Naos
Cathedral in the room
NAOS is the first Metasonic Resonator developed by LUNASON and one of the starting points for the entire concept of Metasonic Resonators. Its unique character lies not simply in reproducing sound. NAOS captures sound, sets its metallic surfaces into vibration, and from this vibrations forms a new acoustic space. The original signal remains recognizable but acquires its own metallic spectral color, additional overtones, and exceptional spatial depth.
A particularly characteristic feature is the long after-effect. A single impulse can persist in the resonator for more than 30 seconds.
A short note, a bowed sound, or a single strike is not simply ended, but continues within the material. It opens up, changes, slowly loses energy, and leaves behind a long, resonating trail.
A brief event can thus create a far-reaching sonic progression. This characteristic gives NAOS perhaps its most striking effect:
Even in a very dry acoustic room, it can create the impression of a large reverberation room.
The sound seems to detach itself from the real dimensions of the space and develop its own architecture.
NAOS creates, in a sense, a cathedral in space – not as an electronically added effect, but through the real vibration and resonance of its metallic body. NAOS possesses enormous spectral power.
Different frequency ranges excite the resonator in their own unique ways, causing different areas of its metal surfaces to vibrate. This changes its timbre depending on the transmitted material.
A violin sound behaves differently than a percussive impulse, a noisy sound differently than a sustained note.
NAOS is therefore not a neutral loudspeaker, but an independent sounding body that reacts to the material supplied to it and shapes it in a characteristic way.
In principle, almost any acoustic or electronic signal can be transmitted to NAOS.
An instrument is recorded or fed directly into a mixing console, the signal is amplified and passed to the exciter, and finally transmitted to the metal surfaces of the resonator. In this way, a Metasonic Violin can be connected to NAOS just as easily as a traditional instrument, a voice, electronic sounds, or previously processed audio material. What matters is not just the output signal, but what NAOS does with it.
Since its development, NAOS has already been used in artistic projects and concerts. Especially in combination with Metasonic Instruments, it becomes clear how strongly the instrument, resonator, and room can influence each other.
In this process, a sound leaves its original instrument and acquires a second body in the resonator – with its own materiality, its own resonance and a new spatial dimension.
NAOS expands the sound space not through simulation, but through resonance. It lengthens sound, alters its spectrum, and transforms a single acoustic event into a space that resonates far beyond the original impulse.