The Witness is inspired by the effect Tibetan singing bowls have on the mind-body system: ancient analogue somatic technology that lets you experience silence.
The inner silence of a quiet mind is not the absence of thought. We approach stillness as an inner space that contracts and expands. The Witness helps you access that space.
enter the witness →Runs in your browser. Best with headphones.
Five pads, five chords, a heartbeat, and a gong. You touch the eyes to sound the pads, warm and crystalline and wide, with a deep sub-pad beneath them and a luminous angelic layer you can lift in over any of them.
The five chords stay in one family, open and unresolved, so they hang and glow instead of pulling toward a next note. Lay pads over one another and they hold, so you build your own chords and let them ring. A slow journey can carry the sound by itself, a wandering voice moves through it, and two keys make the texture denser or more spare. There are no menus. It is played by touch, with a few hidden keys for the rest.
the soundThe Witness is tuned to a low G with an open fifth and no third. A chord usually has three notes, and the middle one, the third, is what makes it sound happy or sad. Leave it out and the root and the fifth remain, the two most stable notes, set wide apart. What is left has no mood to push on you; it stays open and rests. Everything sits at A=432 Hz. Beneath it runs a sub-bass drone at around 48 Hz. Below roughly 50 Hz sound shifts from hearing into feeling, so you sense it as pressure in the chest, the belly, the bones, more than you hear it as pitch. It can be switched off.
the chordsThe Five Pillars of the Geometric Shift
This sequence traces a path from deep physical containment to spacious emotional clarity. By rearranging the distance between the root notes, the grounding fifths, and the emotional weight of the thirds, the music acts as a physical guide, leading the listener away from analytical thought and into the immediate landscape of the body.
1. Cadd9 (C3 · G3 · C4 · D4 · E4)
The low C3 and G3 establish a quiet, visceral floor. In the heart of the voicing, the major third (E4) and the second (D4) sit pressed closely together. This subtle acoustic friction keeps the warmth tightly bound within the core of the sound, like heat held in dark stone, preventing the chord from sounding overly sentimental or conventional.
2. Am (A2 · E3 · A3 · C4 · E4)
Here, the music sinks and turns inward, anchoring on the low A2. This low frequency invites a stillness that feels like stepping inward. By placing the minor third (C4) precisely in the center of the vertical stack, sheltered by steady octaves above and below, the chord evokes a sense of patient introspection, a quiet space to rest without the weight of sorrow.
3. F (F2 · F3 · A3 · C4 · F4)
This is the deepest ground of the set, a moment of sanctuary. The doubled root, F2 under F3, the lowest notes in the whole sequence, underpins everything with a wall of resonance. Because the major third (A3) is kept low and within the lower-mid register, the chord offers an immediate sense of physical safety, a stable architecture where the breath can settle.
4. Am, high (A3 · E4 · A4 · C5 · E5)
Weightlessness enters the sequence. By withdrawing the low-frequency weight and beginning the chord at A3, the music leaves the earth behind. The minor third (C5) climbs into the upper register. This position serves as a threshold, a long, upward inhalation where physical boundaries soften and the surrounding space begins to open.
5. C Major, high (C4 · G4 · C5 · E5 · G5 · D6)
The climb settles into a wide, luminous horizon. Free from its heavy foundation, the major third (E5) floats unattached in the upper register, acting as a clear, unobstructed emotional release. At the peak, the solitary D6 rests like a single point of starlight, leaving the journey completely open, suspended, and still.
The interface is both playful and sophisticated, and hides unseen instrumental depth. It can be used by anyone wanting to decompress, from children to soundhealers and anyone in between. We imagine it fits with those who are neurodivergent or sensory-sensitive. This is a domain we'd like to explore.
what it’s forThe Witness was made to deepen a meditation practice, to help you into deep work, to quieten the mind when that is what you need, or as an aid when visualizing for peak performance. It is made to play. It gives beauty and stillness, and it stops short of melody. Rigorous less-is-more thinking shaped what it does and how it looks. It brings stillness and focus, and it was never meant to put you to sleep. For sleep, and for inner journeying, there is the other Somasonic instrument, the Explorer, made to drift.
make it yoursPlay the Witness as it is. It is a complete instrument, and more is possible. Press M and the microphone opens, so your own voice or an acoustic instrument like flute or strings can join it. The drone is rooted on a low G, tuned to A=432 Hz to match 432-tuned crystal singing bowls; add a G, C, and D bowl and it becomes one tuned system.
The Witness is MIDI-compatible, allowing you to interface with a digital synthesizer, a hardware sampler, iPad audio apps, or even responsive light systems. With the record function, you save your creation as a high-quality WAV file.
A profound tool to travel into silence, with the simplest possible interface. Go out, play, and share.
how to play →