Digital machine and instrumental maestro Love Hulten is again with one other WTF prodigious creation that delivers equal components delight and mind-boggling perform. Titled Desert songsthe huge retro-styled console seems like a bit of imaginary biolab tools straight off the set of a Nineteen Sixties Japanese Kaiju film or the post-apocalyptic setting of the beloved online game, Fallout. Did we point out it additionally performs music “composed” by crops?
Nicely, not truly composed, however maybe “auditoryly influenced” by a photosynthetic set. The audio output is produced by a small machine designed to transform biodata from related natural materials right into a MIDI interface. “It isn’t magic and the crops are not composing,” explains the prolific Swedish audiovisual artist and woodworker. “It is simply biofeedback that creates actual natural ‘randomness’ within the type of small modifications in electrical present, with the crops performing as variable resistors.”
Contained in the system’s containment unit/terrarium to carry out performances is a group of cacti. Particularly chosen for the plant’s “very sparse and sporadic exercise,” the mini-garden options a number of totally different specimens related to particular person probes with variable patch factors beforehand. The MIDI alerts themselves are despatched to a related Korg NTS-1, permitting for “easy waveshaping” earlier than being “soaked in ambiance” utilizing Hologram Electronics’ Microcosm. The sounds are splendidly atmospheric, if not slightly unsettling.
Lastly, to finish the aesthetic of the retro lab tools, a customized circularly mounted MIDI visualizer simulates the looks of plant chloroplasts underneath commentary. We advocate enjoying with the Desert Songs system that comes with this track for a full mad scientist impact.
