This sound spectrum is colored based on the musical note frequencies over the span of an octave, specifically, A4 to A5, and their piano overtone series.
Overtone Series References:
Musical note frequency chart: https://pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html
See chart below, I picked A4~A5 because the interesting relationship between its sound wavelength and entire visible light spectrum's wavelength. (Speed of Sound = 345 m/s)
However, due to the very complex way our eyes perceive colors, we can see colors that are outside of the gamut of the RGB scheme - there is no unique mapping that definitively converts a wavelength to a color.
I'm cheating here by mapping the HSB color model instead of approximate light wavelength conversion (this can be my future project).
Another big part of the code is trying to control Philips Hue lights and have the lights react to the sound spectrum.
Hue Control References:
I tested back-and-forth the httpDo() function, syntax, and the correct network environment to make this setup work.
Week 1:
sent one HTTP command from p5 to Hue lights in my home network. - succeeded.
Week 2:
made light a Class object so I can easily pass variables in them. Also tried sending HTTP commands in draw() - both failed.
with coding lab Julie's help, gave up on using Class , and learned to use setInterval to send HTTP commands constantly- succeeded.
Week 3:
connected my Hue lights to ITP's Hue bridge via NYU network. - succeeded. Used the p5 sketch to send HTTP command on the floor. - failed.
Week 4:
switched the network system back to my personal router, running local network for Hue while connecting to NYU Wifi so I can run p5 on the web. - succeeded.
Week 5:
presented in class using the setup from Week 4. - FAILED FOR UNKNOWN REASONS.
I'll need more testing and debugging to figure out why this system is so unstable. Also, because I have to use setInterval to send HTTP commands, the lights are not reacting instantly. Maybe p5.js + Philips Hue is not an ideal pairing for this concept.
In the meantime, I was excited to learn about overtone series and how they work mathematically. It's very interesting that music/sound, color/light have so many computational potentials. One of my biggest interests in learning ICM is to find the relationships between different natural phenomenon and how that affect people's perceptions. I think this final project was a good starting point of my journey in interactive media art.