Output details
35 - Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts
Leeds Beckett University
GoLImp III, GoLImp (Game of Life Improvisation) is based around a system that allows realtime manipulation of a 2D grid of cellular automata (“automata bending” - Ariza, C., Computer Music Journal, 2007) to generate and process musical events in a performance setting.
The performer is able to influence the process at all stages by generating seeds and populating cells, manipulating the rules under which they evolve and affecting the complex mapping that determines the nature of the musical events that are produced as a result.
Depending on the current conditions and the rules specified, the cellular automata can either be unstable and produce sounds that are equally chaotic, or they can be highly symmetrical and regular. During the performance these cellular automata are projected allowing the audience to experience the growth and evolution of the cells while listening to the sounds they create.
The performance consists of dynamically shaping the conditions and rules, thereby both shaping and responding to the generative output in order to produce an interesting and meaningful musical result. Conditions can be set that may allow the cell populations to grow, to be stable, or to die off, with corresponding changes to the sound output. However, the multi-parametric mapping ensures there is a complex correspondence between the cells and the sound output, so no individual cells necessarily correspond to a particular sound or pitch, but the overall state of the cellular automata are reflected in the overall sound.
The musical output of the system is generated through the triggering and manipulation of samples including traditional instruments, field recordings and synthesised sounds, with different combinations of sounds used in different sections of the improvisation. Data from the cellular automata system is used to determine and change parameters including timing, pitch and amplitude as well as delay, filter, reverberation and granulation processes. The system also allows for real-time input of sounds, so a live input can be employed during the performance to add to the sonic pallet to be processed by the cellular automata system.
