Computer Music
Computer Music is a mechatronic sound sculpture which features an ensemble of floppy disk drives, hard disk drives, CD-ROM drives, and stepper motors. The installation was shown at the 2016 Digital Arts Expo at the California Institute of the Arts.
Non-Interactive Installation
Although this thesis is primarily concerned with interaction between humans and electronics it
does not advocate that all installation art should be interactive. While the majority of my
work creating sonic installation art can be categorised as interactive, the Computer Music installation
introduced on this page contain no interactive element. Instead, Computer Music is a
static installation in which an ensemble of mechatronic instruments perform a deterministic,
eight-hour composition inspired by phase interference patterns.
Computer Music is an installation unaffected by
outside persuasion. The mechatronic ensemble of floppy disk drives (FDD), hard disk drives
(HDD), stepper motors, and Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) drives are
controlled by a MacBook Pro through four Arduino microcontrollers. The pitched FDDs and
CDROMs are amplified using single-coil guitar pickups. The HDD spindles continuously spin
creating a source of white noise which is interspersed with the pitched FDDs and CD-ROMs.
The stepper motors raise and lower the covers to the HDDs, revealing the spinning disk while
also filtering the noise created by the HDDs.
The Computer Music ensemble performs music which is composed in Ableton Live16.
During the installation Ableton Live, running on a MacBook Pro hidden from sight, sends
MIDI messages through an internal IAC bus where a Python script decodes the notes. The
Python program determines what drives and motors need to be activated and coordinates four
Arduinos which are responsible for directly controlling the drives. Although the MIDI messages
originated from a composition written in Ableton Live, the Python script does not care where
the messages originate from as long as they pass through its designated IAC bus. This flexible
configuration allows the Computer Music Ensemble to be controlled from any program, or
programming language, capable of outputting MIDI messages in real time.
The stepper motors which raise and lower the lids for the HDDs are controlled using a
single Hermes Arduino shield.
Without an interactive element, or any indeterminacy due to external factors, non-interactive
installations afford their creators precise control over the state of the piece: a necessity for
Computer Music’s sonic content to be effectively realized. Computer Music’s presentation style, and
deterministic approach to sonic art, is akin to how single-channel video installations are
traditionally exhibited. The video content is static and is screened, projected, or shown as a
single series of images; if someone watches the film from beginning to end, they will witness the
entire film and can no longer experience new content [67]. In the same manner, the composition
Computer Music is static and the mechatronic interpretation of the piece remains consistent from
one performance to another; if someone stays in the gallery for eight-hours, they will hear the
entire piece. The Computer Music ensemble performs a composition written specifically to take
advantage of their natural talent for keeping track of complex polyrhythms and precise timing
variations. The composition leaves no room for interpretation by the mechatronic performer
and must be played exactly as written or the effect is ruined. If any interactive element is
injected into the system, it will interfere with the precision of the musical execution and will
prove detrimental to the overall experience.
Floppy Drives
HDD Drives
CD-ROM Drives
Related Works and Further Reading
Much of this writing originated from my MFA thesis. I have included the in-text references below. If you are interested in reading my MFA thesis and my other publications they can be found on the about page for website HERE. Furthermore, I have written on topics related to circuit bending and hardware hacking. Some of this writing can be found on this site HERE. Furthermore, there are writings on the topic of musical mechatronics hosted HERE which help to provide some external context for this project.
[67] “Video Art: Characteristics, Origins, History.” [Online]. Available: http://www.visual-artscork.com/video-art.html [Accessed: 23-May-2017].