Sonus

human sound device: an experimental improvised performance for a brain (Emotiv EPOC, MaxMSP BRAIN patch, monome & Radio Motor + any combo of improvisers)

by Andr Pinto

Hearing sounds which are just sounds immediately sets the theorizing mind to theorizing, and the emotions of human beings are continually aroused by encounters with nature. Cage, 1961, p.10

A free improvisation environment is a place in space and time where sound is explored freely, minding exactly the liberty one has in expressing his relationship with what is around. When we are talking about a group of people that improvise together, the search within the group is usually for a common language of aesthetics and a transposing of it with new aesthetic material, it is a social practice that resembles a conversation.

An improvised sound environment develops on basis of the overall articulation between individuals gestures, i.e. choices: the responding or not to a certain moment, the producing or not sound, what sound to produce if producing sound, what expression to take But, the response is not that linear for we are physical beings so the subjects mental response is not directly translated into sound, but processed as electric signals to the body that will react in that way. We may say precision may be lost and the reaction is at some level still affected by chance (not that that bothers us). We are dealing here with the articulation between the individual and its instrument; concerning physical limitations in relation to the mental reactions: the time of reaction, the accuracy of the reaction, the technical mastery of the instrument, the muscle memory You are what you play (Prvost, E., 2011) What if you play what you are?...

What if the mind gets to control directly gestures and sounds? What if your brain becomes your instrument of improvisation? Improvisation is all about the relationships between people and the surrounding environment and its aesthetical projection in the acoustical space. Ones relation with the surrounding environment is mainly mental (intellectual, emotional), therefore, the activity of the brain shall consequently react to this, reflecting ones mental interpretation/relation to the moment-site specificity. But then, a paradox takes place. Subjectivity is taken from another angle and directly exposed. The power of choice is lost. Control is lost. The structure emerges. If mind activity is directly translated into sound and physical limitations disappear, then choices are no more, and one gets trapped in his own subjective mind reflection of the external stimuli. The argument is that the most important choice (maybe the only real choice) is taken away from the performer. I mean, the choice of sounding or being silent. The main aesthetical concern. But one may enquire if aesthetics are all that important in a free improvised environment, or even better, if arent the aesthetics directly connected to if not melted into the actual social-individual-environmental practice of playing what one digests from the environment. Or, for being free, aesthetics are too, and the search is for something new, the dare to leave behind the safe zone and expose [ones self] in the face of the internalized structures of judgment that govern our appreciation of music. (Mattin, 2008, p.20). I shall not answer these questions for even I do not have an answer for them.

Development It was on this basis that I got to develop this project. All came from my interest in free improvisation and aesthetics and the happy coincidence of meeting with a friend who is studying robotics who told me about the BCI (Brain Computer Interface) Emotiv EPOC. My first intentions were to use it as a brain wave amplifier, so I could get an exact audio reproduction of the synapse activity (in a similar way to what Alvin Lucier did on his Music for solo performer), which I would later modulate with other synapse activity that would act as a controller. Only when I got the device I

became aware of its limitations, and plans slightly change with the developing of the Max patch. So, the data flow from the device to the software is not constant, it happens every second, therefore it cannot act as a sound wave. With this in mind and some reading of neuroscience: Rhythms of the Brain (Buzski, G., 2006) (which turned out to be not very useful due to the difficulty of the matter) I discovered that our brains function in different frequencies for different states of mind, those are:
Frequency range 30 60 Hz 13 30 Hz 7 13 Hz 4 7 Hz < 4 Hz

Name Gamma waves Beta waves Alpha waves Theta waves Delta waves

Neuroscience is still much of an unknown territory so different theories for each set of frequencies arise. The ones that most interested me immediately were the Gamma () waves, just because they are the only audible ones. According to the popular theory, gamma waves may be implicated in creating the unity of conscious perception, which also makes them important for meditational states, especially communal ones (where, in Tibetan Buddhist monks, gamma waves seem to get rhythmically synchronized to each meditator, suggesting neuronal structures are firing in harmony). So I made the main sound of my meditation a sine wave that oscillates between 30 and 60 Hz. As my usual set-up for improvising is a couple of radios, I used another gadget I have built (I call it Radio Motor) which consists in a servo motor tuned radio, to be controlled by my brain waves. The basic set-up has not changed, only my approach to it, for I dont physically touch it anymore.

After a whole lot of work programming and solving all the problems which kept on arising, I did not find the final aesthetical result the more satisfying. Anyway,

this has been since the beginning and to continue an experimental project which shall remain under development.

References

Buzski, Gyrgy, 2006. Rhythms of the Brain. New York: Oxford University Press.

Cage, John, 1961. Silence. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.

Mattin, et al. 2008. Noise and Capitalism. San Sebastin: Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia-Arteleku

sr. morto, 2011. Eddie Prevost interview. [sound online] Available at: http://soundcloud.com/androsthedead/eddie-prevost-interview [Accessed at 30 April 30, 2011]