After reluctantly encouraging Dave to explore the Web Audio API, I thought I’d come back to my tape speed sketch, in the new context of Kaldi-transcript navigations.

I had forgotten the texture of actually looking for something on analog media—I had forgotten that I had ever known that texture, but this (video; slow-loading interactive) reminded me of those days very strongly. The high-speed harmonics! The over-shoot! … anyone?

Consider the following fact: with a 16x speed fast-forward (as implemented above), it takes a minute of your life to fast-forward through 16 minutes of audio.

If the laser pointer extends our reach and allows us to maintain orientation while annihilating distance, what is the sonic metaphor for a rapid time-travel (i.e. random access)? And what sonic tools—if any—can maintain some degree of orientation?

R.M.O.