presents
Sounds from the Realm of Chaos
The Chaotic Pianola is a minimal music machine for Macintosh.
It is really just a small gimmick, designed to give You some sense
of chaotic behaviour through Your ears.
It will play an endless and rather boring row of piano tones,
like a manic Debussy. The tones may sound random, but they aren't.
In fact, they are generated by an incredibly simple little formula,
and are thus completely regular and repeatable, like the tunes
of a cheap pianola.
However, the music will be highly dependent on from where it starts. You can manipulate the digits in the formula, and Debussy, still manic, will be heard running off into some totally unmapped region of the cosmos of boring melodies.
This is what is meant by chaos. The smallest change in initial values will grow beyond recognition. People sometimes find it hard to see the difference between chaos and randomness. Now use Your ears! They are remarkably good at discerning patterns, and chaotic processes often contain more of it than the word makes You expect.
The little formula, by the way, is r*x*(1-x), the simplest known in chaos theory. In the program x is the big red number, which could be set to anything between 0 and 1, and which determines the pitch; r is the other number, and it should be kept somewhere between 3 and 4 to produce anything of interest. Your computer will calculate a numerical value from the formula, and then put it back into the same formula as a new value of x. That's all. If You make any change in the value of r You will get a new melody, if that is what one should call it.
This is a completely innocent little application, which won't do any evil things to Your computer. You'll need QuickTime to get any sound at all. You can let it be run by the clockwork or switch mode to do it stepwise by hand. Perform the manipulations Your curiosity invites You to, and enjoy the music of chaos.
You are welcome to send any message You feel urged to write to lars.rosenberg@swipnet.se.
©The Boltzmann Toy Factory
There is also a version which employs more instruments than the Grand piano. It sounds awful, but since some people have asked for it I put it out, just for fun. It is called Chaotic-Pianola-S.
