Impossible Music

by Michael Peters

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Digital Album

Immediate download of 16-track album in your choice of MP3 320, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

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1.	Relentless Bagatelle 02:11
2.	Cowbell Burlesque 02:26
3.	Invention of the Cube 02:07	download
4.	Malfunction for Jazz-Rock Automata 02:18
5.	Etude with Headscratching Interludes 01:13
6.	The Anomalous Catalogue 09:07	download
7.	Alhambra Algebra 04:23
8.	Impossible Music 01:40
9.	Beguine Adrenaline 02:08
10.	Serious Clusters 01:00
11.	Blow-Up Meltdown 03:26
12.	Anthropod Arena 01:30
13.	Woodenfall 06:44
14.	The Black Edge 00:58
15.	Guicamole 03:25
16.	Frowning Bagatelle 00:53

about

This music is based on a strange attractor named after Igor Gumowski and Christian Mira, CERN physicists who discovered it during their research in nonlinear dynamical systems.

Starting out with an (x,y) value pair, the next value pair (xn,yn) is computed like this:

xn = a * y + p * x + 2 * sqr(x) * (1 - p) / (1 + sqr(x))
yn = -x + p * xn + 2 * sqr(xn) * (1 - p) / (1 + sqr(xn))
with constant a typically being = 1.0 and p somewhere between -1 and 1.

This process is repeated iteratively, creating more and more value pairs. Each of the value pairs can be mapped to, or drawn as, a pixel on a computer screen. The surprisingly beautiful graphical representations of these attractors seem to resemble plancton lifeforms from some mathematical ocean.

A software that I developed in 1994 could draw many subspecies of these attractors, based on variations of the original iteration formula. It also allowed for realtime manipulation of starting constants, angles, positions, colors, and so forth. Later, I added midi controls, mapping x and y values to pitch and velocity, and some more realtime controls for pitches and scales. The strange attractor software generated music now - algorithmic music, based on nonlinear dynamic systems. Because the attractor parameters could be controlled in realtime, the system could be used for interactive composing.

"Impossible Music" contains 16 recordings of live improvisations with this system. Generated midi data were played by a digital piano and a sampler usually loaded with percussion samples. Most of the improvisations were done together with Matthias Ebbinghaus (who controlled piano pedals and did the live mix).

credits

released 02 January 2011
recorded 1996 directly to DAT
editing and final mix 2006/2007
Michael Peters - programming and realtime parameter manipulation
Matthias Ebbinghaus - live mix and controllers, editing
Walter Brühn - final mix