Conference napalm::commusic_v1

2800.0. "The Music of UGC 6697 - REAL space music" by SALSA::MOELLER (Flame and Counter-Flame) Tue Dec 24 1991 13:24

    from Technology Watch :
                           The Music of UGC 6697

    Lovers of off-beat music might enjoy listening to radio signals
    emanating from space that have been intentionally shifted here on
    earth into the audio range. Originally, astronomer Fiorella Terenzi
    thought the shift might help her in her research in acoustic
    astronomy. But then the possibility of using it commercially reared
    its head. Now her sounds, from radio galaxy UGC 6697 which is 180
    million light years away from earth, are available on cassette and
    compact disc as "Music from the Galaxies." Radio signals from UGC
    6697 emanating at 0.6, 1.4 and 5 GHz, and spectral and other data
    were collected by telescopes in the US, Germany, and Chile. Terenzi
    translated the signals into sound within the hearing range employing
    tools from the Computer Audio Research Laboratory and a program she
    designed in CMusic, a sound synthesis language.

    The six excerpts of transcribed data recorded in "Music from the
    Galaxies" sound like science fiction movie soundtracks. In some,
    familiar sounds and noises are discernible, like deep breaths in
    "Sidereal Breath", several out-of-tune basses in "Galactic Beats",
    or a tropical jungle full of noisy birds and animals in "Collision."
    In others, the sounds are more unusual. In "cosmic Time", for
    instance, Terenzi laid an original score based on transcribed
    galactic sounds. The score is performed by a synclavier imitating
    violins, drums, and a saxophone.

    The 40 minute tape is distributed by Island Records and is available
    in stores in the US for $8 to $14. Or contact David Reisner, Terenzi
    Music, 213-207-3004.
    {IEEE Spectrum December 1991}

    I have this.  I am not initially impressed, since what most of it
    sounds like is synths/samplers triggered off of a seriously munged
    data stream, which might as well have been random numbers.  The major
    compositional structure seems to be imposed by the use of longish
    digital delays.
    
    That aside, its not bad chaotic unstructured space music.  I was led
    to expect more from the outside of the album, but the liner notes
    made it clear to me that this was not a data -> Csound -> audio ->
    tape project.  Some of it apparently was, and I would really like to
    hear what downshifting radio astronomical signals would sound like.
    
    After all, I do use a gravity wave telescope in performance, but I need
    to use a fuzzbox to differentiate (read as upshift) the signal.
    
    	Eirikur