Research
Chord Time: planetary motion as harmonic timestamps
Play Chord Time
Hear the chord that exists right now, and the Scale of the Day matched to it.
The Tradition
Pythagoras
Harmony of the Spheres
Kepler
Harmonices Mundi
Coltrane
Stellar Regions
CosmoHarmonics
Real-time cosmic chords
We continue this tradition by using NASA JPL ephemeris data to derive actual musical frequencies from planetary velocities, available in real-time on the web, with an API in development.
Instead of asking
“What time is it?”
We ask
“What chord is it?”
How It Works
01
Planetary Velocity → Frequency
Each planet's orbital velocity (from NASA JPL data) maps to a musical frequency. Mercury moves fastest → highest pitch. Mars moves slowest → lowest pitch.
02
Four Planets → Four-Note Chord
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars together form a four-voice chord at any given moment. This chord changes continuously as the planets orbit.
03
Harmonic Timestamps
Any date and time has a unique cosmic chord. Sample these chords across time to create progressions. Use them in composition and improvisation.
Access
API (Coming Soon)
Access cosmic chord data programmatically. Integrate with your own applications and instruments.
Compositional Tools
Compositional tools created by Jonathan Barrios, based on earlier notation systems he first built by hand. Chord Time is the atom; these four are how the system is used to compose and score CH-001.
Orbital
Live sonification with visual representation. Scrub through time to hear the planets.
Chord Vectors
Sample chords at intervals to generate progressions. Export as audio or notation.
Space Motion
Define waypoints and interpolate between them. Create journeys through cosmic time.
Composer
Multi-track orchestration with A|B|A' form. Create complete performance scores.
Papers
Two papers are in progress: one on the CosmoHarmonics system (sonification of planetary motion, Chord Time, and the complete scale universe), and one on the provenance protocol used to prove the label's recordings are human-made. Preprints and venues will be listed here as they exist; nothing gets called peer reviewed until it is.
Research Paper
CosmoHarmonics: Planetary Harmony
The complete methodology: data sources, frequency mapping, tools, and compositional practice.