source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 07:57:33 -0800 Subject: Re: TUNING digest 1010 From: gtaylor@heurikon.com (Gregory Taylor) >From: William Sethares >Subject: mapping spectra >A few years ago, Tom Staley and I wrote an article called "Sounds of >Crystals" in Experimental Musical Instruments (EMI) that did >something very similar (ref. below). We looked at x-ray diffraction >patterns (spectra) and mapped them into the audio spectra. Many of >the resulting sounds were exceedingly complex (*very* many >nonharmonic partials), but there were some real standouts. One of >our favorites was the sound of the morphine crystal, which we used >for a piece titled "Duet for Morphine and Crystal" that appeared in >the EMI compilation cassette that year. Having broadcast the piece a number of times, I can personally attest that a) it's quite listenable b) it seems to attract the attention of a number of those community radio listeners in the habit of calling the station when they hear something that interests them. I try and explain what Bill's said above, and point out that he's in the process of releasing a CD of his intriguing musics. Just out of curiousity, what other XRD stuff sounded interesting? Can one generalize? I wouldn't mind trying to map an essential oil like Melissa, which I could then collide with the Allman Brothers tune of the same name.... Working on !12tET program number *4*, Gregory | COMPUTER PRODUCTS - HEURIKON CORPORATION | | Powerful Products for Communications | | | | Gregory Taylor Email: gtaylor@heurikon.com | | Marketing Communications Manager Phone: 608-831-5500 | | 8310 Excelsior Drive Fax: 608-831-4249 | | Madison, WI 53717 | || | Yo, digerati! the surf's up at Heurikon! http://www.heurikon.com | || Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Tue, 11 Mar 1997 18:20 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA02082; Tue, 11 Mar 1997 18:20:57 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA02080 Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) id JAA12203; Tue, 11 Mar 1997 09:17:57 -0800 Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 09:17:57 -0800 Message-Id: <33254AED.5632@cavehill.dnet.co.uk> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu