YeastLur

Statue of Lur players in the main square of Copenhagen

This sonification was designed for the Sonification contest at ICAD 2009 in Copenhagen.

Here is a 3 minute excerpt from the 20 minute piece generated from a Yeast gene. This excerpt contains a segment of junk followed by non-junk.

This sonification explores the intersection of functional and aesthetic aspects of sonification. The functional design uses an emergent motif to signify the start codon. The aesthetic design includes the choice of the Lur (a Viking instrument), and the introduction of pauses for musical effect modelled on a piece of Lur music composed and played by Odd Sylvarnes Lund.

The Lur is a large curved horn the size and shape of a mammoth’s tusk. As you can see from the famous statue in the main square in Copenhagen, the Vikings played two together in left and right pairs.

Non-junk (intron) regions of DNA start with the sequence ATG (start codon), and end with one of TAG, TAA, or TGA (stop codons). The notes for each DNA element were chosen so that the sequence ATG is a downward fanfare. This fanfare is played 3 times at the start so you can listen for it in the rest of the piece. However you must pay attention because it only occurs once on the bondary between the extron and the intron. As C does not appear in start or stop codons it has been given a very low note that falls outside the motifs formed by the other elements.

Made with samples from the Lur composition, Python for data processing, csound for audio rendering, and Audacity for post-production.