Chirp

As an avid birder and musician, Director of Creative Technology Michael Fanuzzi has often wondered how he might transcribe the songs of his favorite feathered friends into a musical work. Composers and folk musicians have done this over millennia, but modern technology enables sounds otherwise impossible for a traditional instrument. With libraries like Tone.js enabling powerful audio synthesis directly in the browser, he was able to create an immersive environment recalling the peacefulness of being in the woods at dusk, when the human world goes quiet as birdsong rises. Use your arrow keys or WASD🤓 to move through the forest.

The graphics for this experience were created via the AI system StableDiffusion, based upon illustrations of the actual birds calling in this piece (Wood Thrush, Yellow Warbler, and White-Throated Sparrow). As with many AI visuals, they are as notable for both what they get right, such as the field marks, as what they get hilariously wrong. The experience itself uses the 2D game engine Pixi, and all sounds are synthesized live in the browser using Tone.js.