Re: [microsound] New York Times: Cell Sounds

[David Kendall <dkendall@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Anyone remember in the 70's when plants were "making music" - somehow
> using oscillators and bio-feedback or something?

Plants can't make music. Everyone knows that -- even in the 70s there was
no such thing..




On Wed, 15 Dec 2004, mandra wrote:

> maybe the scientist worked in a cathedral and 1000Hz was the avg (let's 
> assume, since it was organic, the signal had lots of micro variation)
> 
> a somewhat randomly jittery 1000Hz tone in a cathedral would be 
> beautiful to some people. Probably though, he was seduced by the 
> novelty of the discovery.
> 
> Anyone remember in the 70's when plants were "making music" - somehow 
> using oscillators and bio-feedback or something?
> 
> mandra
> 
> On Dec 15, 2004, at 12:46 PM, John Hopkins wrote:
> 
> >> You'll want to revise your definition, as a guitar,
> >> a trumpet, your voice, and my computer can all make
> >> sound at a 1000Hz frequency.
> >
> > yup, not a single 1000 Hz 'note' though, that's what I meant...  when 
> > describing a sound by giving a single Hz frequency, it actually 
> > doesn't describe much at all, except a single sinusoidal pressure 
> > wave.  the voice and the trumpet contains an incredible layered mix of 
> > frequencies that makes it a 'voice' and not a 1000 Hz sound... the 
> > computer comes closer to having a 'pure' 1000 Hz sound, though the 
> > 'system noize' adds all sorts of nice goodies to enrich the lives of 
> > people seeking to improve the S/N ratio.
> >
> > I think the practice of describing a cell as "emitting a 1000 Hz sound 
> > ... that is beautiful"  is a bizarre contrast of scientific 
> > reductionism and a lack of poetic imagination.
> >
> > (just the banal limitations of a typically reductive scientific system 
> > for describing the world around us...)
> >
> > In the end, I'd rather hear the recording, made with a goat-hair 
> > nano-mike, pressed on vinyl on a wax-paper-and-cup speaker system....
> >
> > cheers
> > jh
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > website: http://www.microsound.org
> >
> >
> mandra
> c:410.258.5281
> h:301 772 7376
> 
> realtime experimentalist / guitarist for skywheel, Telesma
> creator of "the manDrum"
> ...jamming the mainstream in the zips
> http://defDumbAndBass.com
> http://telesma23.com
> http://skywheel.com
> 
> Come to my very happening *happening*
> the defDumbAndBass fREAKoUT!
> (formerly SKYWHEEL SUNDAY SOLiD)
> happening the 3rd Sunday of EVERY month
> @ the Royal - 1542 Light Street, Baltimore, MD
> watch, listen, dance, relax and explore the "known unknowns"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> website: http://www.microsound.org
> 
> 


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.microsound.org