Signal is a vocoder: A computer controlled bank of 16 signal generators that speaks by modulating sine waves to match the frequencies of a human voice.

The dials on each box rotate back and forth and at different rates, the boxes emitting the characteristic whooping sound of a signal generator as the dials turn to their designated frequencies.

In amidst all this noise, voices can be heard saying something.

The object's sources are drawn from the broadcast frequencies at its location. Using a software radio — an rtl-str — the object scans a specific band of those broadcast frequencies. It feeds any signal it finds into the Whisper speech recognition engine. When Whisper detects a voice, it passes a short recording onto a custom signals processor.

This processor takes that recording and constructs a table of frequencies for every few milliseconds. Each row in this table has a time-stamp as well as columns for the 16 designated frequency bands. The first of these columns contains the lowest frequencies of the recording — from 100Hz to 126Hz — the final, the highest — from 3176Hz up to 4000Hz — (these values are adjustable).

This table is used like a musical score by the signal generators, with each box producing waves within its own designated band of frequencies. The box at the upper left handles the highest band of frequencies, the box at the lower right the lowest. Those in the middle sharing the frequencies in between.

The dials turn as the generators attempt to emit their frequencies at their designated time, something they cannot always achieve. This results in the sound going in and out of phase, of elongated frequencies pulling voices in and out of recognition and sense.

Signal is a work in process.

• 09.26: STWST84x12 HAUNTED, Ars Electronica Festival 2026, Stadtwerkstatt, Linz.
• 11.25: Piksel25, Alt Går Bra Lokale & Studio 207, Bergen.
• 06.25: Transmission Ends, Terminal08, Gorzów. [Solo]
• 04.24: Under Erasure, Galeria Łęctwo, Poznań.
• 10.11: Before the Crash – Art and Science Collide, The Exeter Castle, Exeter.