ambient sound: blockchain

[frograven]

Interesting idea.. found this vid while searching on youtube

"The "White Noise" in this track is an aural exploration of the first 2% of the BitCoin BlockChain."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WivyA3-aww

doesn't say exactly how it was generated from the blockchain (or if directly at all!).

[niko]

Definitely a good idea, although not yet well executed. It would be nice if Jan added a "bitcoin geiger counter" option to his bitcoinmonitor: each transaction accompanied with a brief sound, with either the pitch or the volume of that sound depends on the value of the transaction. At this stage it would probably sound like popcorn (a musical popcorn, that is), but as Bitcoin grows it will turn into hum, perhaps slowly pulsating over hours or days. Not many people would care, but I am one of those who would. "Remember the good-old days when Bitcoin sounded like rain drops?"

[niko]

I wasn't aware until today that blockchain.info can beep when new transactions are broadcast - http://www.blockchain.info/unconfirmed-transactions

Now if only they changed it so the pitch depends on the transaction value, that'd be great.

[Foxpup]

doesn't say exactly how it was generated from the blockchain (or if directly at all!).

Loaded the first 2% of the blockchain into Audacity as a raw file import, read as a signed 32 bit PCM dual channel file at 44100 Hz and then some shaping applied (dropped the pitch and added a bit of phasing for some texture) and then finally overlayed with a glitch/synth track and the video.

Although I personally prefer:

Code:

cat ~/.bitcoin/blk0001.dat > /dev/audio