PitchedPopGenerator

PitchedPopGenerator (from scenerystack/tambo, in sound-generators/PitchedPopGenerator.ts) is a SoundGenerator that synthesizes its sound rather than playing a pre-recorded clip: a short sine-oscillator "pop" whose pitch is chosen at play time from within a configurable frequency range. It's a good fit for sonifying a value that moves along a continuum — e.g. a slider or number spinner — where you want a distinct pop per step whose pitch tracks the value, without needing dozens of pre-recorded audio files.

Internally it pools several oscillator+gain pairs (numPopGenerators, default 8) and cycles through them round-robin, so overlapping pops (e.g. rapid keyboard repeat) don't cut each other off, and routes them through a DynamicsCompressorNode to avoid clipping when several play close together.

import { PitchedPopGenerator, soundManager } from 'scenerystack/tambo';
import { Range } from 'scenerystack/dot';

A minimal example

const popGenerator = new PitchedPopGenerator( {
  pitchRange: new Range( 220, 660 )
} );

soundManager.addSoundGenerator( popGenerator );

// relativePitch is 0-1 within pitchRange, e.g. mapping a NumberProperty's normalized value
someNumberProperty.link( value => {
  const relativePitch = ( value - range.min ) / ( range.max - range.min );
  popGenerator.playPop( relativePitch );
} );

Constructor

new PitchedPopGenerator( providedOptions?: PitchedPopGeneratorOptions )

Options

Option	Default	Effect
pitchRange	new Range( 220, 660 )	The frequency range (in Hz) that playPop's relativePitch argument maps into
numPopGenerators	8	Size of the pooled oscillator/gain pairs; raise it if pops need to overlap more than 8 at once
initialOutputLevel, sonificationLevel, associatedViewNode, ...	—	Inherited from the base SoundGenerator — see How tambo's Sound Generation Fits Together

Methods

Method	Effect
playPop( relativePitch: number, duration = 0.02 )	Plays a pop at the frequency corresponding to relativePitch (0 = pitchRange.min, 1 = pitchRange.max); ignored entirely if the generator isn't fullyEnabled

relativePitch is normalized, not a raw frequency

playPop takes a 0-1 proportion of pitchRange, not a frequency in Hz — you're responsible for normalizing your model value (e.g. (value - min) / (max - min)) before calling it. Passing a value outside [0, 1] fails an assertion.