DESCRIPTION:
Happy Pi Day! This music was recently featured on NPR's "Engines of Our Ingenuity," produced by Andy Boyd at the University of Houston:

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/shows/engines-of-our-ingenuity/engines-podcast/2020/03/19/363646/engines-of-our-ingenuity-3030-pi-music/

The animation appeared at the science-themed French film festival, Polly Maggoo:

http://www.pollymaggoo.org/doc_polly/risc-2014.html

Algorithmic Chamber Jazz: "The Sound of Pi: A Musical Collaboration" is based on data derived from the digits of pi.

This is a collaboration in the sense that my intent was to allow pi to provide the core material and see just how *little* I could do to produce music that might pass for being entirely composed and performed by humans.

All pitches, durations, and dynamics in each of the six voices of the composition are derived from pi. I wanted the piece, in principle, to be able to continue forever without repeating previously played digits. Therefore, each of the 6 voices represents a simple multiple of pi: 1π, 2π, 3π, ..., 6π. Pitches are mapped to a major scale (plus two rests) in base 17. Rhythms are generated using a simple power-law and mapped in base 7. Note volumes are mapped in base 8.

The composition was generated using Mathematica. The voices were arranged and recorded in Logic Pro (I am documenting the algorithm and technique). The visualization was generated using the "Magnetosphere" plugin for iTunes, modified in real-time, and then edited in iMovie.

You can download the music for free:

http://soundcloud.com/harlanbrothers/...

Happy listening...

-HB

#Algorithmic #Jazz #Music #Pi #MusicFromPi #PiDigits #PiDay #PiSounds