Created in the fall of 2005, Death of Sound is my initial exploration using artificial intelligence for computationally-driven musical instruments. Seven individual steel-stringed wooden instruments make up the project, in which the each are mounted to the wall. These all connect to each other through an eighth wooden box below. Programmed to be aware of people in the space, as well as each other, these seven simple tone makers make their own decisions on when to perform.

When one of the instruments chooses to make sound, it begins powering a motor spinning four rare-earth magnets. Based on the speed and the duration of that spin, the magnets induce vibration of various different tones, and assorted attacks and decays can be performed. Each of the seven are given certain characteristics when the composition begins. Over time, they use these characteristics to decide how to live, and begin a simple life-cycle until their compositional death.

Concept

Originally, upon their death, I had hoped to have circuitry which would destroy itself once its composition was complete, creating truly one-time instruments. After a prototype of this nature, however, I became attached to them and noticed others viewing/listening to them made a connection as well. In that regard, I lost my desire to see them physically die, and decided to save that element of the project for future exploration in other work. Rather, I became more interested in the story-telling elements of these instruments, as they live and act near each other. This lead to my further investigation of these instruments as objects with life characteristics, which grow and change over time and ultimately come to their end.

In terms of musical composition, this project explores the sound created when performers argue, interact, and neglect each other. As these different instruments fight for attention over each other, very simple acts of motors spinning become much more complex anthropomorphic experiments. Most, if not all of this is done within the audience’s mind.

As much as I try, as a programmer and circuit-maker, it is simply too complex to create human emotion in simple inanimate objects (at least intentionally). Ironically, the objects do a wonderful job of it on their own when viewers create their own interpretations. By creating objects which appear to speak the same musical language and have similar dimensions and placements, people begin to assign them similar emotional entitlements. This has fostered some incredibly simple, yet fascinating ideas about simulating intelligence, which I hope to use in future work.

Technical Details

This project is a combination of instrument design with a little electronic cocktail underneath. In its structural design, its a pretty simple piece. A single microcontroller guides and controls each instrument, through the spinning of the motor. Also, each instrument has a pre-amplification circuit and a microphone, which is then connected to an external sound source. This allows the instrument the ability to be amplified in the space beyond acoustic sound.

Future Considerations

Reaction in the installation space fostered a completely different outlook on the project than I had begun with. Originally, my approach to this project was to explore the idea of death in inanimate objects. I wanted to see if an audience could sympathize with a simple mechanical tonal object. From a technical standpoint, I investigated ways in which to have circuits actually destroy themselves electrically. Through the use of nichrome wire, which is commonly used to electronically light fuses for fireworks, I found a viable solution. By supplying voltage to this wire, it becomes incredibly hot, and can short itself like a fuse as well as melt components and circuitry. As mentioned before, I decided not to use this concept in the piece, but it remains an area of exploration in future work of this kind.

After initial reactions from friends and peers, I have become much more interested in the mental reactions the audience performs during the course of an installation. I hope to employ ideas of endowing inanimate objects with other life characteristics, in an effort to give the audience further ways in which to associate with simple musical devices.