Digital machine and instrumental grasp Love Hultén is again with one other great WTF creation that delivers equal components delight and bewilderment. Entitled Songs of the desertthe big retro-style console seems like an imaginary piece of bio-lab tools straight off the set of a 1960s Japanese Kaiju film or the post-apocalyptic setting of a beloved online game, Fall out. Did I point out in addition they play music “composed” of vegetation?
Properly, not fairly composed, however maybe “auditically influenced” by a photosynthetic set, the audio output is produced by a small machine designed to transform bio-data obtained from any natural materials plugged right into a MIDI interface. “It isn’t magic, and vegetation are not composing,” explains the prolific Swedish audiovisual artist and woodworker. “It is merely biofeedback that creates true natural ‘randomness’ within the type of small adjustments in electrical present, with the vegetation appearing as variable resistors.”
Contained in the containment/terrarium unit of the efficiency system is a group of cacti. Chosen particularly for the plant’s “very uncommon and sporadic exercise,” the mini-garden consists of a number of completely different specimens linked to particular person probes with mutable patch factors in entrance. The MIDI indicators themselves are despatched to a linked Korg NTS-1, permitting for “easy wave shaping” earlier than being “immolated within the ambiance” utilizing Hologram Electronics’ Microcosm. The sounds are splendidly atmospheric, if not a bit disconcerting.
Lastly, to enhance the aesthetic of retro lab tools, a customized circular-mounted MIDI viewer simulates the looks of plant chloroplasts beneath remark. We advocate enjoying the Desert Songs system together with this music for full mad scientist impact.
