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Radioactive Orchestra 2.0 takes the music live, makes sweet photonic melodies (video)
Sweden's Kollektivet Livet took a step towards demystifying the invisible energy around us last year through its Radioactive Orchestra, which turned isotopes into beats and beeps. To our relief, the Orchestra isn't content to record in the studio. Version 2.0 of the music project is all about going on tour, so to speak, through live instruments: in a first prototype, a photon detector translates every radiation hit from nearby materials into its own audio pulse. The invention results in an imprecise art based on distance, but aspiring cesium rock stars can tweak the sensitivity or transpose the notes to generate their own distinct tunes. Orchestra manager Georg Herlitz tells us that the initial setup you see here, played at TEDx Gotëborg, is just a "sneak peek" of both a finished instrument and more work to come. We might just line up for the eventual concerts if the performance video after the break (at the 11:00 mark) is any indication.
Everything around you is decaying, and this is what it sounds like (video)
Forget that math music nerd debate, there's no controversy here -- only the sweet, sweet sounds of cascading gamma rays. Working with Nuclear Safety and Training Group, KTH and nuclear physicists from AlbaNova University Centre's KSU, Swedish art collective Kollektivet Livet pieced together interactive software that mutates ionizing radiation into polarizing music. Incorporating all 3,175 known isotopes, the Radioactive Orchestra allows users to tweak decay rate and scale resulting in a personalized, hipster head-boppin glitch-hop track. We admit this sounds like old Bjork (doesn't all bloopy music?), but it's pretty nifty considering this is the sound of environmental decay. The project also has a more noble intent -- one aimed at swapping your radioactive fears for PC-acceptance. We're not sure this is going to get the unseen 'terror' onto anyone's Facebook Like list, but it will provide a good thirty minute distraction. Headphone nutters should plug-in for the full video after the break. [Thanks, Alexander]
