Talking to a Black Hole

A lonely black hole flows at a corner of the universe. No creatures dare to come near as it alters the spacetime nearby. You are probably the first one. Talk to it, and listen to the voice of its heart.

Instructions

Codes and assets are here. You should have the latest ChucK and ChuGL installed. Clone the repo and run chuck blackhole/blackhole.ck.

• Use W/A/S/D to go forward/backward/left/right. Notice that you are controlling the acceleration instead of velocity.
• Use Shift/Ctrl to go up/down.
• Press Space to match speed with the black hole.
• Use ↑/↓/←/→ to control the spinning speed of the black hole.
• Use mouse wheel to change the field of view of the camera. Middle click to reset.
• Press Enter for a while to trigger an impluse.
• Press M to mute/unmute microphone. Try whistling to the black hole.

Original Ideas

What will music sound like when you are crossing the event horizon? Will it be complete silence? Will the music slow down and die eventually? Will you be traveling into another parallel universe, where time is flowing backwards and the white hole is pushing you out?

I’m a big fan of Outer Wilds. The black hole design in the game really scared me, leaving me in awe at the same time. It’s one of the best sublime experience I had when gaming. How about embarking on a musical journey to a blackhole? I want to find an aesthetic storytelling in a physically accurate black hole simulation, since time – the most important element for music – will be altered and twisted.

I think this would also be a spiritual successor of my sequencer, given the abstract nature of physical laws. There is another dimension of composition in this scenario: the physical law itself. How can we alter time by adjusting the parameters of the black hole, and then experience it with a simulated journey while playing some music!