pulsarAUTOMATA - 9-channel installation for computer-generated sound
The material point of departure for pulsarAUTOMATA is a process of analysis and resynthesis of historical sound recordings of pulsar synthesis, a technique originally developed by Curtis Roads and popularised in his book Microsound. Integrating a novel sound synthesis design, a machine listening techniques, and an original spatialization score, the work probes the possibility of the computational description of timbre as a form building approach. As such the work of pulsarAutomata should be seen as an algorithmic script for a multidimensional auditory scene formulation; sounding of timbre analysis and resynthesis which attempts to reveal temporal, spatial and qualitative relationships between multiple renderings of a singular sound synthesis model.
The premiere of pulsarAUTOMATA was accompanied by a sound installation of historical, mainly unreleased compositions with pulsar synthesis by Marcus Schmickler and Florian Hecker. This collection of works, diffused over an array of 9-speakers served as a temporal and timbral reference point to the work of pulsarAUTOMATA. The installation featured also a text 'The origins of pulsar synthesis' written especially for this occasion by Curtis Roads.
The opening event was accompanied by a talk between Profesor Peter Nelson and Marcin Pietruszewski.
The binaural recording of the installation with assistance from Mike Newton (Acoustics, Edinburgh University)
The work is an iteration of an ongoing project 'The New Pulsar Generator Recordings' focused on a systematic practice of computer music composition with historically inherited materials (computer programs, scripts, musical forms, staging).