Windsor, Ontario, home of a legendary, mysterious Hum. Photo (CC-BY) Doc Searls.
Residents of Windsor, Ontario widely report hearing a humming sound – one no one has been able to identify, but at least some claim to have recorded. And now, for the first time, you can get that hum as a synth for Ableton Live (or any other environment, via the audio files).
It’s the latest creation of AfroDJMac, the crazy-prolific producer and Live pack maker who has remarkably turned just 21 last week – happy belated birthday, sir. The resulting synth, novelty aside, sounds spooky and lovely:
Free Ableton Live Pack #87: Windsor Hum Synth
(87! AfroDJMac is rivaling Ableton at producing soundware.)
And speaking of lots of reading and Wikipedia and sound inspiration, there’s a wonderful article on Wikipedia, perfect for getting lost in reveries of mystery sounds, on all these collected phenomena:
Industrial emissions seem a likely source, though it’s confusing that in one case of correcting those sounds, the problem wasn’t resolved. And otoacoustic emissions and colliding ocean waves are, of course, a much cooler explanation.