Holon

Holon generates synth music from geospatial data and your movement.

By using the iPhone's sensors and GPS data mapped to musical parameters, Holon lets you perform improvised electronic music by moving spatially between different locations.

Holon is a passive, "zero-UI" app, which means no screen interaction is required. Instead, the physical world becomes a tangible musical interface that gives the listener musical agency and effectively turns audiences into performers.

Features:

- Use functional feedback, (proprioceptive/locomotor/biofeedback) to support your activities, as passive operation allows you to remain fully immersed in real-world interactions. Holon is not just a passive listening experience though, it is more like interactive scores that adapt to your context.

- Instead of waving your phone around, use headphones for immersive auditory feedback and place the phone in a pocket for action-perception coupling to work properly. This also reduces screen time.

- For even further musical embodiment, Apple AirPods 3/Pro/Max can be used as head tracking controllers that add fills and modulation to the music. Set them to transparency mode for improved situational awareness and natural acoustic blending.

- Holon provides a seamless auditory experience that responds to real-time movement and location data. The app now reflects changing environments (urban morphology) by responding musically to Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) data and proximity to landmarks and Points Of Interest (POIs).

- Holon synchronises the tempo of the music with your activity: BPM is calculated from speed when in a vehicle, from step rate when walking, from heart rate if stationary and wearing an Apple Watch.

Entering certain areas changes the music in several ways. Land use areas (zoning, basically) and nodes (PointsOfInterest) are categorised according to their amount of human activity and other factors. The intensity of the music increases or decreases depending on the user's current area type:

- Natural areas (parks, water) lower intensity and result in ambient music.

- Retail zones increase intensity, as do transportation and industrial areas.

POIs are categorised and respond to your proximity, resulting in various interactions, ranging from influencing the melody or adding percussive elements as you pass them.

- POIs include amenities, landmarks, street furniture, bars, hotels, cafés and also objects related to urban mobility, such as traffic lights, bus stops, toll booths, car washes and so on.

Artists can use the Holon.ist editor app to map location data and movement to musical parameters.

- As an exclusive first, miRack can be used on iPad or Mac OS to create patches that run embedded in Holon.

- It's now possible to share your Holonic miRack patches to anyone that uses the free Holon app.

What's New:

* Apple Watch support is back: Holon now integrates with Apple Watch in every preset. For example, when stationary, the music is synchronised to your heart rate (pulse sonification biofeedback).

* Expanded coverage areas: Holon's coverage area is vastly increased, with new regions and geospatial data points to ensure a responsive and more diverse musical environment.

* Inferred LULC: Advanced Land Use / Land Cover now works in many more regions thanks to our proprietary spatial intelligence system. LULC features, such as roads, bridges, building/area type etc, work best in the areas marked red on the map available at holonic.systems/holon. Please use the form on the page to request your areas.

* Improved spatial dataset: The Holonic curated geospatial dataset includes more defined and varied interactions. LULC areas feature new musical responses to urban elements, including road networks, railways, tunnels, stairs, rivers, canals, paths, trails, cable cars, zip lines, ski lifts, ferry routes and much more.

* Set of 10 all-new Ubiquitous Music presets that showcase musical interactions with geospatial nodes (POIs) and land use in different ways. Powered by miRack.

Availability:

For Holon to work correctly, you'll need to be outdoors, in one of the over 1000 supported regions. See coverage and request yours at holonic.systems/holon