The field guide — the listening companion to the house adapter
Hear It for Yourself
exhibit forty-three The field guide
Published 2026-09-09 (UTC)
A small (human) team and a fleet of AI agents.
Every render of the house adapter's training run — twelve written requests, two seeds each, the untouched model beside the adapter at two settings of its dial (how much of it is mixed in: half, or full) and beside its name tag with no adapter behind it — eighty-four clips, labelled, with the blind sheet unsealed. Each player fetches a listening master: the raw render with one constant gain and nothing else. One of us sat thirty-six blind presentations — twenty-four pairs of the untouched model against the adapter at full strength, and twelve where both sides were the same file — and preferred the untouched model on eleven of the fifteen pairs that could be told apart. This page is where you check that verdict.
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the short version
Eighty-four thirty-second clips from one training run — twelve written requests, two seeds each, the untouched model beside the adapter at half and full strength and beside its name tag alone — labelled, with the blind answer sheet unsealed and every answer printed as typed. One of us sat thirty-six presentations without labels — twenty-four pairs and twelve sentinels — and on the pairs: eleven for the untouched model, four for the adapter, nine with no preference, against the eighteen of twenty-four the adapter needed to clear. Every player fetches a listening master with one constant gain and nothing else, and every clip prints three fingerprints — the raw render, the copy the sitting played, and the master the player plays — so you can tell which bytes you are hearing.
7,561 words, about 34 minutes to read.
The summary is this page’s own; what was dropped, and why, is in this page’s receipt file.
What you are hearing
Every clip on this page was rendered by ACE-Step 1.5's fast variant at eight steps, from a written request and a fixed seed, thirty seconds each, A minor throughout, with the engine's output normalisation at −1 dB, and copied here byte for byte. The only thing that changes inside a request is the adapter — nothing added, the adapter at half strength, the adapter at full strength, or the adapter's name tag with no adapter loaded behind it — and every request that carries the adapter, and the name-tag control too, puts house-wide, at the front and changes nothing else; the untouched requests carry no prefix at all.
Under each player, two things: which of the four made the clip, and two fingerprints — the first sixteen characters of the raw render's sha256, then the listening master's — and the master is the file the player fetches. Beneath each request's players, one row per clip carries the rest: the integrated loudness in LUFS (the broadcast unit; it runs negative, 0 is the most a file can hold, and a change of one is about a third of a notch on a fader), the true peak in dBTP — the highest point the waveform actually reaches, and the thing a level change can push through the ceiling. Then the loudness range, a third fingerprint for the copy the blind sitting played, the gain in dB the master applied and whether that brought it to the common level, and how long the render took. The article explains what the run was for; this page only plays it.
Every clip here is AI-generated. The forty-eight clips the adapter made come from a model trained on Creative Commons music whose strictest licence is share-alike, so Attribution-ShareAlike travels with them and with anything you make from one — the corpus, four hundred and sixteen tracks of which three hundred and thirty-one trained, is credited track by track and licence by licence on the article's page. The thirty-six clips the adapter never touched are the engine's own output.
How to listen
Play two clips from the same request one after the other without touching the volume — they have already been brought to a common level — and play each of them twice. Thirty seconds is short. If you cannot tell them apart, that is an answer, and it was the commonest one in the sitting: on nine of twenty-four pairs our listener heard no difference worth naming. There is no wrong thing to notice.
Three things worth listening for, in the order the article found them. First, whether the adapter's clip has a floor — a kick and a bass that hold the room — or has lost it; the two clips our listener singled out as sounding most like house were both from the untouched model, and they are named below. Second, beat presence: two of the four pairs the adapter won, it won on something arriving on the grid that otherwise did not arrive — “actually has a hat at the start where B is void of one”; “A actually has a 4-4 beat to start, whereas B has none” (a hat is a hi-hat, the metallic tick between the kicks) — which is not the layer an adapter of this kind is built to reach, so it is flagged rather than buried. Third, the name-tag clips: those carry the adapter's trigger word with no adapter behind it, so anything you hear in them belongs to the word and not to the weights.
And a fourth, which is the article's closing argument and is easier to hear than to read: play any three clips from one request in a row and ask not how they sound but how they are built — where the sections change, whether anything arrives or leaves, whether it goes anywhere. That is the layer our listener said was wrong, mid-sitting and before any key was opened, and it is not the layer an adapter of this kind can reach.
The blind sheet, unsealed
The sitting was thirty-six presentations: twenty-four scoring pairs — the same request at the same seed, once by the untouched model and once with the adapter at full strength, order randomised per trial from a seed fixed before the sheet existed, labels neutral, file names neutral — and twelve sentinels. A sentinel plays the identical file on both sides: same bytes, same fingerprint, presented as A and B. The sheet offered no "no preference" button, on the reasoning that an honest listener is a fair coin on those, and the acceptance band was set on that assumption at two to ten directional answers of twelve. Our listener abstained anyway, on eleven of the twelve. The sentinels here were drawn from the name-tag clips, one per request, always at the primary seed.
Eleven of the twelve were heard as identical. One was not. On trial 27 — the deep house request, the same file on both sides — our listener wrote “similar, but B sounds slightly cleaner / tighter on the beats”. One directional answer is below the registered band of two, so on the band as written the sentinel block does not accept; the article says what that costs, and what the eleven are worth. Here it is something you can try: every request below names its sentinel, so play a name-tag clip against itself, knowing it is the same file, and notice what your ear offers you anyway.
On the twenty-four real pairs: eleven for the untouched model, four for the adapter, nine with no preference, against the eighteen the adapter needed. Each request below carries its two trials, what our listener wrote — exactly as typed, before the key was opened — and which side was actually the adapter, which nobody knew at the time.
If you only play four things, play the four requests that asked for house — deep house, tech house, disco house, progressive house; P07 to P10 below. Our listener expressed a preference on five of their eight pairs and chose the untouched model every time, which is the observation the article turns on. In each one, play nothing added against the adapter at full strength at the same seed and see whether you agree. The two clips our listener called the most house-like are P08 at seed 4008 (“A is way better, actually resembles house”) and P02 at seed 5002 (“A sounds better, sounds more like house type music (cleaner)”) — both from the untouched model.
Two of the four things you can play here were never in the sitting. The registered sheet also carried a descriptive block pairing the untouched model against the adapter at half strength, and a first null pairing it against the name tag alone; neither was presented — the twelve name-tag renders were spent as sentinels instead, and the twenty-four half-strength renders were never put in front of anyone. They are on this page because they were rendered and measured — the half-strength set is what the article's dose-response check ran on — and because the dial's midpoint is worth hearing. No answer of our listener's attaches to either.
The twelve requests
Twelve requests, in the order the run numbered them: six techno, four house, one breaks, one trance — the same twelve the previous adapter was judged on, kept so the two runs can be compared. Each request prints exactly as it was sent in the untouched arm; the tempo in the heading is the run's design pin for that request, not a word in the request. The two adapter settings and the name-tag control prepend house-wide, and change nothing else. Within a request the primary seed's four clips come first, then the second seed's three — the name tag was rendered at the primary seed only, which is why twelve requests make eighty-four clips and not ninety-six — and in each seed the pair the sitting judged comes first: nothing added, then the adapter at full strength. The sheet's answers for a request sit under its table, so you can listen first.
P01 — minimal techno, 128 BPM
minimal techno, hypnotic rolling groove, analog drum machine, deep sub bass, sparse percussion, late night
🔊 P01 · seed 4001 · nothing added · raw render 6f29ead374328e04 · listening master bc9f8a7e126f4704 🔊 P01 · seed 4001 · the adapter at full strength · raw render cc16fe5cb0f70582 · listening master 0234da9f4a633935 🔊 P01 · seed 4001 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 67cfb19be8ac48a7 · listening master da4848518da8f650 🔊 P01 · seed 4001 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render ec4cff68e3db5cc5 · listening master 2581f981a6000f5e 🔊 P01 · seed 5001 · nothing added · raw render a19e6a17c52561f0 · listening master cf186ec980fcb0e6 🔊 P01 · seed 5001 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 43966dd56b1261e0 · listening master 65e3182c04e30da8 🔊 P01 · seed 5001 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 64bc35d672ffb427 · listening master 9660c249528c50de
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P01__base__seed4001 | −18.29 | −1.00 | 6.9 | 6f29ead374328e04 | 154099caef3e7751 | +0.00 | no | 10.3 s |
| P01__house-1.0__seed4001 | −16.17 | −0.85 | 2.2 | cc16fe5cb0f70582 | 88837c1c3a5b615a | −0.15 | no | 9.4 s |
| P01__house-0.5__seed4001 | −16.70 | −0.82 | 2.4 | 67cfb19be8ac48a7 | 56075512dc6e681f | −0.18 | no | 9.4 s |
| P01__trigger-only__seed4001 | −16.95 | −0.71 | 5.0 | ec4cff68e3db5cc5 | 25fe11b5794cf1df | −0.29 | no | 10.3 s |
| P01__base__seed5001 | −13.97 | −0.91 | 11.5 | a19e6a17c52561f0 | 18556febcc0c084f | −2.03 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P01__house-1.0__seed5001 | −13.76 | −0.90 | 7.7 | 43966dd56b1261e0 | c87d875ab5d68b0a | −2.24 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P01__house-0.5__seed5001 | −13.56 | −0.98 | 9.6 | 64bc35d672ffb427 | cd23935a1bd2fad0 | −2.44 | yes | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 26 (seed 4001) — no preference; our listener wrote: “too similar (both 25 and 26 are really bad compositions, and have a lot of "glitchy" sounds that are weird)”. Trial 24 (seed 5001) — our listener picked side A, which was nothing added, and wrote: “A sounds a bit better, tighter / cleaner beats”. Trial 25 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4001 against itself; our listener wrote: “too similar”.
P02 — dub techno, 122 BPM
dub techno, deep chord stabs drenched in delay, soft muffled kick, tape hiss, slow underwater swing
🔊 P02 · seed 4002 · nothing added · raw render 40f73c1b0e939699 · listening master 8c11b9c116769b2e 🔊 P02 · seed 4002 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 4a8a786ea2b4b553 · listening master 2cd2dda68da9a2b8 🔊 P02 · seed 4002 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 33621778e37a3d89 · listening master 52880f7abda707a9 🔊 P02 · seed 4002 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render 473616e224f218a9 · listening master 6b2d5724b85aaa5d 🔊 P02 · seed 5002 · nothing added · raw render d333a28f716c5a2f · listening master 434fb10cacf8b443 🔊 P02 · seed 5002 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 41d0ff4795c3bffd · listening master 835347bdbb6147d1 🔊 P02 · seed 5002 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 14db27910168ffd6 · listening master 3d89bf8010c08d75
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P02__base__seed4002 | −16.06 | −1.00 | 6.0 | 40f73c1b0e939699 | da512ba894e16e11 | +0.00 | no | 10.3 s |
| P02__house-1.0__seed4002 | −16.35 | −1.00 | 8.6 | 4a8a786ea2b4b553 | 62268553bff852d7 | +0.00 | no | 9.6 s |
| P02__house-0.5__seed4002 | −15.60 | −1.00 | 9.9 | 33621778e37a3d89 | b6d36151a88b5521 | −0.40 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P02__trigger-only__seed4002 | −15.69 | −1.00 | 3.7 | 473616e224f218a9 | 71d01b5042c2cd0b | −0.31 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P02__base__seed5002 | −14.54 | −0.82 | 6.4 | d333a28f716c5a2f | ad984377139e787c | −1.46 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P02__house-1.0__seed5002 | −14.08 | −0.94 | 5.1 | 41d0ff4795c3bffd | 89447c2807ca5906 | −1.92 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P02__house-0.5__seed5002 | −15.54 | −0.99 | 4.4 | 14db27910168ffd6 | 9b66d6fa0b388a51 | −0.46 | yes | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 32 (seed 4002) — our listener picked side A, which was the adapter at full strength, and wrote: “A def better, actually has a hat at the start where B is void of one”. Trial 19 (seed 5002) — our listener picked side A, which was nothing added, and wrote: “A sounds better, sounds more like house type music (cleaner)”. Trial 5 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4002 against itself; our listener wrote: “too similar”.
P03 — Detroit techno, 132 BPM
detroit techno, soaring string pads, crisp 909 drums, warm bassline, futuristic and soulful
🔊 P03 · seed 4003 · nothing added · raw render 729a04f6dbdd01ed · listening master ac447ff4c16b8544 🔊 P03 · seed 4003 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 960c41da96bade5e · listening master 1994d08921b06fff 🔊 P03 · seed 4003 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 30475307ce10caa6 · listening master 779d40791ccadd72 🔊 P03 · seed 4003 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render 4fe0adec9b44b76d · listening master 63de7167c0f88e7a 🔊 P03 · seed 5003 · nothing added · raw render 862d48e18db8c561 · listening master df430b19268198b5 🔊 P03 · seed 5003 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 1fb6105e5d4586e9 · listening master d2ed36c10da27b57 🔊 P03 · seed 5003 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render cfa01a36f49dc691 · listening master 117fbb86c28a011b
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P03__base__seed4003 | −13.80 | −0.95 | 7.5 | 729a04f6dbdd01ed | 482b0ce44b20eb83 | −2.20 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P03__house-1.0__seed4003 | −13.92 | −0.94 | 8.1 | 960c41da96bade5e | deb8ce3742c560ca | −2.08 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P03__house-0.5__seed4003 | −14.15 | −0.97 | 6.5 | 30475307ce10caa6 | c6b97d32d6969b07 | −1.85 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P03__trigger-only__seed4003 | −14.03 | −0.96 | 5.6 | 4fe0adec9b44b76d | ec9080901b4e8a85 | −1.97 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P03__base__seed5003 | −19.11 | −0.63 | 2.4 | 862d48e18db8c561 | 7bf26c71267ed765 | −0.37 | no | 10.3 s |
| P03__house-1.0__seed5003 | −19.25 | −0.81 | 2.5 | 1fb6105e5d4586e9 | 7f2e0670f7fe13e1 | −0.19 | no | 9.4 s |
| P03__house-0.5__seed5003 | −19.39 | −0.70 | 1.6 | cfa01a36f49dc691 | acf92438b51bab6d | −0.30 | no | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 20 (seed 4003) — no preference; our listener wrote: “A has a much more pronounced background synth/melody type sound, but i don't have a pref”. Trial 10 (seed 5003) — our listener picked side B, which was the adapter at full strength, and wrote: “B sounds better, A has more background kind of "wonky talk" type ambient sound, which i notice on a lot of ace tracks actually”. Trial 18 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4003 against itself; our listener wrote: “too similar to tell apart”.
P04 — melodic techno, 124 BPM
melodic techno, driving arpeggiated synth, big reverb, emotive chord progression, steady four on the floor
🔊 P04 · seed 4004 · nothing added · raw render 33da5224dba96bfb · listening master 6a3dcce14de72c8a 🔊 P04 · seed 4004 · the adapter at full strength · raw render cccf825cf188d828 · listening master a22382ce520fff81 🔊 P04 · seed 4004 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 1c24a873e536604d · listening master 3927eaae9e1894d2 🔊 P04 · seed 4004 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render fcda5bcd8d5d920c · listening master 18a21f2a7b6b6ba8 🔊 P04 · seed 5004 · nothing added · raw render ec1c9e43f5d17d03 · listening master 9868b91b3c2c171d 🔊 P04 · seed 5004 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 029b6f7f99242d2d · listening master b74a7f6d558bc121 🔊 P04 · seed 5004 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render dd66991c3608bb7a · listening master b83c97c5668cecb7
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P04__base__seed4004 | −18.29 | −0.88 | 6.4 | 33da5224dba96bfb | 6e94842dd7df318d | −0.12 | no | 10.3 s |
| P04__house-1.0__seed4004 | −17.31 | −1.00 | 5.2 | cccf825cf188d828 | 3e50b4f4194f8355 | +0.00 | no | 9.4 s |
| P04__house-0.5__seed4004 | −18.09 | −1.00 | 5.4 | 1c24a873e536604d | 553fd6a250568453 | +0.00 | no | 9.4 s |
| P04__trigger-only__seed4004 | −18.77 | −0.90 | 6.2 | fcda5bcd8d5d920c | 6244fc4be50231f6 | −0.10 | no | 10.3 s |
| P04__base__seed5004 | −16.79 | −0.87 | 5.2 | ec1c9e43f5d17d03 | aa8687c7524842a9 | −0.13 | no | 10.3 s |
| P04__house-1.0__seed5004 | −14.40 | −1.00 | 4.2 | 029b6f7f99242d2d | d6425bbbdbf90a41 | −1.60 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P04__house-0.5__seed5004 | −15.61 | −0.99 | 7.0 | dd66991c3608bb7a | 744ac136a98963aa | −0.39 | yes | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 33 (seed 4004) — no preference; our listener wrote: “too similar”. Trial 16 (seed 5004) — no preference; our listener wrote: “they sound quite a bit different, but i don't have a pref; in A, the piano is much more pronounced”. Trial 2 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4004 against itself; our listener wrote: “too similar”.
P05 — hard techno, 145 BPM
hard techno, distorted rumbling kick, industrial percussion, relentless, dark warehouse
🔊 P05 · seed 4005 · nothing added · raw render 19a21339c58ba55c · listening master c3bdf1bcb7ef6d7f 🔊 P05 · seed 4005 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 4ff46e7427abc904 · listening master 7a6e8c2fb530d940 🔊 P05 · seed 4005 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 642efb728f73e055 · listening master 95c1d82b1bfbaa26 🔊 P05 · seed 4005 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render ce3614c835bfb945 · listening master d4fc724350028b00 🔊 P05 · seed 5005 · nothing added · raw render 025057c1b8cec752 · listening master f8a67bec846a5d40 🔊 P05 · seed 5005 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 0b6df192333fb524 · listening master d09442284ee61c09 🔊 P05 · seed 5005 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 7e0dca44d7baa403 · listening master 529694630e92b16e
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P05__base__seed4005 | −17.51 | −0.99 | 6.5 | 19a21339c58ba55c | 68cbf63185a1758d | −0.01 | no | 10.3 s |
| P05__house-1.0__seed4005 | −16.02 | −1.00 | 4.7 | 4ff46e7427abc904 | d28b223c026f35b3 | +0.00 | no | 9.5 s |
| P05__house-0.5__seed4005 | −14.77 | −0.99 | 4.4 | 642efb728f73e055 | b9401729c87c1512 | −1.23 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P05__trigger-only__seed4005 | −15.50 | −0.99 | 5.4 | ce3614c835bfb945 | 1a985d005466bee8 | −0.50 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P05__base__seed5005 | −16.97 | −0.99 | 7.5 | 025057c1b8cec752 | c2916fa3ab7fc9d4 | −0.01 | no | 10.3 s |
| P05__house-1.0__seed5005 | −17.31 | −1.00 | 4.8 | 0b6df192333fb524 | 2072bcbca67a8200 | +0.00 | no | 9.4 s |
| P05__house-0.5__seed5005 | −18.28 | −0.99 | 6.0 | 7e0dca44d7baa403 | e8ee9c19d3a99513 | −0.01 | no | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 29 (seed 4005) — no preference; our listener wrote: “too similar”. Trial 21 (seed 5005) — no preference; our listener wrote: “too similar”. Trial 22 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4005 against itself; our listener wrote: “too similar”.
P06 — acid techno, 130 BPM
acid techno, squelching 303 bassline, resonant filter sweeps, tight drum machine, raw and hypnotic
🔊 P06 · seed 4006 · nothing added · raw render f2184d9283300c0d · listening master 5e7eb7366dea7328 🔊 P06 · seed 4006 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 9bd54e01e07ba37d · listening master 4a74c473e52e57f1 🔊 P06 · seed 4006 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 420a71a83a50f70f · listening master e409ef551076d43c 🔊 P06 · seed 4006 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render 2caa3f6020c5679f · listening master 86a3975ec97478a9 🔊 P06 · seed 5006 · nothing added · raw render 042daa2491e56e39 · listening master 974e94c55736b565 🔊 P06 · seed 5006 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 128e76f5a3a198b8 · listening master cc07db77df3fd98d 🔊 P06 · seed 5006 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 1590a7a0c1e28f33 · listening master 7b231813cfa89fa9
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P06__base__seed4006 | −15.26 | −0.90 | 9.3 | f2184d9283300c0d | 75ce1e883abb3c44 | −0.74 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P06__house-1.0__seed4006 | −16.39 | −1.00 | 4.1 | 9bd54e01e07ba37d | d419b4315e97ff61 | +0.00 | no | 9.4 s |
| P06__house-0.5__seed4006 | −14.99 | −1.00 | 4.3 | 420a71a83a50f70f | 728757ae384573eb | −1.01 | yes | 9.5 s |
| P06__trigger-only__seed4006 | −14.87 | −1.00 | 6.7 | 2caa3f6020c5679f | da732c9ecbb27dc9 | −1.13 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P06__base__seed5006 | −15.50 | −0.95 | 8.7 | 042daa2491e56e39 | 18acaa3c039798f9 | −0.50 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P06__house-1.0__seed5006 | −14.78 | −0.96 | 3.0 | 128e76f5a3a198b8 | f65bacdaaf7bd140 | −1.22 | yes | 9.5 s |
| P06__house-0.5__seed5006 | −14.42 | −0.98 | 3.9 | 1590a7a0c1e28f33 | 1e26661c1ef1db48 | −1.58 | yes | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 8 (seed 4006) — our listener picked side B, which was nothing added, and wrote: “B is better”. Trial 6 (seed 5006) — our listener picked side A, which was the adapter at full strength, and wrote: “A is better”. Trial 34 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4006 against itself; our listener wrote: “too similar”.
P07 — deep house, 122 BPM
deep house, warm rhodes chords, shuffled hi-hats, smooth sub bass, soulful and laid back
🔊 P07 · seed 4007 · nothing added · raw render eab731443610023d · listening master 9a5515855790756e 🔊 P07 · seed 4007 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 0dff7a97c0b03a93 · listening master 77aa527a0222cf7b 🔊 P07 · seed 4007 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 6c0ede64d4b5ebca · listening master d2e993ea25fca786 🔊 P07 · seed 4007 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render 3e76e0507abe5aed · listening master 8f5ca8c26a3a766a 🔊 P07 · seed 5007 · nothing added · raw render e9bfa5ca2dba4f8b · listening master ca6f214ad202c753 🔊 P07 · seed 5007 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 8a525bceac2f86ed · listening master 7e7b74c25a3dc97a 🔊 P07 · seed 5007 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render d8b9c60ec89c2588 · listening master 24c5e35563837319
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P07__base__seed4007 | −15.03 | −1.00 | 3.2 | eab731443610023d | eb21d2b4a8769d14 | −0.97 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P07__house-1.0__seed4007 | −14.28 | −0.95 | 2.7 | 0dff7a97c0b03a93 | 80f9794969d9fbff | −1.72 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P07__house-0.5__seed4007 | −14.91 | −0.86 | 3.1 | 6c0ede64d4b5ebca | 5bfa8c39a9f60a30 | −1.09 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P07__trigger-only__seed4007 | −14.71 | −0.84 | 2.8 | 3e76e0507abe5aed | cfc723b6070105f4 | −1.29 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P07__base__seed5007 | −15.36 | −0.94 | 4.3 | e9bfa5ca2dba4f8b | 0a6e56b5b08fad07 | −0.64 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P07__house-1.0__seed5007 | −15.43 | −0.91 | 3.3 | 8a525bceac2f86ed | 0c1eed3f745f1f01 | −0.57 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P07__house-0.5__seed5007 | −16.38 | −0.79 | 1.9 | d8b9c60ec89c2588 | 1f2316d5c3559dcf | −0.21 | no | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 4 (seed 4007) — our listener picked side A, which was nothing added, and wrote: “similar, but A is better”. Trial 13 (seed 5007) — our listener picked side B, which was nothing added, and wrote: “B sounds better”. Trial 27 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4007 against itself, the identical file, the same fingerprint, both sides — and our listener wrote: “similar, but B sounds slightly cleaner / tighter on the beats”. It is the run's one false positive and it is on the record.
P08 — tech house, 126 BPM
tech house, chunky rolling bassline, tight clap, minimal percussion fills, groovy and punchy
🔊 P08 · seed 4008 · nothing added · raw render 46492068acc9d4b2 · listening master cb577e3405defb75 🔊 P08 · seed 4008 · the adapter at full strength · raw render d7c9ba5e6bc12f0c · listening master fcd90ba41313de0b 🔊 P08 · seed 4008 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 360b45a87a00e945 · listening master dae1535d90c9b297 🔊 P08 · seed 4008 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render 56a8f3ec10da8bdf · listening master 9282e3f95a0a5b11 🔊 P08 · seed 5008 · nothing added · raw render e9bbb374e793756f · listening master 1268c5c5c8fdd5e9 🔊 P08 · seed 5008 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 2eae44106ce90d7e · listening master 74a26bb276a05f00 🔊 P08 · seed 5008 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render a1a22acb494e0885 · listening master 2116a13421f22619
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P08__base__seed4008 | −16.46 | −0.98 | 2.1 | 46492068acc9d4b2 | 0dace6c1add6cac2 | −0.02 | no | 10.3 s |
| P08__house-1.0__seed4008 | −16.88 | −1.00 | 1.0 | d7c9ba5e6bc12f0c | f13f69a0b7926492 | +0.00 | no | 9.4 s |
| P08__house-0.5__seed4008 | −16.67 | −0.89 | 1.0 | 360b45a87a00e945 | 74b534f38816d3b2 | −0.11 | no | 9.4 s |
| P08__trigger-only__seed4008 | −17.29 | −1.00 | 1.7 | 56a8f3ec10da8bdf | 946c547083863087 | +0.00 | no | 10.3 s |
| P08__base__seed5008 | −16.18 | −0.94 | 1.6 | e9bbb374e793756f | dcc1d9acd9b77328 | −0.06 | no | 10.3 s |
| P08__house-1.0__seed5008 | −15.42 | −1.00 | 1.0 | 2eae44106ce90d7e | ffa9b5905c4918bc | −0.58 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P08__house-0.5__seed5008 | −15.25 | −0.91 | 1.1 | a1a22acb494e0885 | 97c2e1715e4ead7a | −0.75 | yes | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 7 (seed 4008) — our listener picked side A, which was nothing added, and wrote: “A is way better, actually resembles house”. Trial 9 (seed 5008) — no preference; our listener wrote: “both are kinda a mess”. Trial 12 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4008 against itself; our listener wrote: “no pref”.
P09 — disco house, 124 BPM
disco house, filtered disco loop, live strings and brass stabs, funky bass guitar, joyful
🔊 P09 · seed 4009 · nothing added · raw render ab34f88b669affc7 · listening master c5f5d9b7457272f1 🔊 P09 · seed 4009 · the adapter at full strength · raw render f799b67a462579a1 · listening master 48edc3c050a26132 🔊 P09 · seed 4009 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 2497220a211469c2 · listening master d4e689d36a0110d9 🔊 P09 · seed 4009 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render acacde982393fb17 · listening master 745309bf0f131eee 🔊 P09 · seed 5009 · nothing added · raw render 62709cf9aa113c77 · listening master d8a7ca1ca7b403fe 🔊 P09 · seed 5009 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 00fd3a8ac8fae202 · listening master 9b3ed91ced5024d1 🔊 P09 · seed 5009 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render debfc97d77ae8923 · listening master 57c92ad13cf6c560
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P09__base__seed4009 | −14.34 | −1.00 | 6.8 | ab34f88b669affc7 | 3c165224e4dbac4f | −1.66 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P09__house-1.0__seed4009 | −14.41 | −1.00 | 5.9 | f799b67a462579a1 | 70ec4e2d44fde39f | −1.59 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P09__house-0.5__seed4009 | −13.99 | −0.93 | 6.0 | 2497220a211469c2 | c6f4c563ed480aa3 | −2.01 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P09__trigger-only__seed4009 | −15.72 | −0.65 | 6.0 | acacde982393fb17 | d6c973f36b695af5 | −0.35 | no | 10.3 s |
| P09__base__seed5009 | −18.36 | −0.89 | 2.0 | 62709cf9aa113c77 | d0c3a50994e178df | −0.11 | no | 10.3 s |
| P09__house-1.0__seed5009 | −15.22 | −1.00 | 2.3 | 00fd3a8ac8fae202 | 5c91ac3728c85269 | −0.78 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P09__house-0.5__seed5009 | −16.37 | −1.00 | 2.6 | debfc97d77ae8923 | e7ae9713608dab36 | +0.00 | no | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 30 (seed 4009) — no preference; our listener wrote: “similar (both bad)”. Trial 15 (seed 5009) — our listener picked side B, which was nothing added, and wrote: “B sounds better, crisper overall / hats, etc”. Trial 23 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4009 against itself; our listener wrote: “too similar”.
P10 — progressive house, 128 BPM
progressive house, long atmospheric build, plucked synth melody, sidechained pads, euphoric drop
🔊 P10 · seed 4010 · nothing added · raw render 658ed42875d2ba1f · listening master ff57dc4959b69370 🔊 P10 · seed 4010 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 50a42118b782d597 · listening master a4f286467bf5eee3 🔊 P10 · seed 4010 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 82276caf4dca50ef · listening master d221a59b56b01692 🔊 P10 · seed 4010 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render d38642de3b98cfff · listening master d72630db3e19e72f 🔊 P10 · seed 5010 · nothing added · raw render 4f7badc5a0b705e6 · listening master d1369f5e70912a7f 🔊 P10 · seed 5010 · the adapter at full strength · raw render b9c326a5d8fc4de8 · listening master 67d5be63d236ef3d 🔊 P10 · seed 5010 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 67a05bdedbe67351 · listening master ce497082cde88549
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P10__base__seed4010 | −13.42 | −1.00 | 3.4 | 658ed42875d2ba1f | 006a4b6369983bb9 | −2.58 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P10__house-1.0__seed4010 | −15.33 | −1.00 | 3.6 | 50a42118b782d597 | c1b2f5850d2e3f65 | −0.67 | yes | 9.5 s |
| P10__house-0.5__seed4010 | −14.43 | −0.90 | 4.4 | 82276caf4dca50ef | 94dec6b66d072223 | −1.57 | yes | 9.5 s |
| P10__trigger-only__seed4010 | −13.06 | −0.87 | 3.5 | d38642de3b98cfff | 413453d6117ee214 | −2.94 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P10__base__seed5010 | −18.37 | −0.55 | 2.6 | 4f7badc5a0b705e6 | 2c5103547a3d557c | −0.45 | no | 10.3 s |
| P10__house-1.0__seed5010 | −17.88 | −1.00 | 1.9 | b9c326a5d8fc4de8 | b41daaa886b8ef8e | +0.00 | no | 9.5 s |
| P10__house-0.5__seed5010 | −19.84 | −1.00 | 1.6 | 67a05bdedbe67351 | 29dc4a151eb4d505 | +0.00 | no | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 31 (seed 4010) — no preference; our listener wrote: “B has more background sort of ambient echo sound, no pref on which i like better”. Trial 35 (seed 5010) — our listener picked side B, which was nothing added, and wrote: “similar, but B sounds slightly cleaner”. Trial 11 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4010 against itself; our listener wrote: “too similar / no pref”.
P11 — electro breaks, 130 BPM
electro breakbeat, syncopated broken drums, robotic bass synth, vocoder stabs, retro futuristic
🔊 P11 · seed 4011 · nothing added · raw render 0d2d623638b56f33 · listening master 243742862d1f7d11 🔊 P11 · seed 4011 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 7033b9e3dc3885ae · listening master 5e35d2728255dd1a 🔊 P11 · seed 4011 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 7562aab5b75b65b1 · listening master 497f45455ab472ac 🔊 P11 · seed 4011 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render 3eb4b2ca269f0ff2 · listening master 9c5cb983b9c9c657 🔊 P11 · seed 5011 · nothing added · raw render 22515ab8b46a7c92 · listening master dd96c53f967ce504 🔊 P11 · seed 5011 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 81ac153d7c837641 · listening master 6060175b5e982ab0 🔊 P11 · seed 5011 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render d176654bd9736151 · listening master 549ab5da2f8fc05b
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P11__base__seed4011 | −16.17 | −0.41 | 2.2 | 0d2d623638b56f33 | 43fd265be16ce8f2 | −0.59 | no | 10.3 s |
| P11__house-1.0__seed4011 | −14.50 | −1.00 | 4.2 | 7033b9e3dc3885ae | 676b300ee4d098e7 | −1.50 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P11__house-0.5__seed4011 | −15.11 | −0.88 | 7.4 | 7562aab5b75b65b1 | 380a87ede4ae3606 | −0.89 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P11__trigger-only__seed4011 | −15.84 | −0.78 | 1.2 | 3eb4b2ca269f0ff2 | 3df64dd7767ce82c | −0.22 | no | 10.3 s |
| P11__base__seed5011 | −16.91 | −0.81 | 1.5 | 22515ab8b46a7c92 | f9461287330ccca0 | −0.19 | no | 10.3 s |
| P11__house-1.0__seed5011 | −15.37 | −0.92 | 0.6 | 81ac153d7c837641 | 6cf1b49c9ae36bb7 | −0.63 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P11__house-0.5__seed5011 | −16.38 | −0.71 | 0.8 | d176654bd9736151 | 73602afe2c04c1ea | −0.29 | no | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 1 (seed 4011) — our listener picked side B, which was nothing added, and wrote: “B”. Trial 3 (seed 5011) — our listener picked side B, which was nothing added, and wrote: “B is way better”. Trial 28 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4011 against itself; our listener wrote: “too similar”.
P12 — uplifting trance, 138 BPM
uplifting trance, supersaw lead melody, huge breakdown, pumping kick, euphoric festival energy
🔊 P12 · seed 4012 · nothing added · raw render 925043a260587234 · listening master c2f50853f1441e36 🔊 P12 · seed 4012 · the adapter at full strength · raw render a6595eb4c52a5d30 · listening master 947639cbdf16072d 🔊 P12 · seed 4012 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render da93b138ec6fb88f · listening master 12504a0e61044db3 🔊 P12 · seed 4012 · the name tag alone, no adapter · raw render 197dcea107437bc7 · listening master c55482978f9109c6 🔊 P12 · seed 5012 · nothing added · raw render aee0ce6f099163fc · listening master c66469260c9c7df3 🔊 P12 · seed 5012 · the adapter at full strength · raw render 7e9e62f1fba1522a · listening master 675b01324e25560d 🔊 P12 · seed 5012 · the adapter at 0.5 · raw render 08618e45166d42e8 · listening master 118873ac9d910b47
| file | raw LUFS | true peak dBTP | loudness range | raw sha16 | sitting copy sha16 | gain dB | reached −16 | rendered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P12__base__seed4012 | −13.61 | −0.70 | 3.0 | 925043a260587234 | 7e01ed03bec952d6 | −2.39 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P12__house-1.0__seed4012 | −14.93 | −0.97 | 7.7 | a6595eb4c52a5d30 | 7a62362c66c906f1 | −1.07 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P12__house-0.5__seed4012 | −14.33 | −1.00 | 2.4 | da93b138ec6fb88f | d61b5c95d820500c | −1.67 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P12__trigger-only__seed4012 | −13.63 | −0.96 | 3.1 | 197dcea107437bc7 | 2a3cbce158007ac4 | −2.37 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P12__base__seed5012 | −15.89 | −0.95 | 7.1 | aee0ce6f099163fc | f18260c947c6074e | −0.11 | yes | 10.3 s |
| P12__house-1.0__seed5012 | −13.79 | −0.97 | 2.1 | 7e9e62f1fba1522a | f4a657906008fa2d | −2.21 | yes | 9.4 s |
| P12__house-0.5__seed5012 | −13.41 | −0.73 | 2.5 | 08618e45166d42e8 | 5ca954ee4d9ec03a | −2.59 | yes | 9.4 s |
The sheet. Trial 14 (seed 4012) — our listener picked side A, which was nothing added, and wrote: “A actually sounds quite a bit better (cleaner)”. Trial 36 (seed 5012) — our listener picked side A, which was the adapter at full strength, and wrote: “A sounds way better, and these tracks sound WAY different, like A actually has a 4-4 beat to start, whereas B has none”. Trial 17 was this request's sentinel — the name-tag clip at seed 4012 against itself; our listener wrote: “sounds similar on both, but actually sounds pretty good.”
Three sets of bytes, and which one the player fetches
This run produced its listening copies twice, and this page adds a third set. A reader being asked to judge by ear is owed all three, so here they are in order.
The raw renders are what the engine wrote. Their integrated loudness runs from −19.84 to −13.06 LUFS — 6.78 units, or a bit over two notches on a fader — so playing twenty in a row means working the volume knob rather than comparing adapters. That is the whole reason any of the rest exists. They are untouched in audio/ and every loudness figure on this page was measured from them.
The sitting's copies are what one listener actually heard. The first attempt at them used ffmpeg's single-pass loudnorm and left eighteen of eighty-five clips 1 to 2.3 dB louder than the target — and in a forced-choice test, louder wins, so that was a live confound inside the gate, assigned to sides by accident. It was caught before the sitting and the set was re-made with the two-pass form, which lands the target: all eighty-five came back between −16.20 and −15.90 LUFS. That is the set the blind sheet played, and it is honest about loudness. It is not a pure level change: loudnorm at linear=true falls back to dynamic processing when a constant gain cannot also hold the ceiling, and, re-read here sample by sample against the renders they came from, thirty-eight of the eighty-five copies are not a constant multiple of the render each came from. Split by side, fourteen of the twenty-four untouched clips and nine of the twenty-four full-strength adapter clips fell back that way (Fisher's exact two-sided p = 0.25, so the imbalance is not itself established). We are reporting it rather than filing it, because it is the kind of thing that is easy not to mention. Their fingerprints are in every table below, and the copies themselves are in audio/sitting/ beside the renders, with their own manifest, so the set our listener heard can be checked as well as the set you hear.
The listening master is what the players on this page fetch. It is each render with one constant gain applied and nothing else — no limiter, no compression, no equalisation, no trimming, no re-encoding, the same 48 kHz, 16-bit stereo WAV with the same number of samples — and its own fingerprint printed beside it. The gain is the smaller of two numbers: how far the clip sits from −16 LUFS, and how far its true peak sits from a −1 dBTP ceiling. Of the eighty-four, forty-eight land at −16 LUFS to within a hundredth, on gains of −2.94 to −0.11 dB. The other thirty-six are left at their raw level — thirteen of them at a gain of exactly zero, the rest trimmed by no more than −0.59 dB — because their peaks already sit at the engine's own −1 dB ceiling, so reaching −16 LUFS would have meant pushing them through it, and they stay between −19.84 and −16.02 LUFS. The other way to do that is a limiter riding the gain, and a limiter would change the very thing you are here to judge, so nothing on this page is limited. That rule is not ours to bend: it was set for the previous companion page in this series, on the same discovery, and it is why these players serve a set the listener never heard rather than the set that was heard.
How to check these clips
Every file in audio/ is the exact render that was measured: copied, never re-encoded, never normalised, never re-cut, and verified against the run's own sha256 before it was staged. Every file in audio/master/ is that same render with one level change and nothing else. The page prints the raw render's fingerprint and the master's beside every player, in that order, and the master's is the one a browser fetches. audio/MANIFEST.sha256 and audio/master/MANIFEST.sha256 carry every file's full sha256, one sha256sum -c line per file; audio/master/master-records.json beside them carries the whole recipe — the gain rule, the ffmpeg version, and for every clip the raw file's sha256 and the mastered file's, the loudness and true peak measured before and after, the constant gain in dB and which of the rule's two terms chose it. The third fingerprint in each table is the copy the blind sitting played; those copies are in audio/sitting/, with audio/sitting/MANIFEST.sha256 beside them, so all three sets can be checked byte for byte.
The arithmetic, because the counts differ and a reader deserves to know why: the run rendered eighty-five clips and this page serves eighty-four. The odd one is the determinism control — P01__base__seed4001 rendered a second time in a fresh process, which came back byte-identical — and that is what licenses every other byte-distinct check in the run. It is registered once, under the name it repeats, rather than served twice under two. The article's data kit carries the request payloads verbatim, the render records with every number printed here, the sealed blind key, and the listener's answers exactly as typed and timestamped before the key was opened. If a number here disagrees with the kit, the kit wins and this page is wrong.
Who ran this, and thanks
The same small team and fleet of AI agents as the article, on the same machines, and the credits are The Ceiling Is Not the Corpus's: the four hundred and sixteen tracks, their ninety-five artists and the licences they chose, the dataset that catalogued them, the engine, the trainer and the tools beneath are all named there in full, track by track and deed by deed, because on this run the credits are not a courtesy but the licence — how that works is next door, and the licence ledger carries the engine's row. Every clip on this page is AI-generated, the engine's own model card asks that it be said, and it is said here as well as there.