Nature Timers; Periodicity

Nick · 2019-10-17T08:02:47.265Z

Maybe a light sensor on a sundial, or anywhere you’re expecting a shadow? Or, more visually interesting, a mirror reflecting sunlight onto the wall. What I’m trying to say is that if you’re playing after sunset, I’m not really going to be much help.

scotttburton · 2019-10-17T16:34:08.501Z

Woah these are all really cool suggestions—love the idea of using these physical objects as clock sources, and yeah some kind of constant motion would be amazing to have for an audiences eyes to wander off to.

That’s what I loved so much about Anthony Braxton’s use of the clock—there was so much stimuli on stage—13 people all playing in different combos at the same time----but there was always this sand timer that you could watch, and that grounded the whole thing.

jdrew · 2019-10-17T16:45:18.667Z

I like the idea of having something like cookies baking in an oven, and the audience being able to watch them like a kid sitting in front of the door waiting for them to be done. Maybe not logistically feasible to have an actual oven but giving people fresh cookies also seems fun, but I may just be hungry.

eblomquist · 2019-10-17T17:32:37.126Z

“If music be the food of love, play on!”

Shakespeare

speakerdamage · 2019-10-17T19:32:31.983Z

reminds me of Dead Moon (RIP), who played with a candle mounted on the kick drum and frequently stopped when it died

Cementimental · 2019-10-17T22:36:11.894Z

I have found that if I record harsh noise at home with no plan and paying no attention to the time, I almost always decide its finished at 7 mins. So I guess that must be my attention span

infinitedigits · 2020-06-15T20:01:13.289Z

What are natural sources of periodicity?

In other words, what are some physical objects or systems that have the tendency to recur at intervals? Some considerations I’m looking for:

The object/system should be able to be recorded by some means.
The object/system should be able to sustain for length of a song (>5 minutes) without needing to be recharged / replenished / etc.
Frequency of object/system is within range of musical tempos (40 - 240 bpm / 0.6 to 4 hz)
No electronics (okay if powered by electricity, but no cpus/555 ic’s)

I’d like to use these physical objects to modulate tempos and LFOs in a live, realtime setting. For instance, I’ve been working on using my pulse rate to send out MIDI clocks to modulate the tempos of all the connected sequencers.

Some ideas for physical sources of periodicity so far:

Metronome
Water dripping
Clothes spinning in a dryer
Heart beating
Cheap Geiger counter
Light from a lighthouse

Not sure if a new thread is necessary, feel free to close if this has been covered. The closest thread I could find was on Nature’s clocks which is illuminating but not exactly a list of sources of periodicity since they aren’t recurrent.

yobink · 2020-06-15T20:37:07.308Z

There was a post from last year not sure if you’ve seen it - Nature Timers

Edit: I see now that you have found it, disregard

tyleretters · 2020-06-15T20:39:08.427Z

Pulsars!! There’s gotta be a way to hook up to some .gov API or something to stream pulsar data.

infinitedigits · 2020-06-15T21:51:26.398Z

Pulsars are a great idea! I forgot about space stuff. There is photon data from pulsars from Nasa. There is also geomagnetic activity, like measured from U of Alberta. Both are not super realtime but could be useful to generate some time-varying signals from historical data.

I thought of some more natural periodic sounds:

crickets
train going over train track
ocean waves cresting near the shore

fourhoarder · 2021-07-24T15:17:28.264Z

exposed photographic paper in a tray of developer.

timp · 2021-07-24T22:15:14.287Z

Love the pendulum… years ago I bought a Doepfer A179 Light Sensor module, and always meant to attach a laser pointer to a pendulum, and align it with the module (or a sensor plugged into it) so each pass would create a trigger (a bit like Reich Pendulum music but creating triggers rather than using feedback) - will get to it one day!

violet · 2021-07-27T21:57:16.292Z

have really been enjoying playing sets that last as long as my tape. a little less than an hour at the slowest speed has been perfect for developing structure/improv without getting lost in the details

image1920×1440 350 KB

zebra · 2021-07-30T17:16:25.352Z

every time i cook steel cut oats (at least in this one pan), there is a development of bubble structures.

first there are many small bubbles in evident chaos. eventually a system of large bubbles begins to form in the center, surrounded by a churning fuzz of small ones.

the formation and destruction of the large bubbles eventually attains a definite galloping rhythm! from the next room i can mistake it for a perturbed mechanical system, like shoes in a dryer. up close it is clearly more perturbed than mechanical… maybe my brain is providing the structure when a certain audible frequency band is emphasized by distance.

if i wanted a preposterous project right now maybe i’d work on a cellular dynamata model of my oatmeal pot.

this video was taken just past the peak i would say
https://catfact.net/msc/VID_20210728_080705.mp4

(plus i’m probably cooking my oats too hot)

Starthief · 2021-07-30T17:35:39.411Z

Cellular oatamata?

robotfunk · 2021-07-30T17:48:12.275Z

I bought a copper still a few months ago and have been fermenting whatnot to put in it. The bubbles emitted from the water lock when CO2 escapes are something I have been meaning to record with a piezo mic. Can be periodic but also chaotic. You can force a burst by pressing the lid and change the temperature to increase or decrease the bubbles.

dianus · 2021-07-30T17:56:19.270Z

ERD Breath/Licht seems to fit this technique. Breath has a heated coil attached for producing smoke, laser is directed through the smoke onto Licht, which has a kind of photo-sensor to produce strange CV from this relationship.

ERD/BREATH allows for controlled summoning and nourishment of (artificial and benevolent) demons, for the offering of sacrificial vapours, and for any modular use of multiple incenses or other smoke-producing resins, herbs and natural substances. A small sample of sage is included for preliminary cleansing of the modular environ. This should be placed on the middle wire heating element which will become very hot and should not be touched.

The burnt offering is a wolf’s eye, storax gum, cassia, balsam gum and whatever is valued among the spices.

To use ERD/LICHT with ERD/BREATH a low power laser can be used, passing through smoke and particles to impact close or on the LICHT sensor (situated underneath the centre of the two cut out arcs) depending on the strength of the beam. Some adjustment will be necessary.

I don’t know if anyone else has seen this, but there is a Korean film called 달마가 동쪽으로 간 까닭은? (Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East?) The director produced the film over 7 years, waiting patiently for the passing of seasons for certain scenes. I find this inspiring and imagine a synthesizer working on a similar mechanism. NLC sloths has a very satisfying long scale modulation which is the closest approximation I’ve experienced.

tehn · 2021-07-30T18:38:16.188Z

roasting fingerling potatoes, sliced in half, covered in olive oil

when pulled out of the oven upon completion there is a high-pitched drone storm— a cloud of oscillators, mixed with crackling. as everything cools the pitches drop, not all at the same rate, until the whole thing ceases over a few minutes.

i’ve been meaning to record it and pitch it down (so it’s a little more, uhm, chill)

infinitedigits · 2021-07-30T19:16:36.676Z

thanks for reviving my question - I still think about it a lot. there’s many things around me that I wish I had a recorder/video to capture. yesterday I heard these really cool periodicity from a train letting off steam that I wish I recorded. some other ideas of periodicity:

leafing through pages of a book
footsteps
bike tire spinning (inspired synth)
faucet (pretty easy to control and record!)

dianus:

laser is directed through the smoke onto Licht, which has a kind of photo-sensor to produce strange CV

ooh I love this idea! using photoresistors can go a long way as cv modulators.

tehn:

roasting fingerling potatoes, sliced in half, covered in olive oil

there is great periodicity in cooking of food. also chewing food is a good periodic motion. speaking of food and motion, my roommate used to make these amazing okonomiyaki pancakes that have dancing bonito flakes. some naive motion capture might be able to capture some of the periodicity in these things.

zebra:

every time i cook steel cut oats (at least in this one pan), there is a development of bubble structures.

that bubbling oatmeal seems to be unreasonably cool sound source (speed up 10x and then paulstretched, no other fx):

fourhoarder · 2021-08-08T15:15:17.243Z

all kettles are different, of course, but the one we have now has self selected over lesser aspirants, and as part of its appeal has a great round of startup noises. crackles and groans, it also has that satisfying white noise, and this is all before the bubbles. seems like a few well selected kettles heating up could be some part of a musical act.