Technical Specifications

A Streckeisen STS-1 Seismometer measures vertical ground velocity. A Quanterra Q935 datalogger digitizes and packetizes input data stream. The data stream is sent to the UC Berkeley Seismographic Station using frame relay connection. The server (Pentium II) at the UC Berkeley IEOR Department makes a socket connection with the UC Berkeley Seismographic Station and receives the real time data. The memento.ieor server also runs the Apache WWW server. It distributes a Java Applet to the clients on the WWW in which the client establishes connection and receives continuous data streams. The display is delayed 30 seconds due to frame buffering at the detector.

The PC receiving seismographic data relays the signal to a Macintosh G3 via MIDI. The Macintosh, running Opcode's MAX/MSP software, processes the signal by parsing three parallel streams (X, Y, Z axes) and uses this data to trigger low frequency sounds including rumble loops and environmental sounds such as rockslides, explosions, industrial noise, etc. This data also controls the spectral characteristics and amplitude of these samples. Additional signal processing is carried out in the MAX/Spatialization software (developed at IRCAM in Paris), including reverberation and panning, also under control of the seismographic data. The sound system is placed in the installation shell, consisting of 4 suspended PA speakers and one large sub-woofer mounted underneath a resonating platform on the floor.