All VRML and accompanying text © copyright 2002, by R. Russell Kinter.
All rights reserved.
Control and Scene Info
1. The scene is best viewed at 1024 x 768 resolution.
2. Most animations are not visible from the distance of the entry viewpoint,
so in order to see them, please make use of the viewpoint icon on the selected
control panels.
3. If you are going to experiment with the music: (a.) You may want
to increase the number of sounds Contact can play under preferences to
32 and make it "No 3D" for optimization purposes. (b.) Adjust the volume
controls on both the sound card options and speakers.
4. All control panels may be clicked and dragged to suit.
5. Each model has its own control panel with extensive animation, sound
and scene controls. So you will be able to explore each model's relationship
to the twelve tone scale and drag it to other models. When you place the
cursor over an icon, a description of each icon's function will appear
on the status bar at the bottom of your browser.
6. To change the length of the animation/ music playing time just run
your cursor on and off the red and green arrows. You don't have to click.
7. The master control panel has a button to turn off all visual animation
in order to play the music alone.
8. The bottom frame has links to each Syzygy's description. Each description
will also load when the model's viewpoint is used.
9. Have fun.
Seven Syzygies
Seven Syzygies are the seven possible distinct relationships between the
Tone Waveform (white/gray) and the other nineteen Gauge Waveforms blue
(3), yellow purple (3), green (3), red(3), orange(3), and black
(1). The Tone Waveform is considered a static constant and the Gauge Waveforms
are variables that measure
it.
The term "syzygy" was borrowed from Astronomy and means "inseperable
pair", because the Waveforms are really abstractions. The creation of the
Tone Waveform automatically creates the other nineteen Gauge Waveform (and
the seven possible relationships) implicitly, so all are bound together.
This scene, inconjunction with the next "Asymmetry and Ferris wheels",
demonstrates how when the twelve tone scale is applied to the vertexes
of Icosahedron, it
literally turns the Icosahedron into a three dimensional slide rule,-or
in other words- a computer! It will show how all the possible muical intervals
can be measured
using the planes of symmetry of the Syzygies I, IV, V, VI and VII.
Each Syzygy will perform a different calculation, which will be demonstrated
in the animations. Besides this calculating process, each Syzygy produces
its own identifying muscial scale by the way its Gauge Waveform connects
the
vertexes of the Tone Waveform. You will be able to play, loop and change
the time of these scales.