Sound Design with musical intent of animals, insects especially crickets using SuperCollider
Species-accurate synthesis of cricket and insect sounds in SuperCollider, driven by analysis of real recordings from the SINA database. Each SynthDef is parameterised from spectral analysis — dominant frequencies, harmonic structure, onset timing, and inter-chirp intervals — rather than generic approximations.
| SynthDef | Species | Dominant Freq | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
\fieldCricket |
Gryllus pennsylvanicus | 4600 Hz | Paired chirps, classic cricket |
\treeCricket |
Oecanthus fultoni | 2900 Hz | Pure tone, ultra-regular rhythm |
\katydid |
Pterophylla camellifolia | 3800 Hz | Raucous bursts, broadband |
\conehead |
Neoconocephalus robustus | 7000 Hz | Loudest NA insect, dense buzz |
\groundCricket |
Allonemobius allardi | 7300 Hz | Continuous high-pitched trill |
- Andy Farnell — Designing Sound (2010). Generic SC insect synthesis recipes; the foundation this project builds on.
- Alexander Liebermann — Juilliard composer who transcribes animal sounds (including cicada rhythms) into precise musical notation. alexanderliebermann.com
- David Dunn — Composer and bioacoustician. Works like The Sound of Light in Trees (2006) explore insect sounds artistically. davidddunn.com
- Dr. Thorin Jonsson (Uni Graz) — FEM modelling of wing resonance and tooth-strike superposition in cricket stridulation.
- SINA — Singing Insects of North America by Thomas J. Walker. Recording database used for parameter derivation.
Most existing SuperCollider insect code is still based on Farnell's generic recipes from 2010. This project combines:
- Real recordings as the ground truth (SINA database)
- Spectral analysis to extract species-specific parameters
- Scientific literature on stridulation mechanics
- Musical intent — the goal is a natural, convincing sound, not a physics simulation
- scsynth.org — SuperCollider forum
- SC Discord — Real-time chat
- sccode.org — Code sharing
- Download reference recordings (see samples.md)
- Boot SuperCollider:
s.boot - Evaluate
Species.scd— loads all SynthDefs and starts the nightscape ensemble