Planetary Dispersion
A procedural sound system for exploring how sound behaves across planetary and speculative atmospheres.
Download
Download the standalone app on itch.io:
https://danporto.itch.io/planetarydispersion
Download Unreal Engine project on Fab:
https://www.fab.com/listings/f8af172e-9d01-4c82-86ce-555a7b8ed85d
The system models dispersion, absorption, filtering, pressure, humidity, altitude, seismic activity, wind, and time-of-flight behaviour to create subtle but perceptible differences between planetary environments. It can be used for sound design, experimental audio, education, research, and creative exploration.
Planetary Dispersion was built in Unreal Engine using MetaSounds, modular patches, and a custom interactive widget for real-time control.
Access Planetary Dispersion
There are two ways to access the project, depending on how you want to use it.
Download the standalone app
The standalone Windows and macOS versions are designed for exploring the planetary audio system with the included test sounds. They allow users to compare presets, adjust propagation controls, test filtering, dispersion, wind, seismic layers, reverb, flux, dry/wet balance, and atmospheric tuning without installing Unreal Engine.
Microphone record/playback banks are not currently supported in the standalone builds. Users who want to inspect, modify, or extend the recording system should use the Unreal Engine project version on Fab.
Download for Windows and macOS on itch.io
Use this version if you want to:
- test the included sounds through the planetary processing system
- explore the controls and presets
- use it as a listening, teaching, or demonstration tool
- run the system without installing Unreal Engine
No additional libraries or programs are required. Unreal Engine is not required to run the packaged app.
Get the Unreal Engine project on Fab
For Unreal Engine users, developers, sound designers, educators, and researchers who want to inspect, modify, or build upon the system, the full Unreal Engine version is available on Fab.
View Planetary Dispersion on Fab
Use this version if you want to:
- open the project in Unreal Engine
- study the Blueprint and MetaSound systems
- modify the planetary sound model
- integrate the system into your own Unreal project
- adapt the widget, parameters, or sound design framework
The Fab listing includes the Unreal Engine project format and presents Planetary Dispersion as a procedural sound system for modelling dispersion, absorption, and temporal behaviour across planetary atmospheres.
What the system does
Planetary Dispersion allows users to compare different planetary acoustic conditions through real-time controls and preset environments. The project includes nine planetary presets: Jupiter, Mars, Earth, Venus, Titan, Moon, Saturn, Sci-Fi, and Neutral.
The system includes controls for:
- Air / Water / Water Intensity – Select or blend mediums and transition between atmospheric and underwater propagation.
- Seismic – Adds a low-frequency seismic layer for quake, volcanic, geological, or subsurface rumble effects.
- Environment Type – Selects reverb and spatial environment presets such as ice chamber, canyon, or open terrain.
- Pressure – Adjusts dense atmospheres to alter speed of sound and high-frequency damping.
- Temperature – Changes the acoustic profile by affecting propagation speed and tonal response.
- Humidity – Shapes absorption and damping behaviour, especially in relation to high-frequency energy.
- Altitude – Simulates height-dependent atmospheric thinning, changing the perceived density and filtering of sound propagation.
- Wind – Adds planetary wind ambience, with selectable wind layers for different atmospheric conditions.
- Flux – Introduces ongoing movement or instability into selected parameters, creating more dynamic, less static planetary sound behaviour.
- Speed of Sound – Controls delay and spatial separation cues.
- Atmosphere Intensity – Scales overall propagation effects.
- Amplitude Contrast – Controls how strongly loudness differences between planetary environments are exaggerated or reduced.
- Base LPF & Offset – Fine-tune spectral behaviour, frequency weighting, and band-based dispersion.
- Transition Time – Controls how rapidly propagation parameters update during changes.
- Included Test Sounds – Use built-in pink noise, sine tones, percussion, piano, and other source sounds to test how planetary processing changes the sound.
- Atmos. Tuning / Air-Column Shift – Applies a pitch or tuning adjustment associated with atmospheric resonance and air-column behaviour, especially for voice, wind instruments, and resonant acoustic sources.
- Bypass & Dry/Wet Slider – Compare raw and processed audio instantly.
The standalone app uses included test sounds. Advanced users can also replace a local UserSound.wav file to audition their own material through the system.
Scientific background and references
Planetary Dispersion is a comprehensive creative audio model. It brings together atmospheric composition, speed of sound, attenuation, filtering, altitude, wind, seismic activity, tuning shifts, and planetary presets. However, it does not attempt to model the full atmospheric dynamics, gas chemistry, terrain interactions, turbulence, or mission-data validation required of a complete scientific simulation.
The following scientific and public-facing sources informed the conceptual and acoustic design of Planetary Dispersion, particularly its treatment of atmospheric composition, speed of sound, attenuation, filtering, altitude, wind, seismic activity, and planetary environmental differences.
Selected sources
Garcia, R. F., Brissaud, Q., Rolland, L., Martin, R., Komatitsch, D., Spiga, A., Lognonné, P., and Banerdt, B. “Finite-Difference Modeling of Acoustic and Gravity Wave Propagation in Mars Atmosphere: Application to Infrasounds Emitted by Meteor Impacts.” Space Science Reviews 211, 547–570, 2017.
https://hal.science/hal-01447014/file/Garcia_17286.pdf
Leighton, T. G., and Petculescu, A. “The Sound of Music and Voices in Space, Part 2: Modeling and Simulation.” Acoustics Today.
https://acousticstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Article_3of4_from_ATCODK_5_3.pdf
Maurice, S., Chide, B., Murdoch, N., et al. “In situ recording of Mars soundscape.” Nature 605, 653–658, 2022.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04679-0
NASA Science. “Jupiter Facts.”
https://science.nasa.gov/jupiter/jupiter-facts/
NASA Science. “Venus Facts.”
https://science.nasa.gov/venus/venus-facts/
NASA. “Sounds from Beyond.”
https://www.nasa.gov/sounds-from-beyond/
Petculescu, A., and Lueptow, R. M. “Atmospheric acoustics of Titan, Mars, Venus, and Earth.” Icarus 186, no. 2, 413–419, 2007.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019103506003381
Installation
Standalone Windows version
- Download the ZIP file from itch.io.
- Extract the ZIP file before running the application.
- Open the extracted folder.
- Double-click
PlanetaryDispersion.exe.
Do not move the .exe file out of the extracted folder. The Engine folder, PlanetaryDispersion folder, and manifest files must remain together for the application to run correctly.
Standalone macOS version
- Download the ZIP file from itch.io.
- Extract the ZIP file.
- Open the extracted folder.
- Double-click the Planetary Dispersion app.
If macOS blocks the app because it was downloaded from the internet, right-click the app, choose Open, then confirm that you want to open it.
Recommended use
For the best experience, use headphones or external speakers. Broadband sounds, such as pink noise, percussion, and complex recordings, make the differences between atmospheres easier to hear because frequency-dependent absorption and dispersion are more noticeable across a wide spectrum. The system includes test sounds such as pink noise, sine tones, percussion hits, and piano recordings.
Links
Citation
Portelli, Daniel. Planetary Dispersion. Procedural sound system and standalone audio tool, 2026. https://danielportelli.com.au/planetarydispersion/
