Designers Make City Noise Actually Sound Good

"The Chime" is loaded with sensors for picking up ambient noise, then transforming that noise into music. A city doesn't always sound great: car horns blare, people shout. But a new project from artist Marc De Pape makes music out of the noise. "The Chime" is a wind-chime-shaped mass of sensors that pick up on the environment: if the sensors detecting something approaching, the device tinkles with xylophone notes; if something is moving away, it swells with the sound of strings; and the music al...