There’s a lot of hubbub over 3D printers and their amazing capabilities. We’ve been plagued by the controversial debate over 3D printed weapons, witnessed foodies get excited over 3D printed cuisine and saw healthcare make huge advances with 3D printing organs. We at Audicus got equally enthusiastic when we learned about 3D printing your hearing aids! Just when we thought 3D printing was running out of places to go, Lukazs Karluck, an interaction designer, released work with his project titled HoloDecks, which focuses on transforming sound through different mediums. Karluck took audio data, specifically a song entitled Zebra by Oneohtrix Point Never, and input it into a custom application he built using openFrameworks to visualize the song. The visualization is shaped in a circle which he found to be a “ubiquitous shape associated with music”, like CDs and records. Then, the audio data from the song allowed the visualization to morph into geometric waves, peaks and valleys based on the rhythm of the song-- quite a different experience than just hearing your favorite jam on the radio. 
During one point in the visualization Karluck took a screen shot and had the resulting picture 3D printed and his visualization became reality; small towers of plastic that represented a moment during a song. It’s been noted how humans have such a strong bond with music so Karluck’s positive reaction to his work is certainly warranted. 
Karluck took it a step further and employed the use of augmented reality on his 3D printed visualization with his smart phone to “see another layer of audio reactive visuals mapped to the object.” In English, when he holds his phone over the 3D printed sculpture, his phone layers the songs’ audio visualization on top of the figure. The result is extremely cool and shows us what it’s like to see sound! I won’t ruin the ending for you; watch the short clip below to see how Karluck made his 3D sculpture come alive. You’ll probably want to do the same thing with your favorite ditties. http://vimeo.com/81155465
