Re: [microsound] data -> sound examples

[Ian Andrews <i.andrews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Mitchell,

Some historical examples:

Alvin Lucier I think did some work with data as a sound source in the 70s
(I'm not certain on this one but I think its worth checking up)

Throbbing Gristle used a found data cassette as a sound source on the track
"IBM" on the album D.O.A... In 79?

Tom Ellard wrote a program in Basic (on either a Commodore 64, or TRS80)
which looped a subroutine in different ways to create a rhythm when
transferred to data cassette and played in an audio cassette deck (I think
this is how it was done).  The track is (I think) "acid fur" from the 1st
severed heads album "ear bitten" 1979 or 80

My own efforts:

Several years ago I bought an old Sequential Circuits drum machine (can't
remember the model number).  This particular machine has removable EPROMs so
that you can change the way it sounds by installing different EPROM chips.
You could buy different kick drums, snares and high hats, on seperate EPROM
chips or you could burn your own sounds with an EPROM burner.  Since the
same result could be much more easily achieved with a sampler, this kind of
thing  was of little interest to me.  Instead I went about pulling EPROMs
out of discarded computers and other equipment that I'd find in skips or by
the side of the road.  The drum machine accepted the standard size EPROM
chips which are used in most computers and  microprocessor controlled
equipment.  It was just a matter of plugging these chips in and listening to
the sounds that the drum machine would interpret from the random data.  From
some I got quite interesting results. From others I'd just get white noise.

A few years ago I did a performance with a SW radio and a Roland EF-303
effects processor & step sequencer.  The radio picked up the raw data from
the unearthed EF-303 and the output of the radio was fed back into the
EF-303.  This feedback loop could be "played" like a Theremin by moving the
radio around in the air.

Mitchell Whitelawwrote:

> Some blatant brain-picking to go with the OS discussions...
> 
> I'm doing some research on music and sound that (consciously or not)
> does "data sonification", turning non-sound data from whatever source,
> into sound/music. The recent microsound RNDTXT project is a great
> example; other people have posted about using unix to pipe data
> straight to the audio device... and there are a number of artists doing
> this kind of work (not all microsoundish), including Douglas Repetto,
> Andrea Polli, Bob Sturm, Mark Hansen / Ben Rubin (Listening Post),
> Jason Freeman (NAG - Gnutella Auraliser), and Andi Freeman's old
> Headbanger browser.
> 
> Can you think of any more? I'm especially interested in works coming
> from a more microsound / experimental electronica angle... I recall
> hearing something about Aphex Twin using an image -> sound processor at
> some point? Who else has travelled the "pure data" route?
> 
> "Data art" has been fashionable in net.art circles for a while now...
> and Lev Manovich has started writing his "info-aesthetics" project...
> but nobody much seems to be talking about the aesthetics of data.sound
> (correct me if I'm wrong)...
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Mitchell
> http://www.ce.canberra.edu.au/staff/mitchellwhitelaw
> 
> 
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