PERSONAL NODE // ONLINE
Hi, I’m Alex.
This is my personal corner of the internet. Here you’ll find, among other things, my music posted on YouTube, the live Skycam stream, photography, creative coding, and slightly over-engineered hobby projects.
Basically: anything I find fun and creative enough to share. Most things started with curiosity, got a little out of hand, and somehow ended up working.
| Operator | Alex Frankes |
|---|---|
| Mission | Building electronic tracks as a hobby — learning by trial/error and lots of hands-on experimentation. |
| Boot time | 55 years, 2 months, 7 days ago. Started producing in early 2024. |
| Genres | Acid · Techno · Trance |
| Rig | Ableton + hardware (buttons, cables, smiles) + studio fiddling. |
| Link | YouTube // @alidigitaly |
MUSIC OUTPUT // LATEST TRACKS
I started making electronic music in early 2024, inspired by the sounds I grew up with—mostly Acid, Techno, Trance, and anything involving a 303.
Below are some of my latest tracks. You’ll find the rest on YouTube.
VISUAL INTELLIGENCE NODE · GRONINGEN
WELCOME ABOARD SKYCAM GRONINGEN
A permanent 4K window onto the Groningen sky, surrounded by a custom-built data cockpit.
The camera began with one practical purpose: checking the weather above the lake where I enjoy sailing. Before leaving home, I could see whether there was useful wind, threatening cloud cover or simply a beautiful sky.
Then the weather camera got slightly out of hand. Today, the live view combines local weather sensors, rain radar, astronomy, orbital tracking, aircraft received by my own ADS-B station, seismic information and public safety messages.
Everything is presented through SkyHUD: a transparent, cyberpunk-inspired interface that adds information without hiding the sky.
The result can be used as a living window onto Groningen—or as the forward viewport of a suspiciously over-engineered house-sized spacecraft.
LOCAL RF SUBSYSTEM
LIVE AIR TRAFFIC
Aircraft are received directly by my local ADS-B receiver and projected into their calculated positions in the camera image.
01 ATMOSPHERE
| LOCAL | Temperature · real-feel · humidity · pressure · dew point |
|---|---|
| WIND | Speed · direction · gusts · historical graphs |
| RADAR | Live precipitation radar |
| ALERTS | KNMI warnings · Groningen-relevant NL-Alerts |
02 ENVIRONMENT
| SOLAR | Sunrise · sunset |
|---|---|
| LUNAR | Moon phase · moonrise · moonset |
| SEISMIC | Regional magnitude · depth · distance · age |
| SAFETY | KNMI warnings · Groningen-relevant NL-Alerts |
03 ORBITAL
| ISS | Predicted and optically visible passes |
|---|---|
| OBJECTS | Starlink · bright satellites · visible planets |
| MODEL | Calculated positions projected into camera space |
| EVENTS | Solar and lunar eclipses announced in advance |
| STATUS | Camera · sensors · tracking systems |
FOR THE NERDS
THE CHAIN BEHIND THE VIEW
Behind the peaceful view is a substantial technical chain. Current sensor, orbital, astronomical and locally received radio data are converted into calibrated screen positions and operational cockpit messages.