BRAINWAVE CHICK VI
Brainwave Animation and Sound

THE MAX PATCH

A MAX software "patch," developed for this performance, examined the brainwave (MIDI) activity. Events were left unchanged, filtered, distorted, transformed, or modulated by other events or tendencies, responded to, etc. By choosing what to play and how, the patch circumscribed the audio aesthetic.

The patch was "played" with a continuous MIDI controller and through initial neural activity and by responses to aural articulations. Variable in this collaboration were the activities of the two individuals as well as the patch; these engender unpredictable results.

Projected animation sequences were used to represent states of mental activity. These sequences were triggered by brainwave switching among corresponding frequency domains (high beta, low beta, alpha, theta, and delta) by using a brainwave interface to the computer.

At the Walker, this interface was on Paras's computer. The composition was produced by neural activity which was transformed from her computer into real time MIDI data which was then transferred to Applebaum's computer where the the data was modified by the Max Patch before being articulated by synthesizers.

The brainwave interface utilizes standard EEG monitoring of neural activity. Amplitudes of the signal were converted to MIDI velocities, and frequencies were converted to MIDI note numbers.

Mark Applebaum received his PhD in music composition from the University of California, San Diego where he studied principally with Brian Ferneyhough. His solo, chamber, orchestral, choral, and electronic music has been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan with notable premieres at the Darmstadt New Music courses. He has received commissions from Betty Freeman, the Jerome Foundation, the American Composers Forum, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, among others. "Mousetrap Music" a CD of his sound-sculptures was released on the Innova label. He has served as the Dayton-Hudson Visiting Artist at Carleton College; in 2000 he joined the faculty at Stanford University where he teaches composition and theory.

Influenced by early experiences with hypnosis, Paras Kaul began research using a brainwave interface to the computer in 1992. This research evolved from her interests in consciousness development, healing, and dolphin communication. She received an MFA degree in computer animation and video from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earlier completed graduate courses in photography in Northern California. Her work with Neural Audio Imaging has been presented by ACM/SIGGRAPH in exhibitions in Orlando, Los Angeles, and Boston. She has also been invited to speak at conferences in Australia, France, and the UK. In order to call attention to brain matters, Paras has performed at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Dana Centre Museum of Science in London. Currently she is the Director of Web Communications at George Mason University.