Category: Uncategorized

Thank you for your interest in chromaris.org.
I need to set up users manually for now. Here’s what I need:

A live email address (never shared on the site)
Desired username
First and Last name. Doesn’t have to be real.
A square image for your profile
URL to link out from the tip button – optional
A short mp3 sample for the ‘coming up next’ breaks – optional
Schedule a recording session and learn how to post – optional

I’m always looking for podcast guests and new members for the Saint Paul Ambient Music Meetup too.

A chromaris post must contain metadata

* post title
* one of 12 keys
* one of 12 tempos

A chromaris post may also contain
* up to 4 images
* up to 4 mp3s
* javascript code (coming soon)
* tags

The posted javascript code can access images and sound spectrum data to create visualizers in the player HTML5 canvas. (coming soon)

Track type is dependant on the file slug:
* Music – the default track type. Has discernable tempo and key.
* Beat – any track with ‘drum’ or ‘beat’ in the filename. No key.
* Drone – filename contains ‘drone’. Diatonic notes but with no fixed rhythm.
* Noise – filename contains ‘noise’ or ‘speech’. No key or tempo.

If you rename the file, be sure the mp3 files metadata:title is blank or it will become the slug instead of the files name.

As the player changes keys sounds of Music and Drone type will mute.
Tempo changes will mute sounds of type Music and Beat.
Noise will continue when both key and tempo are changed.
The player has 4 channels so if your post has 4 tracks it will ‘takeover’ for part of the hour. Even numbered channels cause posts in the same key and tempo to be intermingled. Higher numbered channels use less voices and work best with more devices playing. All the channels stay in the same tempo and key over time while the sequence is shuffled differently. It’s like magic right? Not magic. A deterministic pseudo-random algorythm works with the Epoch to keep the channels in sync and in the same key world-wide.

To be a good citizen:
Include a track of each type so your post can be remixed effectively OR post any combination of types you like.
Normalize to -10dB. Super-maximizing only gets you super gain reduction at playback.
Include 4 images and 4 mp3s to keep your post in the player for the maximum time.
Visualization Code is still in development.

There are 144 key-tempo combinations and each chromaris post must be assigned to one, even if there is no actual key or tempo in the sounds.

The 12 tempos available are 64, 68, 72, 76, 81, 86, 91, 96, 102, 108, 114, and 120 bpm
The 12 keys available are C, G, D, A, E, B, Gb, Db, Ab, Eb, Bb and F maj. For minor keys use the relative major, or C maj for E minor.
Keys are all stated in flats since the sharp sign ‘#’ is reserved in URLs.

Pentatonic music is more forgiving of being mixed with sounds that change keys.
Feel free to post dissonant or chaotic sounds as if they were diatonic and rhythmic.

Please keep uploads under 500Kb. Only upload mp3, jpg, and png for now. Feel free to encode up to 320KBps or as low as you want. Only insert newly uploaded media into a post. Library items uploaded to ther posts will not appear in the data. Original content only. Not sure about the licensing yet, once that’s decided you can opt in or out with your posted content.

Bug warning : The plugin that restricts posts to the category Chromaris is conflicting with the taxonomy. The result is when you go to leave the post editor you may get the warning about leaving the page not saving etcetera. You can ignore that. Also the key and tempo are not listed in all posts.

If your post is valid you should hear your name announced at the top of the hour.  New posts stay in the playlist for 4 hours then go into the random shuffle. If there are no posts or not enough in the last 4 hours the balance are filled in randomly from history.