If you spend enough time in a place, you will begin to know the patterns of that
place - the sun and moon, traffic, tides, smells, faces, sounds. SineClock presents
an aural pattern - the interaction of three sets of sine waves - representing
the time of day.
SineClock exists in two forms:
Technical Info on SineClock
SineClock uses three sets of two sine waves. One wave in each set is static,
sounding at 200Hz, 300Hz and 450Hz (two stacked perfect 5ths). The other wave in
each set is detuned slightly (0-5Hz) based on the time. For the first set, the
detuned wave moves from 200Hz to 205Hz and back in one minute. The second one moves
from 300Hz to 305Hz and back in one hour. The third moves from 450Hz-455Hz and back
in one day.
When two sound waves are tuned very close to each other (let's say within 20Hz), you
don't hear two distinct tones - instead you hear a "beating" effect, at a rate
determined by the difference in frequency between the two waves. So for the first
set of waves, at 0 seconds there will be no beating (200Hz-200Hz = 0Hz), while at 30
seconds there will be beating at 5Hz (205Hz-200Hz = 5Hz). By listening for the
beats in each set of waves you can get an idea of where they are in their cycles - and
what time it is.