::vtol::
Magnetophone
Interactive sound object/instrument.
It sometimes happens that first the piece is born, and only after this you suddenly realize what it is about and how it should be used. Last summer (2018) I very quickly produced an interactive algorithmic object for a small exhibition. This object was producing endless aleatoric compositions using rotating magnets and magnetic field sensor (it was not the first time that I was using this scheme). The title appeared by itself: Magnetophon. The obvious simplicity of the object made me plan some remakes to follow. And then, at some point I got an old classic Soviet pocket radio receiver Neiva RP-205 - this model was so popular that it is still in production, almost without changes (it is being made by 'Production Association "October" - Kamensk-Uralsky'). Suddendly everything came together - the memories of waiting for the favourite song in order to record it on the audio cassette, and many hours spent combing through the radio waves in search of certain noises. I added to my initial object an antenna, a radio receiver and upgraded the firmware for transforming the recorded radio broadcast whirl.
Interactive sound object/instrument.
It sometimes happens that first the piece is born, and only after this you suddenly realize what it is about and how it should be used. Last summer (2018) I very quickly produced an interactive algorithmic object for a small exhibition. This object was producing endless aleatoric compositions using rotating magnets and magnetic field sensor (it was not the first time that I was using this scheme). The title appeared by itself: Magnetophon. The obvious simplicity of the object made me plan some remakes to follow. And then, at some point I got an old classic Soviet pocket radio receiver Neiva RP-205 - this model was so popular that it is still in production, almost without changes (it is being made by 'Production Association "October" - Kamensk-Uralsky'). Suddendly everything came together - the memories of waiting for the favourite song in order to record it on the audio cassette, and many hours spent combing through the radio waves in search of certain noises. I added to my initial object an antenna, a radio receiver and upgraded the firmware for transforming the recorded radio broadcast whirl.
Motorgan
Motorgan is an electromagnetic/electromechanical organ based on 3 dc motors of different size. The speed of each motor is controlled by voltage changes via touch keyboard with 24 keys. Keyboard is split into 3 parts (registers) for each motor, so it's possible to play chords/polyphonic lines by taking one note from each register. Electromagnetic fields produced by motors are picked up with a single coil guitar pickup. It's possible to tune every key using potentiometers, to make any kind of music by tuning the combinations. It's not the easiest instrument to play and it takes some time to adapt to it.
Motorgan is an electromagnetic/electromechanical organ based on 3 dc motors of different size. The speed of each motor is controlled by voltage changes via touch keyboard with 24 keys. Keyboard is split into 3 parts (registers) for each motor, so it's possible to play chords/polyphonic lines by taking one note from each register. Electromagnetic fields produced by motors are picked up with a single coil guitar pickup. It's possible to tune every key using potentiometers, to make any kind of music by tuning the combinations. It's not the easiest instrument to play and it takes some time to adapt to it.
Ball-o-bol
In Russian language, "balabol" is someone who talks a lot without much sense, one who lies, a big mouth.
This is a kinetic, sound-poetic electronic machine. By pressing a single control button, the sound is directed from analogue square wave generator to a horizontally mounted speaker. Depending on the frequency set by the control knob, the speaker makes a small ball jump, either faster or slower. The ball hits the piezo disk (sensor). If the impact force exceeds a certain threshold, a microcontroller registers this hit. The time intervals between the impacts are measured and, depending on the duration of the interval, a word is selected from the word bank in the memory of microcontroller. The higher is the frequency of strokes, the more frequently used word is selected from the bank. And on the contrary - less frequent hits generate more rare words.
In Russian language, "balabol" is someone who talks a lot without much sense, one who lies, a big mouth.
This is a kinetic, sound-poetic electronic machine. By pressing a single control button, the sound is directed from analogue square wave generator to a horizontally mounted speaker. Depending on the frequency set by the control knob, the speaker makes a small ball jump, either faster or slower. The ball hits the piezo disk (sensor). If the impact force exceeds a certain threshold, a microcontroller registers this hit. The time intervals between the impacts are measured and, depending on the duration of the interval, a word is selected from the word bank in the memory of microcontroller. The higher is the frequency of strokes, the more frequently used word is selected from the bank. And on the contrary - less frequent hits generate more rare words.
Divider
This project is an autonomous light-music installation. The main element of the piece is the construction fixed on the wall, with 7 powerful red lasers which send light horizontally. The laser rays pass through several pc fans rotating on high speed, placed along whole length of the installation. The fans serve as dividers-modulators which turn the ray into rhythmic impulses instead of the permanent ray. The frame opposite from the emitters has photo sensors which register the presence or absence of the ray. Thus, the system has 7 independent binary variables which become the basis for creation of sound composition. The speed of the each of fans is variable which leads to constant shift of modulation phases of the light rays.
This project is an autonomous light-music installation. The main element of the piece is the construction fixed on the wall, with 7 powerful red lasers which send light horizontally. The laser rays pass through several pc fans rotating on high speed, placed along whole length of the installation. The fans serve as dividers-modulators which turn the ray into rhythmic impulses instead of the permanent ray. The frame opposite from the emitters has photo sensors which register the presence or absence of the ray. Thus, the system has 7 independent binary variables which become the basis for creation of sound composition. The speed of the each of fans is variable which leads to constant shift of modulation phases of the light rays.
Zoltan
The resources of the Internet are opening up an almost godlike vista for us – like an answering machine that can instantly provide us with profound, subtle and complex factual knowledge on any topic whatsoever – while simultaneously building up a new vista through the analysis of big data. Having transformed books from physical monuments into streams and realised the dream of the global library, contemporary technologies are approaching the creation of a digital oracle, artificial intelligence, the nature of which will lay down the script for the future. ::vtol:: zoltan is the prototype of a meta-intelligence, making predictions on demand, free of charge and without stopping. The machine of revelations created by Dmitry Morozov is the embodiment of redundancy of information, theories and criticism, of redundancy as a condition of quality. ::vtol:: zoltan is portrayed as the inevitable descendant of Vannevar Bush's Memex, the Great Allplanetary Informatorium of the Strugatsky brothers, the thinking machines from the Dune universe, the charming but dangerous HAL 9000, and other systems armed with knowledge from the world of science fiction. Analysing a vast array of variables – from the nature of lighting and the number of people passing by to indicators of seismic activity, the weather and currency rates – ::vtol:: zoltan shapes a vision of the future. He formulates his prophecies into continuous streams of text, waxing ironically over the latest advances in thought and reminiscent in turn of potpourri, a Twitter stream or list of online search results. We stand before a new iteration of such digital assistants as Siri, Alexa and Alice – a personal forecaster, continuously producing a surplus of information and in need of readers.
text by Ekaterina Krylova
The resources of the Internet are opening up an almost godlike vista for us – like an answering machine that can instantly provide us with profound, subtle and complex factual knowledge on any topic whatsoever – while simultaneously building up a new vista through the analysis of big data. Having transformed books from physical monuments into streams and realised the dream of the global library, contemporary technologies are approaching the creation of a digital oracle, artificial intelligence, the nature of which will lay down the script for the future. ::vtol:: zoltan is the prototype of a meta-intelligence, making predictions on demand, free of charge and without stopping. The machine of revelations created by Dmitry Morozov is the embodiment of redundancy of information, theories and criticism, of redundancy as a condition of quality. ::vtol:: zoltan is portrayed as the inevitable descendant of Vannevar Bush's Memex, the Great Allplanetary Informatorium of the Strugatsky brothers, the thinking machines from the Dune universe, the charming but dangerous HAL 9000, and other systems armed with knowledge from the world of science fiction. Analysing a vast array of variables – from the nature of lighting and the number of people passing by to indicators of seismic activity, the weather and currency rates – ::vtol:: zoltan shapes a vision of the future. He formulates his prophecies into continuous streams of text, waxing ironically over the latest advances in thought and reminiscent in turn of potpourri, a Twitter stream or list of online search results. We stand before a new iteration of such digital assistants as Siri, Alexa and Alice – a personal forecaster, continuously producing a surplus of information and in need of readers.
text by Ekaterina Krylova