Lightning is an instrument that plays the weather: every lightning strike on Earth, as it happens, becomes a note. A strike's bearing from the listening point picks its pitch around the circle of fifths, its distance sets the loudness, and the real cloud cover overhead is a slow pad underneath. It is free and non-commercial, and it began as a native Audio Unit and VST3 built on JUCE.

Strikes — Blitzortung.org / LightningMaps.org, a volunteer detection network. Data CC BY-SA 4.0, non-commercial use only.

Cloud cover — point cover at the listening point from Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0). Cloud-fraction imagery from NASA GIBS (MODIS Terra, public domain), decoded through NASA's published colour map and drawn pixel for pixel.

Coastlines, rivers, lakes, borders — Natural Earth (public domain), 1:50m and 1:10m.

Search — Photon by komoot, data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Locate me uses your browser's own location, which never leaves it.

Streets, water, buildings — OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

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