Artist description The "Band" is a computer and a program. As much as possible, the programmer stays out of the way.

Music Style Ambient

Musical Influences Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno

Similar Artists Eno

Artist History Innocence and Contemplation by Twelve Foot Guru * Innocence and Contemplation was created by a computer, not sequenced, but actually created without direct human control. The project was initially part of a senior project in college, where I was asked to create a program that would randomly generate music using the probabilities of the I-Ching. My thoughts on the assignment where: a. random music=noise & b. What the heck is an I-Ching? Leaving the first thought aside for now, I discovered that the I-Ching is an ancient Eastern method of problem solving. Three coins are thrown six times and their values are recorded as solid or broken lines. These lines form a "hexagram". Once the coins have been thrown six times, you look up the hexagram in the Book of the I-Ching. The passage which corrisponds to that hexagram provides wisdom which relates to your situation or problem. The goal of the project was to create a program that would "throw coins" as described above and use the values to determine: * what notes were played * how loud the note was played * how long the note lasted * and when the note should sound. In order to minimize my first concern (random music=noise) I chose to provide the program with sets of 24 notes to choose from. This eliminated some of the noise factor without exerting to much control over the process. The first three lines where used to determine which of the twenty four possible notes would be played. Certain combinations would cause a new set of 24 notes to be loaded into the program. The last three lines determined duration, volume and note placement. These last three where randomized so that the values fell within a particular range but not a specific value. I wanted to build audio snowflakes. The program was assembled over the course of a few months, using Opcode's Max software, a Macintosh SE and several synthesizers to provide the actual sounds. Opcodes Max lets you program MIDI instruments by selecting objects from a list and connecting them with lines. This is programing for real people. Apple's Mac's let you do just about anything. I recommend the Max program and the Mac computer platform to anyone who creates music or art of any kind. When the program was complete, I was pleased with my results, but the music seemed a bit sparse. On a whim I decided to see what running two copies of the program at once would do.... then three. I was stunned, and not just by the fact that a Mac SE could run three copies of my program without crashing. The music was beautiful. People stopped outside of the room I was working in to listen and ask questions. Several asked if I would make cassette copies for them. A few people asked if I could play back a section for them. I explained that it wasn't possible, that the music was generated randomly, and that anything that was not recorded might never happen again in a million years... like snowflakes.

Group Members 1 Macintosh SE

Instruments Korg T1

Albums Innocence and Contemplation

Location Atlanta, GA - USA

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