but not lossless.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (19)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:15Representing bird song in code
- 4:25Zoo musicology
- 6:10Is bird song music
- 8:37Physical sound properties
- 12:10Culture shapes sound taste
- 13:35Harmonics and sound sources
- 16:04Scales: addition vs multiplication
- 18:14Linear scale in bird song
- 21:26Octave equivalence in music
- 23:30Birds and octave equivalence
- 24:11Pied butcher bird calls
- 25:43Modeling bird song with code
- 27:30Models vs real bird song
- 28:54Collaborating with birds via code
- 30:39Piano playback of bird song
- 32:05Bird song and human music
- 33:10Live bird collaboration demo
- 35:13Closing and Q&A
