My contribution to the project was to write the audio software. I used Max/MSP running on a powerbook G4, with a MOTU 828 audio interface that would take input from the microphone, and produce 13 outputs, one for each flame. The core of the software is a sound snippet database system with a silence detector and random-interval recording system that would record soundbytes from 15 to 45 seconds long, and place them in a filesystem organized by time. A random playback system would select a file to play, and send it to its assigned flame. When a snippet finished, the system would delay a random amount, then play the next one. The random delays would increase if no one was speaking into the microphone, so that when someone spoke, there would be a burst of activity that would gradually fade to very sparse, only occasional sounds coming out. For each sound snippet, the burner would burst into flame (if it wasn't already going), wait a bit, then speak.