Cymatics · meaning
What is cymatics, and how does sound become visible?
Cymatics is the study of the visible shapes sound makes when it sets a surface vibrating: sand on a metal plate, water, a membrane. Every frequency leaves its own pattern, because the surface only stays still along certain lines, and that is where the sand gathers.
Ernst Chladni published the experiment in 1787; the Swiss scientist Hans Jenny coined the word in 1967, from the Greek kyma, wave. Cymatica is cymatics online: the same physics worked out in your browser, in real time, with four ways to see it.
A plate, sand and a tone. That's cymatics.
In 1787 Ernst Chladni drew a violin bow along the edge of a metal plate covered in sand. The sand fled the areas that vibrated and settled on the lines that stayed still. Every frequency drew a different pattern.
Cymatica does the same thing with mathematics. It works out which vibration mode belongs to each frequency and draws it the way you would see it on a square plate, on a circular plate, on the surface of water or as a Lissajous curve. The higher the frequency, the more nodal lines and the more cells. There is no trick: go up 1 Hz and the shape changes by 1 Hz.
Try the 4 modes at 432 Hz
Fig. 03 · ChladniSand on a square plate. The classic one. The lines where the plate does not move. 
Fig. 04 · WaterStanding waves on the surface of a liquid. Rings, hexagonal cells, relief. 
Fig. 05 · MandalaCircular plate. Concentric rings and spokes that multiply with the frequency. 
Fig. 06 · XYTwo tones draw a Lissajous curve. The ratio between them decides whether the curve closes (3:2) or never ends (φ).
One preset, four modes
Switch mode and you see the same preset drawn another way.
- ChladniSquare plate. Integer (m, n) modes.
- WaterCircular plate with petals. Envelope 0.02.
- MandalaRings and spokes. Forced symmetry optional.
- XYLissajous a/b. φ never closes.
A preset does not set the mode: it sets the frequency, the ratio and the layer, and you choose how to draw it.
Nine tones, nine shapes, nine intentions.
The Solfeggio frequencies are a nine-tone scale the tradition links to nine energy centers and nine intentions: forgiveness, root, heart, crown. Here you hear them, see the exact shape each one draws and sit with it.
| Hz | Tradition | Note (A = 440) |
|---|---|---|
| 174 | Forgiveness | F3 |
| 285 | Compassion | between C#4 and D4 |
| 396 | Root | G4 |
| 417 | Sacral | G#4 |
| 528 | Solar plexus | C5 |
| 639 | Heart | between D#5 and E5 |
| 741 | Throat | F#5 |
| 852 | Third eye | G#5 |
| 963 | Crown | B5 |
The names come from the Solfeggio tradition; the shape comes from physics. Here they go together.
See the 9 frequenciesGeometry doesn't decorate sound. It vibrates.
Seed, Flower and Fruit of Life, Metatron's Cube, the five Platonic solids, the torus, the golden spiral. Sixteen layers that are drawn on top of the field and respond to it.
Every layer deforms with the vibration field, turns with the level of the signal, and some of them change with the ratio between the two tones. The Sunflower, for example, redistributes its seeds by the golden angle when you set the ratio to φ. It is not a pasted image: it is geometry calculated in the shader, frame by frame.
- Seed of Life
- Flower of Life
- Fruit of Life
- Metatron's Cube
- Tree of Life
- Vesica piscis
- Golden spiral
- Sunflower (phyllotaxis)
- Tetrahedron
- Octahedron
- Icosahedron
- Cube
- Dodecahedron
- Torus
- Atom
- Galaxy
The free version gives you Flower, Seed and Golden spiral. All 16 are in Pro.
See the Flower of Life at 528 Hz
A place to come back to every day.
Three guided practices for body, mind and soul: breathe with the shape, walk the nine frequencies in order, and let a slow pulse carry you. Each one gives you a concrete shape to look at and an intention to sit with for a few minutes.
Inside the app
Meditate
You choose the length, a breathing pattern (coherent 5-5, box 4-4-4-4 or 4-7-8) and a sound. The visual breathes with you: it expands on the inhale and draws in on the exhale. At the end, a bell and a card you can share.
Nine levels
The Path
Nine levels from 174 to 963 Hz. Every level is a minimal session with an intention and a question. Finishing one opens the next. Three sessions consolidate the level.
Headphones only
Binaural
A slightly different tone in each ear. What you hear is a slow pulse that exists in neither channel on its own. Headphones only. Free gives you one minute, three times a day; Pro has no limit.
In the free version, with an account: Meditate for 5 minutes a day, 1 minute of binaural and the first level of The Path.
See the practicesFrom 174 to 963 Hz. One level at a time.
The Path walks the nine Solfeggio frequencies in order, from forgiveness to the crown. It's a ritual with clear rules: you can't skip, and you only move on when you finish. Every level leaves you with an intention and a question.
Every level has a frequency, a geometry layer, a breathing pattern and a minimum length: 5 minutes for the first three, 8 for the middle three, 10 for the last three. Finishing the session opens the next level. Three sessions on the same level earn you the star. On the way out, a question to take with you.
| Level | Hz | Intention | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 174 | Forgiveness | 5 min |
| 02 | 285 | Compassion | 5 min |
| 03 | 396 | Root | 5 min |
| 04 | 417 | Sacral | 8 min |
| 05 | 528 | Solar plexus | 8 min |
| 06 | 639 | Heart | 8 min |
| 07 | 741 | Throat | 10 min |
| 08 | 852 | Third eye | 10 min |
| 09 | 963 | Crown | 10 min |
Free: level 1 in full and a 2-minute preview of level 2. Pro: all 9 levels with progress saved in the cloud.
Get to know The Path
Your music has a shape. Record it in 4K.
If you make music or content, Cymatica is a visual that never repeats itself, because it comes out of your sound and not out of a template.
Axel Barros
Seventeen years making techno. Now sound takes care of me.
I was The Unborn Child for seventeen years. I founded Wrong Theory Records, I played at Razzmatazz, at Input, at HÖR Berlin. I am a Certified Ableton Trainer and I still teach production and sound design.
I left music as a career and I'm leaving behind what was hurting me. Cymatica came out of a night in the studio: I put on a 528 Hz tone out of curiosity and spent an hour watching the shape change as I moved it one hertz. It was the first time in a long while that I'd been still.
I come from the studio, not from a retreat. The practices inside are the ones I use every morning to come back to my body, quiet my head and start the day whole: five minutes in front of a shape, with an intention. If they work for me, maybe they'll work for you too.
Axel · Barcelona