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- Life, Screensavers & Generative Music"We've entered a new era of listening." It's a rare opportunity to be present at the birth of a new process of music. Brian shared with the audience new tools to create generative music. What is the meaning of life?At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, 1978, Brian discovered John Conway's cellular automata game, Life. Life has three rules that governs the growth and decline of the population of dots on the screen. The interaction of the rules can lead to very complex results. Complexity arising from simplicity. Using an overhead projector and moire pattern cards, Eno demonstrated the varying changes of the patterns by manipulating the cards. Eno also found screensavers as a worthy software item. Meanwhile, back in the UK, Koan© Software was being developed to create generative music. When sent a sample, Eno commented the music was similar to his own, maybe a bit better. This was the audio equivalent to the life Eno had been contemplating. A dream come true. The Seyo software was more complex than the earlier lifeform. It is the expression of about 150 different parameters that one can control and their interactions. It can be applied to varying musical tastes, and the most important message is that you can do it yourself. ALIENS STOLE MY HAIR!Projecting a series of black ovals on a white background screen, Eno commented this was the fleet of aliens which had previously abducted him. He pointed out the mother ship, where they had stolen his hair. (It was actually a diagram of the track 1/2 from "Music for Airports.") When "Music for Airports was released in the UK, the critics thought it rather dull, Brian commented that in America it was accepted more. This may have been where the seed was planted for generative music. We listened to Steve Reich using tape loops in "It's Gonna Rain. Gradually through repetition there is change. At one point, to me, it sounded like the shower scene in Psycho, more about that later. Using the overhead he set off with some shadow puppet play, ("I thought he was going to play the synthesizer!") Eno's amusing stage side manner cushioned the blow of those who learned he thought CDs were Victorian and he just may not put out another. At least not in the sense that it would repeat the same music over and over again. Links and ArticlesLinks & Articles have rapidly accumulated and are now on this page. Imagine! Book List Send this page to a friend Return to Imagine!
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