UNKNOWN ARTEFACT: Sound Engineers, apply here!

Do me a favor and listen to the "Chittering" in some UA-Sounds and compare them to some i transformed (and here). Is is imagination or is there somethin in that chittering?

Thanks!

Just on an airport run but will get on it when I get back. I'm convinced their is at least one or more life forms in the UAs, especially after seeing an image just now, part of the UA looks suspiciously like an eggsack
 
Don't know if this is helpful, but there's a minor chord occuring sometimes, in sequence 4, 5, 6. It's a bit of an oddity, because most tones go up.
It's the straight horizontal lines between 300 and 600 hz, easily visible here:

FfCotKD.jpg

Especially 4 and 5 look like they have almost the same effects and distortions on them.
Hope it's not ingame music or anything.

EKxzhBW.jpg

Oh and I feel there's also more slow "zombie" chatter in those 3 than usual.
I will fiddle around some more tomorrow ;-)
 
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It is known that the howls are sometimes laid overtop of the chittering. And, I think, that the chittering sound continues throughout(?), but we use this phrasology for ease of reference.

When I say "chittering" I mean the lack of howls or purrs between the last howl (with or without associated purrs) and the next purr.
When I say "howl" I mean that loud "whale noise", which may or may not contain a purr (or two). "Howl" is much shorter to type than "whale noise".

The problem is that decoding a Morse Code message (especially one so long as this message seems to be) is computationally impossible without some indication of at least letter breaks.

EDIT: Fixed formatting.

EDIT 2:



Well that's good. That was really troubling me.


How about an Egg that is crying for its parents? It looks a hell of a lot like an egg. The chitter and purrs could be the creatures inside while the howl would be the "mom where are you" cry.
Has anyone confirmed whether the sound is dependent on the health %? Not sure how long it takes for the sound to change pitch but if it's at a salvageable percentage it may be a good idea to dump it, record the sound until the pitch changes, pick it up, then dump it again. If the sound depends on the health% it will remain in higher pitch. If the sound is the same we'll know if it's the health that changes it or if it is unrelated to the health.

Edit: I want to find one of these. Are there people out there actively looking for them or are all the efforts aimed at analyzing the existing audio material?

I know little about sound engineering but I have very good ears (and speakers/headphones) and am very good at rational thinking.
 
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I've been thinking along similar lines, we could be looking for more than is there. The sound definitely sounds like something alive, maybe that hints that there are creatures in there.

However why have so many variations in that case?
 
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However why have so many variations in that case?

The (apparent) structure is more convincing than the variety. In fact, it could have more variety and have less evidence for something hidden in there.

The fact that no three consecutive purrs share tone is kind of a big deal. If there were no such structure. If the tones were convincingly random, I would have much less suspicion that something is hiding in the message, but there would be far more variety.
 
Took me a while to find it but the background sound "the buzzing" how I like to call it reminds me of the TOS Episode "wink of an Eye" where the aliens disappeared because they sped way up and were outside the visible spectrum. Someone said in the episode there was even a hidden message...

[video=youtube;JN4v-tXgxTs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN4v-tXgxTs[/video]
 
Hey guys, quick update on my weekend work. So I spent much of time doing a fairly lengthy transcription of one of the long audio recordings. It's preliminary, but I think I may have a significantly different structure for the high/low bit notes; once I free up later today I'll re-analyze it and report back.
 
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With regards trying to extract some form of message from these sounds, there are a few fairly basic alternatives.

  1. There is a static message - possibly encrypted.
  2. There is a changing message - a countdown, or a variation based on location.
  3. There is no message - and it is effectively random noise.

For option 1 we would expect to see large sections of message repeated, even if it is in some way encrypted.
For option 2 we would probably still expect to see large chunks of message repeated.
For option 3 we would expect to find much less in the way in repeated sections.


So the first step should be to see if there is a repeating sequence. Most importantly, we need to be able to see this sequence in more than two samples.

I've been trying to parse the trasnscripts as posted using some simple scripts that treat the data as a bitstream and look for common sequences between two transcriptions, and there really isn't a repeating sequence there.

I used 23 transcribed sequences of typically 70-80 'bits' long, the longest matches I found including uknown/missing data were these (first two numbers reference my dataset so that I can hand check things)

Code:
25 'bits
20 38   0110?11011010101101101101
17 37   0110011011010101101101101

28 'bits'
20 11   110110010010010010100101?010
1 4     ????100100?00100101001011010

The longest matches without unkown/missing 'bits' are

Code:
20 'bits'
11 57   11001001001001010010
20 14   11001001001001010010

21 'bits'
6 56    110011001001011101001
11 14   110011001001011101001

24 'bits'
4 60    010101011000110010110011
2 47    010101011000110010110011

24 'bits'
16 44   100110100110010110101001
8 22    100110100110010110101001

Notice that in both these cases I'm not seeing the same sequence match in more than two transcriptions. I could do some further work to quantify how many of the shorter matches appear in multiple transcriptions, but, to be honest, given the results from checking for matches between two transcriptions I don't think it's worth the effort...

So, based on the data seen so far I would say there isn't any message hidden in the way that people are currently looking at things.

Match length summary

Code:
Length	Number of matches
1	143798
2	83692
3	40476
4	25210
5	16213
6	9070
7	5601
8	3311
9	2008
10	1214
11	707
12	432
13	257
14	149
15	99
16	72
17	27
18	20
19	15
20	8
21	5
22	1
23	2
24	2
25	1
26	0
27	0
28	1

We do know a couple of things

  • We appear to be seeing some form of generated sequence
  • It follows rules in timing and sequence of sounds (e.g. not repeating the same sound three times in a row)

I think that a lot of what is being dicussed is a case of of coming up with a theory and then hunting through the data in an attempt to find some segment that fits that theory. Whilst this is a very normal thing for humans to do when solving problems and it works very well for the types of problem where we understand the parameters (it's my appraoch to basic problem solving in my day job) it's prone to leading you down blind alleys when the problem lies outside our normal experience, and/or there are a number of unknown parameters. It can lead to some fun and entertaining theories so I'm still enjoying catching up with this =)

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes
 
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As most of the tones come in groups of 7, I did wonder whether it might be a Hamming(7,4) code, giving 4 bit BCD numbers.
So I took jspoto's list from here https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=142912&page=18&p=2205787&viewfull=1#post2205787
and ran it through a decoder, padding the 6 bit ones with an extra bit, but it doesn't appear to yield any useful pattern.

I've also tried various options like reversing the bit order, or inverting them, but that doesn't seem to make much difference.
But here are the results, in case they give anyone else some ideas.

Missing bits padded with 0
Code:
Input    Syn E Output   Data  BE  LE
1001000  101 5 1001100  0100   4   2
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1101010  100 1 0101010  0010   2   4
0011010  100 1 1011010  1010  10   5
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7

1001000  101 5 1001100  0100   4   2
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7

0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
1100100  011 6 1100110  0110   6   6
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7

1001000  101 5 1001100  0100   4   2
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
1100100  011 6 1100110  0110   6   6
0101100  110 3 0111100  1100  12   3
0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0101100  110 3 0111100  1100  12   3
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6

1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
0101100  110 3 0111100  1100  12   3
0011011  011 6 0011001  1001   9   9
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
0010100  011 6 0010110  1110  14   7
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7

0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0011000  111 7 0011001  1001   9   9
0011010  100 1 1011010  1010  10   5
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
0010011  010 2 0110011  1011  11  13
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5

0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3
0101010  000 0 0101010  0010   2   4
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
1010100  111 7 1010101  1101  13  11
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
0101001  100 1 1101001  0001   1   8
1101001  000 0 1101001  0001   1   8

0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
0011011  011 6 0011001  1001   9   9
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3
1010011  110 3 1000011  0011   3  12
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6

0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
0010110  000 0 0010110  1110  14   7
1101001  000 0 1101001  0001   1   8
0010110  000 0 0010110  1110  14   7
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1010100  111 7 1010101  1101  13  11

1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
1101100  010 2 1001100  0100   4   2
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4

1010011  110 3 1000011  0011   3  12
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
1010011  110 3 1000011  0011   3  12
0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1100100  011 6 1100110  0110   6   6
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10

1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6
1011000  011 6 1011010  1010  10   5
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
0101100  110 3 0111100  1100  12   3
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
1100100  011 6 1100110  0110   6   6
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6

0101001  100 1 1101001  0001   1   8
0101000  011 6 0101010  0010   2   4
1010100  111 7 1010101  1101  13  11
1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
1101100  010 2 1001100  0100   4   2
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0010100  011 6 0010110  1110  14   7
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
1010100  111 7 1010101  1101  13  11
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9

0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6
1100101  100 1 0100101  0101   5  10
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
1101100  010 2 1001100  0100   4   2
0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6
0101010  000 0 0101010  0010   2   4
0010100  011 6 0010110  1110  14   7

0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
0101100  110 3 0111100  1100  12   3
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
1001000  101 5 1001100  0100   4   2
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12

0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
0010100  011 6 0010110  1110  14   7
1001000  101 5 1001100  0100   4   2
1011010  000 0 1011010  1010  10   5
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1011010  000 0 1011010  1010  10   5
1001000  101 5 1001100  0100   4   2

1011010  000 0 1011010  1010  10   5
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1101101  101 5 1101001  0001   1   8
0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
1011010  000 0 1011010  1010  10   5
1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9

0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7

1100101  100 1 0100101  0101   5  10
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1100101  100 1 0100101  0101   5  10
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0011010  100 1 1011010  1010  10   5
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0011011  011 6 0011001  1001   9   9
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2

1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
0101100  110 3 0111100  1100  12   3
1101101  101 5 1101001  0001   1   8
0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
1011010  000 0 1011010  1010  10   5
1010101  000 0 1010101  1101  13  11

1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
0011000  111 7 0011001  1001   9   9
0010110  000 0 0010110  1110  14   7
1100100  011 6 1100110  0110   6   6
1101011  011 6 1101001  0001   1   8
1101001  000 0 1101001  0001   1   8
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7

1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0010011  010 2 0110011  1011  11  13
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3
1101010  100 1 0101010  0010   2   4
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
0011011  011 6 0011001  1001   9   9

0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1010100  111 7 1010101  1101  13  11
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4
0011010  100 1 1011010  1010  10   5
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1010100  111 7 1010101  1101  13  11
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3

0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
0011010  100 1 1011010  1010  10   5
0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3
1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
0010011  010 2 0110011  1011  11  13
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0010110  000 0 0010110  1110  14   7

Missing bits padded with 1
Code:
Input    Syn E Output   Data  BE  LE
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1101010  100 1 0101010  0010   2   4
0011010  100 1 1011010  1010  10   5
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7

1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7

0100111  011 6 0100101  0101   5  10
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4
0010011  010 2 0110011  1011  11  13
1100100  011 6 1100110  0110   6   6
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7

1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0110111  101 5 0110011  1011  11  13
1100101  100 1 0100101  0101   5  10
0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0101100  110 3 0111100  1100  12   3
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6

1010011  110 3 1000011  0011   3  12
0101100  110 3 0111100  1100  12   3
0011011  011 6 0011001  1001   9   9
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
0010100  011 6 0010110  1110  14   7
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7

0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0011010  100 1 1011010  1010  10   5
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
0010011  010 2 0110011  1011  11  13
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
1010011  110 3 1000011  0011   3  12

0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
1010101  000 0 1010101  1101  13  11
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
0101001  100 1 1101001  0001   1   8
1101001  000 0 1101001  0001   1   8

0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
0011011  011 6 0011001  1001   9   9
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3
1010011  110 3 1000011  0011   3  12
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6

0110111  101 5 0110011  1011  11  13
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
0010110  000 0 0010110  1110  14   7
1101001  000 0 1101001  0001   1   8
0010110  000 0 0010110  1110  14   7
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1010100  111 7 1010101  1101  13  11

1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
1010011  110 3 1000011  0011   3  12
1010111  011 6 1010101  1101  13  11
1101100  010 2 1001100  0100   4   2
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4

1010011  110 3 1000011  0011   3  12
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
1010011  110 3 1000011  0011   3  12
0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1100100  011 6 1100110  0110   6   6
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10

1100111  111 7 1100110  0110   6   6
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
0101100  110 3 0111100  1100  12   3
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
1100100  011 6 1100110  0110   6   6
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6

0101001  100 1 1101001  0001   1   8
0101001  100 1 1101001  0001   1   8
1010101  000 0 1010101  1101  13  11
1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
1101100  010 2 1001100  0100   4   2
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0010100  011 6 0010110  1110  14   7
1010011  110 3 1000011  0011   3  12
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
1010100  111 7 1010101  1101  13  11
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9

0110111  101 5 0110011  1011  11  13
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1100111  111 7 1100110  0110   6   6
1100101  100 1 0100101  0101   5  10
0010011  010 2 0110011  1011  11  13
1101100  010 2 1001100  0100   4   2
0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6
0101010  000 0 0101010  0010   2   4
0010101  100 1 1010101  1101  13  11

0110111  101 5 0110011  1011  11  13
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12

0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
0010100  011 6 0010110  1110  14   7
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
1011010  000 0 1011010  1010  10   5
1010111  011 6 1010101  1101  13  11
1100110  000 0 1100110  0110   6   6
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1011010  000 0 1011010  1010  10   5
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8

1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1101101  101 5 1101001  0001   1   8
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
1011010  000 0 1011010  1010  10   5
1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9

0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
0010011  010 2 0110011  1011  11  13
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7

1100101  100 1 0100101  0101   5  10
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1100101  100 1 0100101  0101   5  10
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0011011  011 6 0011001  1001   9   9
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0011011  011 6 0011001  1001   9   9
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2

1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0010010  101 5 0010110  1110  14   7
1001011  001 4 1000011  0011   3  12
0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
1101101  101 5 1101001  0001   1   8
0101101  001 4 0100101  0101   5  10
1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
1011010  000 0 1011010  1010  10   5
1010101  000 0 1010101  1101  13  11

1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1001010  110 3 1011010  1010  10   5
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0010111  111 7 0010110  1110  14   7
1100100  011 6 1100110  0110   6   6
1101011  011 6 1101001  0001   1   8
1101001  000 0 1101001  0001   1   8
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
0110110  010 2 0010110  1110  14   7

1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0010011  010 2 0110011  1011  11  13
0011001  000 0 0011001  1001   9   9
0110101  110 3 0100101  0101   5  10
1101011  011 6 1101001  0001   1   8
1010010  001 4 1011010  1010  10   5
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1010110  100 1 0010110  1110  14   7
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
0011011  011 6 0011001  1001   9   9

0110011  000 0 0110011  1011  11  13
1010101  000 0 1010101  1101  13  11
1010111  011 6 1010101  1101  13  11
0101011  111 7 0101010  0010   2   4
0011010  100 1 1011010  1010  10   5
0100110  100 1 1100110  0110   6   6
1010100  111 7 1010101  1101  13  11
0110010  111 7 0110011  1011  11  13
0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3

0100100  111 7 0100101  0101   5  10
1001101  111 7 1001100  0100   4   2
1001001  010 2 1101001  0001   1   8
1001100  000 0 1001100  0100   4   2
0100101  000 0 0100101  0101   5  10
0011010  100 1 1011010  1010  10   5
0110100  001 4 0111100  1100  12   3
1011011  111 7 1011010  1010  10   5
0010011  010 2 0110011  1011  11  13
1011001  100 1 0011001  1001   9   9
0010110  000 0 0010110  1110  14   7
 
I would put bits 2 - 7 down to random chance, but not bit 1. There are more than twice as many true bits in this position than false.

To me, this is an indication that a range of numbers is encoded, but not the entire available range is used.
For example, if I encode the letters A - Z in 32 bit numbers, the highest bit will be a 0 sixteen times, and a 1 only 10 times.
 
So, based on the data seen so far I would say there isn't any message hidden in the way that people are currently looking at things.

I've been doing a bit more digging in the raw data. This time looking at adjacent n-grams. This approach has some limitations when applied to something as simple as a (potentially) binary string, but it's kept me busy during a couple of lunch hours =)

This is looking at the data within each 6-7 bit clause, tests that include an unknown digit in either the initial or following n-gram are dropped and not included in the results.

Starting with the simplest analysis. How does an initial n-gram of length 1 influence a following n-gram of length 1? We see that roughly 2/3 of the time the 'opposing' digit is chosen, this is the start of a pattern that continues as we look at longer n-grams.
Code:
0 0 32.26%
0 1 67.74%

1 0 67.33%
1 1 32.67%

Moving forward to look at an initial n-gram length of 2 and a following n-gram length of 1 we see a very clear pattern, one that was noticed already very early on; there are no cases where we see the same digit three times in a row. Notice that where the digits in the initial n-gram are not the same the distribution of the following n-gram is pretty much even.
Code:
00 0   0.00%
00 1 100.00%

01 0  49.75%
01 1  50.25%

10 0  49.11%
10 1  50.89%

11 0 100.00%
11 1   0.00%

We see the same pattern when looking at an initial n-gram length of 3 and a following n-gram length of 1.
Code:
001 0 50.68%
001 1 49.32%

010 0 48.47%
010 1 51.53%

011 0 100.00%
011 1   0.00%

100 0   0.00%
100 1 100.00%

101 0  49.69%
101 1  50.31%

110 0  49.64%
110 1  50.36%

When we look at the longer n-gram pairs we see the same thing; wherever the distribution is not even it's because it's being influenced by the 'no digit repeated three times' rule. For some of the longer n-grams the distribution is less even, most likely because of the smaller sample size for each n-gram pair.

Initial n-gram length 1, following n-gram length 2
Code:
0 00   0.00%
0 01  31.87%
0 10  33.90%
0 11  34.23%

1 00  33.74%
1 01  34.96%
1 10  31.30%
1 11   0.00%

Initial n-gram length 2, following n-gram length 2
Code:
00 00   0.00%
00 01   0.00%
00 10  50.68%
00 11  49.32%

01 00  25.00%
01 01  26.58%
01 10  48.42%
01 11   0.00%

10 00   0.00%
10 01  48.42%
10 10  25.63%
10 11  25.95%

11 00  49.64%
11 01  50.36%
11 10   0.00%
11 11   0.00%

Initial n-gram length 2, following n-gram length 3
Code:
10 000   0.00%
10 001   0.31%
10 010  26.02%
10 011  25.08%
10 100  10.97%
10 101  15.05%
10 110  22.57%
10 111   0.00%

11 000   0.00%
11 001  47.55%
11 010  29.37%
11 011  23.08%
11 100   0.00%
11 101   0.00%
11 110   0.00%
11 111   0.00%

00 000   0.00%
00 001   0.00%
00 010   0.00%
00 011   0.00%
00 100  27.43%
00 101  26.86%
00 110  45.71%
00 111   0.00%

01 000   0.00%
01 001  24.56%
01 010  12.13%
01 011  15.68%
01 100  22.19%
01 101  25.44%
01 110   0.00%
01 111   0.00%

Initial n-gram length 1, following n-gram length 3
Code:
0 000   0.00%
0 001   0.00%
0 010  16.16%
0 011  15.73%
0 100  17.03%
0 101  18.10%
0 110  32.97%
0 111   0.00%

1 000   0.00%
1 001  33.63%
1 010  17.80%
1 011  18.02%
1 100  15.16%
1 101  15.38%
1 110   0.00%
1 111   0.00%

Initial n-gram length 2, following n-gram length 3
Code:
10 000   0.00%
10 001   0.31%
10 010  26.02%
10 011  25.08%
10 100  10.97%
10 101  15.05%
10 110  22.57%
10 111   0.00%

11 000   0.00%
11 001  47.55%
11 010  29.37%
11 011  23.08%
11 100   0.00%
11 101   0.00%
11 110   0.00%
11 111   0.00%

00 000   0.00%
00 001   0.00%
00 010   0.00%
00 011   0.00%
00 100  27.43%
00 101  26.86%
00 110  45.71%
00 111   0.00%

01 000   0.00%
01 001  24.56%
01 010  12.13%
01 011  15.68%
01 100  22.19%
01 101  25.44%
01 110   0.00%
01 111   0.00%

Initial n-gram length 3, following n-gram length 3
Code:
001 000   0.00%
001 001  21.74%
001 010  11.59%
001 011  15.94%
001 100  24.64%
001 101  26.09%
001 110   0.00%
001 111   0.00%

010 000   0.00%
010 001   0.00%
010 010  24.32%
010 011  25.68%
010 100  12.16%
010 101  10.81%
010 110  27.03%
010 111   0.00%

011 000   0.00%
011 001  48.68%
011 010  25.00%
011 011  26.32%
011 100   0.00%
011 101   0.00%
011 110   0.00%
011 111   0.00%

100 000   0.00%
100 001   0.00%
100 010   0.00%
100 011   0.00%
100 100  24.68%
100 101  28.57%
100 110  46.75%
100 111   0.00%

101 000   0.00%
101 001  22.22%
101 010  12.50%
101 011  23.61%
101 100  20.83%
101 101  20.83%
101 110   0.00%
101 111   0.00%

110 000   0.00%
110 001   0.00%
110 010  22.81%
110 011  28.07%
110 100  10.53%
110 101  15.79%
110 110  22.81%
110 111   0.00%

The simplest explanation that would produce these distributions is this pseudocode.
Code:
If previous two digits are the same {
  next digit must be different
}
else {
  next digit picked randomly
}

This doesn't mean that this the algorithm that is used, but simple explanations tend to be correct more often thean complicated ones.

As a result I stand by my initial conclusion that there is no message encoded in the data in this way.
 
I've been doing a bit more digging in the raw data. This time looking at adjacent n-grams. This approach has some limitations when applied to something as simple as a (potentially) binary string, but it's kept me busy during a couple of lunch hours =)
...Notice that where the digits in the initial n-gram are not the same the distribution of the following n-gram is pretty much even.
...As a result I stand by my initial conclusion that there is no message encoded in the data in this way.

I don't like the conclusion, but that is fair evidence for it, and I'm forced to consider the possibility much more likely. (I was toying with ideas of a repeating message encoded within a non-repeated string, but I suspect there would be more deviation in distribution than what you see). Nice work. A deception also dovetails with the tone's volume-envelope cutting off bits and corrupting the data through what (for a signal) looks more like sloppiness rather than anything useful or meaningful.

If so, then this was huge missed opportunity for Elite, and too big to just leave on the table - if nothing comes of it with 1.3, then I'll look into implementing this gameplay properly for the game franchise I design for :D
 
Last edited:
I don't like the conclusion, but that is fair evidence for it, and I'm forced to consider the possibility much more likely.

There has been some speculation in the main relic thread that Manchester encoding may be a factor, but this has issues with the transcripted data as it stands. I have a couple of ideas related to this which I intend to look at over the weekend. We'll see what those turn up. Interestingly I was drinking with a couple of my ore security-minded friends last night and this topic came up. It lead to some interesting discussion about the characteristics of encoded/enciphered information when viewed as raw data. So that was interesting...

It's also worth noting that I've been working off the great transcription work done by other people. I'm not listening to the sounds myself. These transcriptions are just one way of looking for information within one aspect of the sounds, high and low tones, and interpreting them in one manner, a binary string or strings. It's still possible that information could be present within other aspects of the sounds as a whole or when viewed in a different manner. What we're doing here isn't science, but in scientific investigation looking for something and not finding it can be equally as informative as finding it.

I've certainly enjoyed taking this raw data and looking for for indications that information is present without trying to impose a context on it (which is what I'm at least trying to do here), and I intend to carry on doing that as long as it's still fun and interesting. This whole thing has also made me much more aware of just how good the sound work is in this game. Sitting wearing the Rift with headphones on the middle of nowhere (I'm off exploring at the moment) and just parking the ship and listening to things actually made me physically shiver at one point this week. Great stuff! =)
 
It's also worth noting that I've been working off the great transcription work done by other people. I'm not listening to the sounds myself. These transcriptions are just one way of looking for information within one aspect of the sounds, high and low tones, and interpreting them in one manner, a binary string or strings. It's still possible that information could be present within other aspects of the sounds as a whole or when viewed in a different manner.

This is the same conclusion as I've been coming to over the last few days; despite the work of the people who transcribed the recorded audio, I don't think we've been transcribing all or the right information.

I also think Xakaz may have been onto something here
Xakaz_WaveGraph.jpg
Perhaps, for now, this is a better way of visually representing the audio without potentially ignoring two thirds of the data it may contain.
 
It lead to some interesting discussion about the characteristics of encoded/enciphered information when viewed as raw data. So that was interesting...

There is an additional (unlikely) possibility - if the data is compressed, then we would expect to see the same distribution as random (because random distribution cannot be compressed further, meaning that compression algorithms produce output closer and closer to random distribution the more effective they become) however I think a compression scheme is unlikely because it would be bad puzzle design (unless the plan is to hand us decompression-method clues at a later date), so I'm not going to investigate that avenue, I'm just assuming that it's not the case.
 
There is an additional (unlikely) possibility - if the data is compressed, then we would expect to see the same distribution as random (because random distribution cannot be compressed further, meaning that compression algorithms produce output closer and closer to random distribution the more effective they become) however I think a compression scheme is unlikely because it would be bad puzzle design (unless the plan is to hand us decompression-method clues at a later date), so I'm not going to investigate that avenue, I'm just assuming that it's not the case.

Unless the 'compression' is something similar to 8B/6T which uses three states (- 0 +) rather than two for binary:
http://www.wildpackets.com/resources/compendium/fast_ethernet/signal_4b5b
 
There is an additional (unlikely) possibility - if the data is compressed, then we would expect to see the same distribution as random.

This is also the case if the information is enciphered in a way the meets the criteria for Perfect Secrecy such as using a one-time-pad. This was something I wasn't aware of until the discussion I had in the pub last night.

However, if there's information there but enciphered then we're really up against it, but I don't think that this is the case.
 
Hi Guys,

Been a bit out of the loop recently however I've been busy behind the scenes.

I've been putting together a bit of software that will model the recorded audio sequences in order to facilitate any kind of patterns analysis we want. It imports label exports from Audacity to model the sequences in a structured (and most importantly queryable format) with start and end time stamps, along with other metadata, for all elements.

It is built in .Net and the object model and import process is almost complete. I haven't started on a UI yet, but Linq can be used to analyse the sequences and output the results to console. I will get it on Git as soon as I am able. Anyone any good at .Net UI design, as this is likely to be the bit that takes me longest to get in place!

Another benefit of this approach is that we can establish a set of transcriptions using audacity projects and an agreed set of label tags. We can use these to discuss/agree message content and I hope can develop into an approach to establishing a standard data-set as there seems to be quite a lot of inconsistency in the current transcriptions.

Marking up a recording in Audacity using labels is pretty straight forward, so as new recordings come it it will be easy to add them to this common dataset.

Anyone got any views on useful properties to capture for the audio elements in addition to start and end timestamps? At the moment I have sequences, which are formed of Segments. Segments start with a chitter and and with a Howl. They contain a collection of Purrs which can be any length.

Sequences are flagged with Recorder, System, Capture Time, and a decription
Howls just capture whether they are type 1 or 2.
Purrs capture an indentifer for the bit value, whether they are clipped/quiet and can also capture the frequency (if anyone can be bothered to work that out)
Chitters are just time stamps

Does this sound useful?

Cheers
Cmdr Phyl
 
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