ARC
NUM
CYMATIC 3D AUDIO VISUALIZER
"THERE ARE NO EYES HERE. IN THIS VALLEY OF DYING STARS." - T. S. ELIOT
NUMCYMATIC 3D AUDIO VISUALIZER
Select a mode above to change the visual environment.
Press SPACEBAR, double-click/tap, or click the button above to cycle Clean Mode.
CORPUS
Sound shapes our perception and environment, yet remains invisible. ARCANUM translates acoustic vibrations into dynamic, glowing 3D geometry, rendering audio frequencies visible to the eye.
The application processes sound via a real-time signal chain. Using the browser's Web Audio API and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), the engine decomposes audio into spectral data, then maps this geometry onto three-dimensional spheres using a customized Three.js WebGL renderer.
These WebGL deformations build on Hans Jenny's 1967 Cymatics research. In those experiments, sand and liquids on vibrating plates arranged chaotic matter into symmetrical lattices known as Chladni figures. ARCANUM functions as a digital cymatic plate, where sound waves deform glowing virtual meshes in real time.
The sphere references the Monad in Hermetic philosophy, representing unity and order. Hermes Trismegistus described the divine intellect as "a sphere whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere." Mapping audio waves onto this geometry references the Pythagorean Music of the Spheres, the ancient hypothesis that celestial bodies generate harmonic intervals as they move through space.
The ten visual presets represent the Sefirot of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, mapping energy from the source down to physical manifestation. Spectralis (Kether, the Crown) represents radiant light. Wavenis (Tiphareth, Beauty) integrates cross-modulating waves. Ethereus (Malkuth, the Kingdom) represents physical matter, where ordered geometry disperses into a point cloud.
The animated grid below illustrates these individual geometric configurations:
Four color-grading presets apply elemental filters to the visualizer, representing the four classical divisions of the natural world:
High-contrast monochrome filter. Air represents clarity and direct signal transmission.
Phosphor green filter. Earth represents stability and matches the aesthetic of vintage analog oscilloscopes.
Warm sepia filter. Fire represents thermal energy, transformation, and cathode-ray tube displays.
Desaturated blue-grey filter. Water represents fluid reflection, depth, and stillness.
The Tree of Life (Etz Chaim) symbolizes the framework of cosmic emanation. In ARCANUM, sound flows from Kether to Malkuth, shifting from abstract spectral energy to organized waveforms, and finally to diffuse particle fields.
| 3D Rendering Engine | Hardware-accelerated WebGL via Three.js 3D Core |
| Audio Analysis Engine | Real-time Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) via Web Audio API |
| Screen Visual Modes | 14 dynamic color palettes across 3 responsive geometric environments |
| Post-Processing Channels | Multi-pass processing with Unreal Bloom and chromatic aberration |
| Camera Rig Controls | Spherical coordinate orbit camera with automated cinematic drift |
| Audio Source Types | Integrated playlist, local FLAC/MP3 parsing, and live system/mic capture |