[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":402},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-music":3,"sibling-dives-music":400,"learn-track-music":401},{"id":4,"title":5,"authors":6,"body":8,"breadcrumb":373,"builders":376,"byline":377,"challenge":381,"courseAuthor":381,"courseLead":381,"dek":382,"description":383,"draft":384,"extension":385,"eyebrow":381,"finish":381,"fork":381,"hero":381,"heroAlt":381,"heroCta":381,"heroImage":381,"kind":386,"lessonCount":381,"meta":387,"navigation":388,"newsItems":381,"next":381,"ogImage":381,"order":381,"outcomes":381,"path":389,"publishDate":390,"readingTime":391,"related":392,"relatedProjects":381,"seo":393,"stem":395,"tags":396,"track":381,"trackName":381,"__hash__":399},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fmusic.md","What Does a Quantum Computer Sound Like?",[7],"nico",{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":361},"minimark",[11,15,18,23,26,29,33,36,115,119,122,125,128,131,141,144,152,156,165,168,181,189,192,195,203,206,211,215,218,223,226,231,234,238,243,246,251,257,260,265,269,273,281,286,291,294,297,305,309,313,320,325,330,333,338,342,345],[12,13,14],"p",{},"A quantum computer's raw output is a probability distribution: a spread of numbers with no obvious shape. Turning that spread into sound is one of the more direct ways to make quantum behavior something you can actually perceive, not just calculate.",[12,16,17],{},"It is also not a new idea. Quantum computer music has been a real field for years, mostly out of reach unless you had lab access or a physics PhD. Three teams from Qollab's Spring 2026 Creative Challenge changed that this year, and built three different answers to what it sounds like.",[19,20,22],"h2",{"id":21},"what-is-quantum-computing-music","What is quantum computing music?",[12,24,25],{},"Quantum computing music turns a real quantum circuit's output into sound: its probabilities, amplitudes, phase, and measurement outcomes become the raw material. That is different from using a quantum computer as a fancy random-number generator.",[12,27,28],{},"On Qollab, three Spring 2026 teams built three different answers to what that sounds like. Musiq maps circuit data directly to sound as a teaching instrument. Quantum Patterns turns quantum cellular automata into live-coded compositional material. Superposition Sequencer plays user-designed circuits like a synthesizer. All three run on real IonQ hardware, not a simulator dressed up, and all three are open source. Start with whichever metaphor sounds most like you: translator, material, or instrument.",[19,30,32],{"id":31},"at-a-glance","At a glance",[12,34,35],{},"Three teams, three instruments, one starting question. Here is who built what.",[37,38,39,61],"table",{},[40,41,42],"thead",{},[43,44,45,49,52,55,58],"tr",{},[46,47,48],"th",{},"Project",[46,50,51],{},"The metaphor",[46,53,54],{},"Runs on",[46,56,57],{},"What you hear",[46,59,60],{},"Built by",[62,63,64,82,99],"tbody",{},[43,65,66,70,73,76,79],{},[67,68,69],"td",{},"Musiq",[67,71,72],{},"Translator",[67,74,75],{},"IonQ hardware or simulator",[67,77,78],{},"Circuit data mapped straight to frequency, loudness, and texture",[67,80,81],{},"Tomoya Hatanaka & Emmanuella Adams",[43,83,84,87,90,93,96],{},[67,85,86],{},"Quantum Patterns",[67,88,89],{},"Material",[67,91,92],{},"IonQ hardware or local statevector",[67,94,95],{},"Quantum cellular automata, live-coded into pitch, rhythm, and space",[67,97,98],{},"Peter Thomas & Paulo Itaboraí",[43,100,101,104,107,109,112],{},[67,102,103],{},"Superposition Sequencer",[67,105,106],{},"Instrument",[67,108,75],{},[67,110,111],{},"A step sequencer where each shot of your circuit is a beat",[67,113,114],{},"Francisco Estivallet",[19,116,118],{"id":117},"why-sound","Why sound?",[12,120,121],{},"Quantum mechanics is usually taught through equations: wavefunctions, probability amplitudes, measurement operators. That is precise, but it asks a lot of anyone without a physics background, and even physicists often reach for a second way to build intuition. Sound is one option.",[12,123,124],{},"People are good at hearing structure. A chord, a shift in rhythm, a change in timbre register instantly, without translation. When a circuit's measurement outcomes become audible, properties that are hard to picture on paper turn into things you notice by ear.",[12,126,127],{},"A spread of possible outcomes can sound like a chord collapsing into one note. Two qubits that stay correlated can sound like two voices moving together for no obvious reason. Interference can sound like loudness rising and falling as amplitudes reinforce or cancel.",[12,129,130],{},"Tomoya Hatanaka, who built Musiq to turn circuit data straight into sound, designed the whole project around that idea.",[132,133,138],"pull-quote",{"avatar":134,"name":135,"role":136,"username":137},"","Tomoya Hatanaka","Project lead, Musiq","doraking",[12,139,140],{},"Music serves as a universal translator, allowing users to intuitively hear complex quantum concepts like superposition and entanglement without relying on mathematical formulas.",[12,142,143],{},"Francisco Estivallet, who built Superposition Sequencer and came to quantum through creative coding rather than physics, describes the same effect from the listener's side.",[132,145,149],{"avatar":146,"name":114,"role":147,"username":148},"\u002F_content\u002Fimages\u002Fbuilders\u002Ffrancisco-estivallet.webp","Creator, Superposition Sequencer","incomputable",[12,150,151],{},"Even if you don't understand a thing about quantum, you get a good sense of what a circuit does to the outputs, hopefully in a less intimidating way, so you feel comfortable diving into the rabbit hole.",[19,153,155],{"id":154},"the-opportunity","The opportunity",[12,157,158,159,164],{},"For most of quantum computer music's history, taking part meant institutional access. A composer and researcher named Eduardo Reck Miranda founded the field at Plymouth's ",[160,161,163],"a",{"href":162},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.plymouth.ac.uk\u002Fresearch\u002Ficcmr","Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research"," in the early 2020s, working from inside a university lab with its own dedicated quantum hardware.",[12,166,167],{},"He released an album composed with a quantum computer and built a toolkit for musicians. Peter Thomas, who later built Quantum Patterns, trained in that same lab.",[12,169,170,171,175,176,180],{},"The field grew into its own conference, the ",[160,172,174],{"href":173},"https:\u002F\u002F2025.isqcmc.org\u002F","International Symposium on Quantum Computing and Musical Creativity",", which moved from Plymouth in 2021 to Berlin in 2023 to Palermo in 2025, the same year UNESCO named its International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. A growing ",[160,177,179],{"href":178},"https:\u002F\u002Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\u002F38996413\u002F","academic literature"," followed, alongside coverage from outlets like Physics World and IBM's own research blog. Almost none of it was something you could open in a browser and try.",[12,182,183,184,188],{},"What changed is access to the hardware itself. Cloud quantum computers you can run a real circuit on from a browser tab are a recent development. ",[185,186,187],"strong",{},"Qollab"," is a community and coding platform built around that shift: a place to write and run quantum code with direct access to IonQ's trapped-ion machines, no lab or university affiliation required.",[12,190,191],{},"In spring 2026, Qollab and IonQ funded a Creative Challenge on top of that platform: compute credits, cash, and mentorship for open, original projects from anyone with an idea. Musiq, Quantum Patterns, and Superposition Sequencer came out of that program, alongside a dozen other projects spanning art, finance, and education. All three are open source and forkable, and built not only by physicists: Francisco is a mechatronics engineer, Emmanuella a software-engineering student.",[12,193,194],{},"Peter puts what that access changes in personal terms.",[132,196,200],{"avatar":134,"name":197,"role":198,"username":199},"Peter Thomas","Project lead, Quantum Patterns","cephasteom",[12,201,202],{},"It can disseminate knowledge in a way that a paper can't.",[12,204,205],{},"Francisco puts the case for engaging with it now more simply.",[132,207,208],{"avatar":146,"name":114,"role":147,"username":148},[12,209,210],{},"Now more than ever, people are tuned to how technologies can influence our lives quicker than we're ready for. Becoming familiar with them is an important tool in adapting.",[19,212,214],{"id":213},"where-this-goes","Where this goes",[12,216,217],{},"What is built so far is a first pass. Each project currently maps one circuit's output to one piece of sound or one round of a pattern. The ambition across all three is to scale that up as the hardware and the techniques mature.",[132,219,220],{"avatar":134,"name":135,"role":136,"username":137},[12,221,222],{},"We will scale up to 30 to 40 qubits on IonQ hardware, expanding from simple sound generation to the automated composition of fully structured music.",[12,224,225],{},"Others are thinking about the interface itself. Francisco wants a version of Superposition Sequencer you could play like a physical instrument, not just a browser tab, and is still refining how the hardware's own imperfections should sound.",[132,227,228],{"avatar":146,"name":114,"role":147,"username":148},[12,229,230],{},"When I have entanglement it's not doing anything yet, and I want to play with that, how to mix the two sounds so they represent that connection. It'll be more of an ambient sound that shifts as you get closer to the state.",[12,232,233],{},"The larger bet is the same one live coding and early electronic music made: that a new way to make sound pulls in people who would never open a physics textbook, and some of them stay long enough to understand the hardware underneath. If quantum computer music follows that path, its biggest effect may not be the music at all. It may be who ends up learning to think in qubits because a synthesizer got them curious first.",[19,235,237],{"id":236},"musiq-quantum-data-as-sound","Musiq: quantum data as sound",[239,240],"chapter-meta",{"fork":241,"showcase":242,"who":81},"https:\u002F\u002Fqollab.xyz\u002Fu\u002Fdoraking\u002Fmusiq","\u002Fexplore\u002Fmusiq",[12,244,245],{},"Musiq is a browser-based sonification studio built by Tomoya Hatanaka, a freelance quantum engineer, and Emmanuella Adams, a creative technologist. You build a circuit, run it on a simulator or real IonQ hardware, and Musiq maps the result directly onto sound: basis-state index becomes frequency, measurement probability becomes strength, amplitude becomes loudness, and phase becomes interference.",[132,247,248],{"avatar":134,"name":135,"role":136,"username":137},[12,249,250],{},"I wanted to overcome the repetitive nature of classical algorithmic music by directly translating the mathematical spread of quantum states into dynamic musical expression.",[252,253],"blog-figure",{"alt":254,"caption":134,"no":134,"poster":255,"video":256},"Musiq, a browser studio that turns quantum circuits into sound","\u002F_content\u002Fimages\u002Fmusiq\u002Fhero.webp","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.cms.qollab.xyz\u002Fassets\u002F064dd3e0-1e11-4ebc-8646-a5b4444fbbca",[12,258,259],{},"The mapping is literal enough that different circuits sound genuinely different, and for Tomoya the sound is also a small argument about what quantum computers are for. Most of the field points its hardware at optimization and simulation.",[132,261,262],{"avatar":134,"name":135,"role":136,"username":137},[12,263,264],{},"It proves that quantum computing can expand beyond pragmatic optimization or calculation tasks, capturing new potential for creative and artistic expression.",[19,266,268],{"id":267},"quantum-patterns-circuits-as-material","Quantum Patterns: circuits as material",[239,270],{"fork":271,"showcase":272,"who":98},"https:\u002F\u002Fqollab.xyz\u002Fu\u002Fcephasteom\u002Fquantum-patterns","\u002Fexplore\u002Fquantum-patterns",[12,274,275,276,280],{},"Quantum Patterns comes from Peter Thomas, who performs as ",[277,278,279],"em",{},"Cephas Teom",", with Paulo Itaboraí on the quantum side. Partitioned quantum cellular automata run on a circuit, and their measurement outcomes become raw material for a fork of Satori, Peter's browser-based live-coding environment, where short scripts turn the data into pitch, rhythm, timbre, and space.",[132,282,283],{"avatar":134,"name":197,"role":198,"username":199},[12,284,285],{},"I was looking at ways to make quantum computer music, and more broadly the use of quantum in the arts, more widely adopted. I used the live coding scene as a blueprint: a culture that started in academia but now has broad appeal, because of its mature ecosystem of tools and a really supportive ethos.",[252,287],{"alt":288,"caption":134,"no":134,"poster":289,"video":290},"The Satori PQCA live-coding environment, a quantum cellular automaton visualized alongside its musical script","\u002F_content\u002Fimages\u002Fquantum-patterns\u002Fhero.webp","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.cms.qollab.xyz\u002Fassets\u002Fef35c47f-a7cc-4dae-9613-64db0498c750",[12,292,293],{},"Peter's doctorate at Plymouth's ICCMR, the lab that founded quantum computer music as an academic field, sits behind the project. He frames the results less as fixed songs than as systems of relationships and probabilities.",[12,295,296],{},"Paulo, who has spent years putting quantum algorithms on stage, sees the same opening for a wider audience.",[132,298,302],{"avatar":134,"name":299,"role":300,"username":301},"Paulo Itaboraí","Quantum algorithms & hardware, Quantum Patterns","itaborala",[12,303,304],{},"This platform is already really stage-tested, and I think it can reach a lot of people.",[19,306,308],{"id":307},"superposition-sequencer-circuit-as-instrument","Superposition Sequencer: circuit as instrument",[239,310],{"fork":311,"showcase":312,"who":114},"https:\u002F\u002Fqollab.xyz\u002Fu\u002Fincomputable\u002Fsuperposition-sequencer","\u002Fexplore\u002Ffrancisco",[12,314,315,316,319],{},"Francisco Estivallet, a mechatronics engineer and creative technologist working as ",[277,317,318],{},"Incomputable"," in Barcelona, built a sequencer where the notes are not programmed directly. A visual editor lets you design a circuit, and running it on IonQ hardware or a simulator drives pitch, rhythm, velocity, and timbre.",[132,321,322],{"avatar":146,"name":114,"role":147,"username":148},[12,323,324],{},"We are not trying to compute the sequence. The sequence is the measurement. What we are computing is the relationship between instruments and effects. It is a systemic approach to musical sequencing.",[252,326],{"alt":327,"caption":134,"no":134,"poster":328,"video":329},"Superposition Sequencer, a browser-based quantum music sequencer","\u002F_content\u002Fimages\u002Fsuperposition-sequencer\u002Fhero.webp","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.cms.qollab.xyz\u002Fassets\u002F2b1e9e5e-f28d-4ce2-8374-c59cdb281806",[12,331,332],{},"Francisco's way in was history, not physics. He points to how early computing and electronics sparked a wave of musical exploration, and thinks quantum computing is due for a similar moment. Rather than fighting the hardware's imperfections, the project leans into them.",[132,334,335],{"avatar":146,"name":114,"role":147,"username":148},[12,336,337],{},"In sound design, people are always looking for ways to make things sound a little imperfect. That little bit of noise is also a characteristic of quantum computers, so it could bring a new personality to the sound itself.",[19,339,341],{"id":340},"try-one-yourself","Try one yourself",[12,343,344],{},"Every project here is open source, and you can run one in your browser right now. Start from whichever metaphor pulled you in: hear your own circuit as sound, live-code with quantum-generated patterns, or play a sequencer where the notes come from a quantum measurement.",[346,347,355],"fork-row",{"c1":348,"c2":349,"c3":350,"f1":241,"f2":271,"f3":311,"l1":351,"l2":352,"l3":353,"title":354},"#46e0ff","#7fbcff","#9b7bff","Fork Musiq","Fork Quantum Patterns","Fork the Sequencer","Pick your instrument.",[12,356,357,358],{},"Fork any of the three, run a circuit on real IonQ hardware, and hear what it does. ",[185,359,360],{},"Everything here is open and yours to build on.",{"title":134,"searchDepth":362,"depth":362,"links":363},2,[364,365,366,367,368,369,370,371,372],{"id":21,"depth":362,"text":22},{"id":31,"depth":362,"text":32},{"id":117,"depth":362,"text":118},{"id":154,"depth":362,"text":155},{"id":213,"depth":362,"text":214},{"id":236,"depth":362,"text":237},{"id":267,"depth":362,"text":268},{"id":307,"depth":362,"text":308},{"id":340,"depth":362,"text":341},[187,374,375],"Blog","Music",[],{"username":7,"name":378,"role":379,"avatar":380},"Nicolaas Spijker","Community manager, Qollab","\u002F_content\u002Fimages\u002Fbuilders\u002Fnicolaas-spijker.webp",null,"Three Spring 2026 teams turned real IonQ quantum hardware into music: a translator, a set of live-coded patterns, and a playable instrument. This is quantum computing music, in the words of the people building it.","Three Spring 2026 teams turned real IonQ quantum hardware into music: a translator, a live-coding tool, and a playable sequencer. All open source.",false,"md","topic",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fmusic","2026-07-03","8 min read",[],{"title":394,"description":383},"Quantum Computing Music","blog\u002Fmusic",[397,398],"music","quantum","v8jsa6nn4hl9KcYm3DlIPi9PEuu2KQRgqkkbV0UhnFg",[],[],1785631553805]