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| 1-Bit Symphony CD cased chip music and booklet |
With that in mind I recently discovered Tristan Perich's work, on the BBC radio program Digital Planet.
Needless to say I was fascinated by the idea of a modern day music box and found my way to Bang On A Can who sell the CD cased chip music piece.
Tristan Perich's '1-Bit Symphony' is an interesting experiment in electronic music both hiding and revealing the process with it's clear plastic case, components laid bare, and black-box chip that stores the code that runs the piece.
A printed version of the programming is also included in the package, on a fold-out insert, but you will need a magnifying glass and an electrical engineering degree to fully appreciate it. (To be fair a skim of the code does indicate notes played but it's otherwise impenetrable.)
The actual music is minimalist in style (could 1-bit music be anything else?) and classical in structure. The piece benefits from being plugged into speakers rather than listened via headphones although 1-Bit chip music hardly needs audiophile kit for full appreciation.
You can also buy a digitised version of the audio from Amazon but this seems to defeat the point of the exercise. Alternatively Tristan and his co-conspirators perform regularly both in Europe and the US which would doubtless be interesting.
It was also no surprise to read that Tristan has a background in maths and computer science which are clearly in evidence here.
The performance method and construction are unique and fascinating but I found the music hard to listen to at length, it is however equally worthwhile as an object and an idea than as actual music.
If you have seen Tristan perform or have comments to make please feel free to post them below.
For more details on Tristans work visit:
http://bangonacan.org/store/product/181
http://www.tristanperich.com/
http://www.1bitsymphony.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002w6r2
