WorldTuning

An orchestra tunes up, and never stops. WorldTuning is an endless drone built from the moment before a concert begins: the oboe gives the A, strings and winds drift in slightly out of tune and settle onto it, voices join, and the whole hall hums. Every sound is synthesised on the spot — there are no recordings inside the app — so the performance never repeats. The screen is the performance itself. Each sound rises from the bottom edge and fades away near the top, the last 45 seconds on screen at once. Left to right is pitch. Colour tells you what is sounding: blue for long tones, green for voices, yellow for short sounds, red for the oboe's A. Each instrument and voice has its own shade, and every stroke swells and thins with its sound. Touch the picture to send the whole orchestra on a journey. Left to right sets the balance between low and high instruments; bottom to top runs through…