Interactive Sonification

CPU Sonifier

The activity of a personal computer is turned into sound. While most of the internal goings on of a computer are hidden there is a rich world of activity among the CPU, memory chips, GPUs, and disks. This installation takes CPU activity, GPU temperature, user interface activity (typing and mouse movements), memory access and network traffic and turns it into a real-time soundscape.

Bursts of network packets and disk reading and saving cause complex bursts of sound, while the background activity of the CPU forms a bed of gentle noise, swelling and diminishing as the user causes the machine to respond to their input.