[Turntables is] an interactive sculpture/instrument using 2 found turntables, 10 servo motors controlled by an arduino mega and an ultrasonic distance sensor. Attached to the motors are percussion instruments made of simple materials that are struck by a rotating stick. The position of the instruments and the needles on the modified records are determined by the position of the viewer. There are 6 different routines that can be triggered.

This is a terrific use and extension of a standard drum kit. I think that this performance by Berz is interesting on a number of levels, and it really communicates both to art snobs like you and I, and to lay listeners.

Both this video and the Maja Ratkje video were shown to me yesterday by sound artist Zach Watkins.

This is a preview of a video that is apparently being released in 2012. It is probably the most compelling “preview” that I have ever seen. The contrast of diagetic/nondiagetic sound with narrative/non-narrative film is really interesting. I can’t wait to see what the full production looks like.

First of all, I probably shouldn’t attribute this algorithm to Phil Burk. I imagine that many people have implemented a version of this algorithm. It’s a simple, almost fundamental musical algorithm, but he is the first person who brought it to my attention, so for the time being, I will call it Phil Burk’s Look Back Algorithm.

In pseudocode, the algorithm looks like this:


1. Generate a handful of random note events (pitch, duration, velocity)
2. For each successive note in the piece, notes[i] = notes[i - delay] + transposition
3. Occasionally insert a random note event
Where notes is an array of note events, notes[i] represents the current event, delay represents how far to look back, and transposition is a transformation of the previous notes.


Phil brought up this algorithm in reference to a hyper-simplistic fugue generator. Essentially all it does is repeat sections of music that have already been generated. It pulls subsets of earlier note events and subtly transforms them. It infinitely noodles around on whatever random note events are generated in the first place.

The algorithm is remarkably effective for its simplicity. It is an elegant way of generating really coherent melodies. Here is a simple melody I generated using this algorithm: LookBackOutput.mid

And here is a simple Eclipse project that implements the Look Back algorithm in java and outputs midi files.

Stria corresponds to an intermediate point between parameter-by-parameter composition and automatic composition. Mr. Chowning declares that during the composition of the piece, he seemed to always want more and more control over detail and ended up for this reason with a large number of variables. Because he had spent many hours thinking carefully about controlling a larger-scale formal structure, he then wrote an algorithmic procedure called event2 that brought an even greater reward in compositional inspiration and control. Mr. Chowning believes that computers are fundamentally capable of providing more than is requested or envisioned, so that one feels, as a composer, enormously empowered—“not surprising, when one considers that a given hardware and software represents tens of thousands of human-years of thought about thought and invention” (Chowning 2004). [1]

1. Laura Zattra. “The Reconstruction of ‘Stria’: The Assembling of ‘Stria’ by John Chowning: A Philological Investigation.” Computer Music Journal (31:3, Fall 2007): 38-64.

the piece uses audio transcriptions of both electroencephalograms (EEGs) – polygraph wave-traces of electrical activity occurring within my brain – and magnetic resonance images (MRIs) to address our susceptibility to acousmatic activity, or involuntary auditory hallucinations; or, it may just be viewed as a journey through my head and back again. [1]

“Cannot Connect” is a problem for both computers and for people. When dealing with technology, we receive this message when we try to use something new. For people, this can be a problem in every sort of relationship.

The keyboard is a tool that people use every day to try to connect with other people. Through blogs, tweets, prose and poetry, we try to engage other humans through our work at the keyboard.

In this piece, the performer attempts to connect to both the computer and the audience through the keyboard. The software presents a randomized electronic instrument each time it is started. It selects from a palette of samples, synthesizers and signal processing effects. The performer must feel out the new performance environment and use it to connect to the audience by typing free association verse. [1]

This is my latest work with Processing, Bead and NextText.

Luciano Chessa: Music for 16 Futurist Noise Intoners. Reconstruction project commissioned by Performa 09. European premiere Rovereto sept. 30, 2010. Luciano Chessa: conductor.
T.R.I.O. Trento Risuona Improvisation Orchestra: Intonarumori.
Sylvano Bussotti: piano, voice. Nicholas Isherwood: basso voice, piano. Bussotti’s composition “VARIAZIONE RUSSOLO – slancio d’angoli” [1]