We’ve just been sent a really interesting email from Amplifon, a company which has developed an app that takes data from a Strava activity and transforms it into music.
Called Cycle Tracks, the programme takes data from any Strava ride or run, and feeds it through a Web Audio API (application program interface) which generates a bespoke, real-time music track in your browser.
How does it work? The music is “generated mathematically using oscillators” says the company, and these sounds are then “manipulated with filters, envelopes and effects which are derived from your personal cycle ride data from Strava.”
The data collected from a Strava activity influences the music track generated. A longer ride will result in a longer track, a fast ride will produce a faster beat, and higher altitude rides will raise the pitch.
“Other additional elements are utilised in the music to reflect and enhance your ride experience. Breathing sounds speed up and slow down in time with your velocity, long synth notes rise and fall to reflect your altitude data and wind sounds increase as your velocity increases,” says the company.
To demonstrate the functionality, the company has generated two soundtracks from data provided by professional mountain bike rider Neko Mulally and Tiffany Cromwell, who is in the Australian Olympic team. You can listen to them both here. We’ve just done that, and we have to say, though we’re no sound engineers, that they sound pretty good.
'We are very excited to launch Cycle Tracks which soundtracks your cycling experience,” says Gavin Chadwick, Sales & Operations Director at Amplifon. “The hearing aid industry isn’t a sector you would usually associate with creativity and pushing digital boundaries, but we are proud this innovation has enabled us to bring sound to a much wider audience.
"Cycle Tracks takes your Strava data and transforms it into music by utilising the speed, duration and altitude of your cycling route to create dynamic music, which you can then listen to once you've arrived back at base. There are also rides from pro riders and sample rides that can be listened to by anyone. We hope our tool encourages people to go out for a bike ride and try it out.”
You can create your own music track here www.amplifon.co.uk/strava-cycle-tracks/, you just have to connect your Strava account. If you do create some music, be sure to share it in the comments below, we'd love to hear them.
David has worked on the road.cc tech team since July 2012. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds.