Help — psybertechno:geo

The screen, at a glance

The top half is the map; the bottom half is the "deck" you play from. The deck is always fixed to the bottom of the screen, and the map fills the space above it.

This is the screen from the actual device (shown here with no GPS fix yet, as one example state). The numbers ①–⑨ correspond to the list below.

① Map: The current-location marker (cyan), the three-layer grid lines (see the "Basics" section below for details), and the staining of published cells (the color of the dominant tribe, or amber for foot traffic when STAIN is set to FOOTFALL). Your own unpublished draft takes priority and is shown in magenta.
② GQ: The reading at the bottom of the map. Shows the quality of the position estimate by color. See Buttons around the map for details.
③ The three buttons at the bottom left of the map: Go to current location (highlighted while following, doubling as a status indicator), lock the map (freezes dragging/zooming/tapping), and STAIN (tap to cycle the map's staining through PUBLISH <tribe color> → FOOTFALL <foot traffic, amber> → OFF). See Buttons around the map for details.
④ Shoulder LED: The bar at the top right of the deck. Off = stopped, green = playing, orange = EDIT, red = recording a journey, blinking red = replaying.
⑤ LCD: From top to bottom: ① the current AREA / SPOT cell and the world-wide BPM, ② latitude/longitude and the KIT (sound set) name, ③ key, scale, archetype, and the state of the movement FX (LPF / STU / CRU), ④ status (ON SITE / REMOTE / NO GPS FIX, READ ONLY, and so on). A * after the cell number means there are unpublished changes, and a + means it's already published (see EDIT). If PLAY stays stopped for 30 seconds, the screen switches to the logo title screen.
⑥ MODE knob: PLAY ⇄ EDIT. You can only turn it to EDIT while you're actually standing in that cell. See the EDIT section for details.
⑦ EDIT MENU: The button that opens PUBLISH, DISCARD EDITS, and LOAD SEED. Only active while in EDIT. See the EDIT section for details.
⑧ Control key row: PLAY, GPS, SETUP (gear icon), JOURNEYS (red ●), and volume. See the PLAY / GPS / moving, SETUP, and Journeys sections respectively.
⑨ Drawer handle: When closed, it's just a handle showing "▼" and the name of the current view. Open it and it becomes a three-way switch for PAD / KEYS / SEQ (see EDIT).

Terms & abbreviations

A quick reference for the abbreviations that appear on the pads, in SEQ, and on the LCD. The mechanics themselves are explained in detail in the linked sections.

Tracks (pad and SEQ row labels)

BD: Kick drum. AREA layer (SEQ1).
SD: Snare. AREA layer (SEQ1).
HH: Hi-hat. AREA layer (SEQ1).
BS: Bass. AREA layer (SEQ1).
CP: Clap. SPOT layer (SEQ2).
ST: Stab (a hit of chord/harmony). SPOT layer (SEQ2).
FX: An effect sound (one of riser / zap / cowbell — which one plays is decided at generation time, per cell). SPOT layer (SEQ2).

LCD readouts

AREA: A roughly 250m cell (drums and bass). See Basics for details.
SPOT: A roughly 60–70m cell (arrangement). See Basics for details.
KIT: The sound set for that ZONE (roughly 1.1km).
BPM: Tempo. Fixed world-wide at 130 BPM.
GQ: Confidence of the position estimate (%). Shows "--%" when there's no GPS fix. See Buttons around the map for details.

Movement FX indicators on the right of the LCD

Dark = disabled, lit = enabled, inverted = currently active. Toggle these on/off in SETUP.

LPF: Speed-linked lowpass. Sound muffles when you stop (corresponds to LOWPASS ON STOP in SETUP).
STU: Stutter. Triggers on re-acceleration (corresponds to STUTTER ON ACCEL in SETUP).
CRU: Bitcrush on impact. The sound crushes on a knock to the device or a sudden stop. Corresponds to "BITCRUSH ON IMPACT" in SETUP.

Other

SEQ1 / SEQ2: The sequencer for the AREA layer / SPOT layer. See Basics for details.
PAD / KEYS / SEQ: The drawer's three views. See EDIT for details.
1/16 · 1/32: Resolution, set per bank. See EDIT for details.
VOL: Volume. One of the control keys.
PLAY / GPS / SET: The soft-key labels at the bottom of the LCD. See PLAY / GPS / moving and SETUP for details.
STAIN: Cycles the map's staining mode: PUBLISH (tribe color) → FOOTFALL (foot traffic) → OFF. See Buttons around the map for details.

Basics — walking changes the music

The world is divided into a three-layer grid, and the contents of the cell you're standing in becomes the music, directly. Each layer is the one above it split 4×4.

One cell of the layer above, split 4×4, becomes the next layer. Cross a layer boundary while walking, and only the elements that layer is responsible for change.

ZONE (approx. 1.1km): Timbre. Each district has its own kit (the synthesis model and parameters for each instrument). Not editable.
AREA / SEQ1 (approx. 250m): BD / SD / HH / BS. Determines the genre, key, scale, and swing of that area.
SPOT / SEQ2 (approx. 60–70m): CP / ST / FX. The key is inherited from the area, so walking around within an area keeps the key while only the arrangement changes.

Tempo is fixed world-wide at 130 BPM. Crossing a cell boundary never breaks the groove — only the pattern swaps in, at the next bar. Content is generated deterministically from the cell's ID, so the same place always starts with the same sound, no matter who visits or when.

PLAY / GPS / moving

PLAY: Play/stop. The instant you press it, playback lands on "this step, right now" on the shared world clock. Whichever device presses it, and whenever, phase stays aligned.
GPS: Starts acquiring your location. The map follows your position, and cells switch as you walk.
LOCATE (on the map): Returns to your current location and resumes following. Dragging the map only disengages following — GPS keeps running.
Tap the map: Lets you listen to that cell by virtually moving there, without using GPS.

The screen is kept from dimming while playing or while GPS is running (because locking the screen stops position updates).

EDIT — programming the cell you're standing in

Listening is free. Writing needs your body to be there. You can only turn the MODE knob to EDIT while you're actually standing in that cell.

SEQ1 unlocks while you're inside the AREA; SEQ2 also unlocks once you're standing in that SPOT.

PAD: Program drums/parts using the two banks of rubber pads.
KEYS: Play pitched parts in by hand.
SEQ: The step-sequencer view. Viewable read-only even while PLAY is running.

Resolution can be switched between 1/16 and 1/32 per bank.

What you edit is first saved as a draft on your device, and plays back as-is. It's never reflected in the world automatically.

The EDIT MENU items:

PUBLISH: Publishes your draft to the shared world (see below).
DISCARD EDITS: Discards your draft. Has no effect on anything already published.
LOAD SEED: Loads that cell's pure generated result as your draft. Not reflected in the world until you PUBLISH.

PUBLISH — publishing to the shared world

Two stages: draft, then publish. A trial run never plays out of someone else's speakers on its own. The map stains with the dominant tribe's color, and your own unpublished draft shows in magenta.

Once you PUBLISH, that cell's contents go live in every device's world. A confirmation dialog opens, showing the layer and cell being sent. Once published, the draft disappears and that content keeps playing as the "published head" (the audio is bit-identical).

What gets sent when you publish is listed under Privacy.

Tribes and map staining

TRIBE in SETUP (RED / GREEN / BLUE, defaulting to RED) is stamped onto every publish from then on. On the map, published cells stain with the color of the dominant tribe there, with intensity set by the number of publishes (on a log scale) and a 14-day decay. Your own unpublished draft takes priority and shows in magenta.

The map's STAIN button cycles through PUBLISH (tribe color) → FOOTFALL (footfall, amber) → OFF. FOOTFALL is never drawn finer than AREA — footfall from each SPOT is summed into the AREA that contains it, so the map never points at where one particular person was.

Decay and footfall

Not deletion — a return to the terrain. Conversely, staying 20 seconds or more while playing records a footfall and resets that cell's clock.

A cell that nobody publishes to and nobody listens to reverts, step by step, back to its original generated content over 90 days, after a 14-day grace period. A place people keep passing through survives even if nobody ever programs it. The day boundary is world-wide, based on UTC midnight — 9am Japan time. (Crossing Japan's own midnight doesn't advance the same "day".)

If there's a problem with something published

You can't delete someone else's published content yourself. Instead, you can stand there and overwrite it (LOAD SEED → PUBLISH), or wait for it to decay back to its generated sound naturally if nobody visits. If it still needs attention, please contact us.

Journeys — recording a walked performance

The REC hotspot at 12 o'clock on the MODE knob lets you record one whole performance of walking around — everything you heard. Recording is orthogonal to PLAY / EDIT, so anything you program in EDIT is captured too.

What's recorded: your GPS and listening path, a snapshot of the composed pattern and timbre for each cell, jumps made by tapping the map, any edits you make during recording, and PLAY / STOP.
Because it holds a snapshot of each cell, if someone edits that cell after the recording, the recording doesn't change.
Stored on this device only (IndexedDB). Roughly 0.5–1MB per hour.

From the list under the JOURNEYS key (next to SETUP), you can rename, delete, and ▶ replay. Replay runs 1:1 against the wall clock, reproducing pattern swaps at the top of each bar, the speed-driven lowpass, and even the glides and jumps along your path. Seeking (via the scrub bar, or by tapping the path polyline on the map) and pausing are both supported.

⚠️ A journey contains a GPS track. Once shared, whoever receives it can replay exactly the route you walked — which can reveal your home or workplace. A confirmation dialog always appears before sharing.

Sharing happens as a link (?j=<id>) and only ever through an explicit action. The recipient chooses PLAY / SAVE / DISMISS from a confirmation sheet. Nothing auto-plays or auto-saves.

SETUP

LANGUAGE

EN / JA / FR / RU / DE / ES. The deck's silkscreen labels (PLAY, GPS, effect names, and so on) stay in English.

TRIBE

The color stamped onto your publishes (see above).

Movement FX

How the sound reacts to your movement. All four are ON by default; sensitivity is adjusted with a ± slider (0 out of the box).

STUTTER ON ACCEL: Stuttering on re-acceleration. Doesn't trigger when starting from a full stop.
LOWPASS ON STOP: Muffles when stopped, opens up once you're moving. Automatically bypassed during EDIT and whenever nothing is driving speed.
BITCRUSH ON IMPACT: Bitcrushes on a physical knock to the device (via the accelerometer) or a hard-braking-level deceleration. On iOS, this needs permission for the accelerometer.
PAN ON TURN: The mix leans left or right as you corner, and a flanger joins in on a deep turn. It returns to centre when you go straight.

OUTPUT EQ

FLAT / CAR / PHONE / EARBUD / CUSTOM, plus a 3-band slider (±12dB, 0.5 steps). A pure monitoring setting inserted after the volume stage — it never reaches the recording or the server. The stance here: "too much bass in the car" is about the car, not about the track.

BACKUP

Exports/imports your journeys, drafts, settings, and device ID together as a file. The file is saved on your device and never sent to the server.

Buttons around the map

LOCATE: Returns to your current location and resumes following. The highlight indicates you're following.
Map lock: Freezes map interaction to prevent accidental input while walking.
STAIN: Cycles the map's staining display (see above). Tap to cycle through PUBLISH (tribe color) → FOOTFALL (foot traffic, amber) → OFF.
GQ (bottom of the map): Shows the quality of the position estimate by color.

URLs and the home screen

Your current location is reflected in the URL path as /{zone}/{area}/{spot}. Opening that link starts you in that cell.
"Add to Home Screen" launches it standalone, with no browser UI.

If something's not working

No sound: Browsers can't play audio until the first tap. Tap PLAY or a pad once.
Can't get into EDIT: You need to actually be in that cell. It's also possible GPS hasn't locked onto your position yet.
Position drifts or jumps: GPS accuracy drops among tall buildings. Check the estimated quality via the GQ readout.

FAQ

Is it free?

Yes, it's free, and there are no plans to monetize it. The app never takes money from users in any form; the donation links page only points to each organization's official page, and the operator never handles or mediates any donation.

If running costs ever grow beyond what we can cover ourselves, we might consider a paid plan where part of the fee is donated by the operator to those organizations. Even then, the base app would remain free.

What we prioritize isn't operating revenue — it's letting each person's own convictions direct a donation straight to society.

Is this a synthesizer?

Yes, in every sense. There isn't a single sample file in it — the kick, the bass, even the voice that announces PLAY / STOP, are all synthesized on the spot. The voice isn't a recording either: it's a pulse standing in for vocal cords, run through three resonant filters, built the same way vintage speech-synthesis chips were.

In principle, it should sound great — it's never been recorded or compressed, like juice pressed fresh.

Where does it start playing from?

Before you enable GPS, the default starting location is where Namba MOTHER HALL used to stand (12-35 Namba Sennichimae, Chuo-ku, Osaka).

Can you tell who made an edit?

There are no accounts, names, or contact details, so nothing personally identifying is recorded. All that's stored is a randomly generated, anonymous per-device ID, used only to prevent duplicate posts and abuse. It's never visible to other users.

See Privacy for the full list.

Why do I have to be on site to edit?

Because the sound of a place is meant to belong to whoever stands there. You can listen to anywhere by tapping the map, but writing is limited to the cell you're currently in. When a position fix is available, the server also verifies at publish time that the fix actually falls inside that cell.

How long does an edited sound stay?

If nobody visits or edits it, it gradually reverts to the original generated sound over about 90 days, after a 14-day grace period (decay). Conversely, if someone listens there, the clock resets and it lasts longer. Day-counting is based on the UTC date, so 9am Japan time is where one day turns into the next.

Can I delete someone else's edits?

Not by yourself. But anyone can overwrite it by standing there and doing LOAD SEED → PUBLISH. If nobody visits, decay returns it to the generated sound naturally. If a problem remains, please contact us.

Does it work offline or out of signal range?

If the page is already open, it keeps playing. Sound is generated on your device, so no connection is needed for that. But publishing (PUBLISH) and fetching other people's edits both require being online. There's also no offline cache, so you can't open the page fresh while out of signal range.

Does it keep playing if I lock the screen or switch to another app?

No. Locking the screen, or switching to another app or the home screen, stops the sound. While PLAY or GPS is running, the screen is kept from dimming automatically (Screen Wake Lock), but that only "keeps the screen on" — it's not the same as background playback. The browser itself suspends audio processing, and stops position updates, the moment the tab or page goes to the background.

Keeping it playing while you walk with the screen off would need something that can run audio and GPS outside the browser (equivalent to a native app). We're considering it as an option, but there's no timeline.

If it's the same place, does everyone hear the same sound?

Yes. Generation is deterministic, and tempo runs on the shared world clock, so the same place on the same day sounds the same on any device, anywhere. (Decay progresses in UTC-date steps, so it shifts a little at the 9am Japan time boundary.)

How much battery does it use?

It keeps GPS and audio generation running continuously, and keeps the screen from dimming, so it uses a fair amount. Exactly how much varies a lot by device and usage. For long outings, we'd recommend bringing backup power.

Can I move my data when I switch devices?

Yes — use BACKUP in SETUP to export your journeys, drafts, settings, and device ID together as a file, then load it on the new device.

Can I change my tribe?

Yes, any time, from SETUP. Publishes made after the change carry the new color; anything already published keeps its original color.

No sound is coming out

Check whether PLAY is pressed, your device's silent/mute switch, the volume on both the device and in the app (the VOL fader), and the OUTPUT EQ setting in SETUP. Browsers also can't play audio until the first tap, so you need to tap PLAY or a pad at least once.

The bass is too strong when I listen in the car

Go to SETUP → OUTPUT EQ → CAR. This adjusts for your listening environment, not the track itself, and has no effect on recordings or the server.