Music

“The turntable of the talking machines is comparable to the potter’s wheel: a tone-mass is formed upon them both, and for each the material is preexisting. But the finished tone/clay container that is produced in this manner remains empty. It is only filled by the hearer.” -Adorno I am often asked to describe how science has influenced my music (and sometimes vice verse). I often respond practically, pointing out particularly scientific aspects of my workflow: building instruments, writing code, neurotically tweaking parameters. »

The following is an interview I did for monome i. Instrument, Utensil, Implement, Machine, or Apparatus? which? why? where? Apparatus. To me, ‘apparatus’ implies a totality greater than the sum of the parts, imbued with some broad purpose, yet open-ended. An apparatus is a modular machine, an interchangeable instrument. In both my scientific and artistic experiments, designing the apparatus is often the core of the project. A musical instrument has a predictable timbre, a scientific instrument makes a pre-defined measurement - an apparatus, however, combines known elements to explore the unknown. »