Cymatics — water vibrating to the sound

On screen

What Cymatics shows

Cymatics shows a dish of water from above, sitting in the dark. The music sets it vibrating and the surface takes the shape of the resonance modes of a round membrane: symmetric lobes and rings, as in cymatics experiments. Three coloured lamps are reflected in the water, and only the slopes that send them back to the eye light up, as thin lines.

A low sound gives simple, wide patterns; a high sound gives fine patterns with many lobes. One pattern melts into the next on the attacks or the beats. On calm music the patterns change slowly in gold and indigo; on intense music they change on every beat. On the drop the wave doubles and the lights turn white.