Sound Particles was admittedly a class assignment, but it was one of those "beyond the requirements" results. The description reads as follows:
This is a stepping stone towards a long term project I was hoping to make for years. The idea is simple: attach sound to each flying particle so that their positions control a random sound's position, it's stereo panning, and volume. When a new particle is born, there is a 20% chance it will select a sound to be played. It begins from anywhere in the duration. Then, over the first half-second, the volume is turned up from zero. This is a number between 0 and 1 multiplied by other volume-controlling variables such as the proximity of the particle against the boundaries of the stage. All the sounds include a fade-out just in case they reach their end before being terminated.
Sound Particles invoke a seamless & endless environmental sound that is generated from a list of ambient noises that were gathered from the freesound project. In this example, I used sounds that could be heard while you are riding on a city bus because they were easy to classify. Different parts of peoples' conversations overlap. Dogs bark along the street. Someone's glass luggage is clanking together. And of course the bus's never ending engine noises, brake squeals, and other sounds are heard. I've very excited to have finally finished a working prototype of what I hope will be useful to me in the future when designing sound for film or multimedia projects, and the next version of Sound Particles will likely allow more user control on the screen as it plays out.
I have always felt that randomness is an essential part of controlling an experience. Computer applications are often far too rigid because the computer "only does it what you tell it to do" -- making stifled creative processes the fault of the user. My major at UNCA will focus on removing rigidity from multimedia, and promoting a "remixing" of what is available.