Orbifold Chordal Space
Author: doktorbrown
I'm haven't quite been able to grok this in full yet, but it seems that this guy Dmitri Tymoczko, has standardized a method for visualizing "the universe of all possible musical chords in graphic form".
More info is at his website along with the software he uses.
Thanks, Trace, this is fascinating shit... BTW: do you remember a project to develop a 3D visual / virtual reality sound mixing program? This was wayyyyyy back, I think I remember talking to you about it in like 1992. (And I vaguely remember some Grateful Dead associate being involved in the project.) I thought it was really fascinating -- the program would use colored balls and other shapes whose size and spatial relationships would symbolize volume, frequency, etc.
But on a much more esoteric and impractical level (hello, it's me commenting)....
From the TIME article:
...the cosmos of chords consists of weird, multidimensional spaces, known as orbifolds, that turn back on themselves with a twist, like the Möbius strips math teachers love to trot out to prove to students that a two-dimensional figure can have only one side. Indeed, the simplest chords, which consist of just two notes, live on an actual Möbius strip. Three-note chords reside in spaces that look like prisms--except that opposing faces connect to each other. And more complex chords inhabit spaces that are as hard to visualize as the multidimensional universes of string theory.
Hmmm... maybe the resonance suggests why music can evoke a timeless quality... and the long standing idea that esoteric "vibrations" can open up portals of spiritual meaning. I'm reminded of Terence McKenna and his brother humming, attempting to harmonize with the DMT molecules in True Hallucinations. And of this quote from Genesis P-Orridge (of Throbbing Gristle / Psychic Television / Temple of Psychick Youth fame/infamy).
As quoted in Disinformation: The Interviews:
"One of my first ever inspirations to begin making any music was the book Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in which there's an alchemical violinist who talks about the legend that there are certain combination of notes that you can play on a violin that are not normal musical notation -- you can only find them by a combination of faith and random chance -- and when you strike those notes together, if you do, you leave this world and you enter another dimension. You transcend being reincarnated and you leave. It's a key, it's a key to a divine being and I think that's what music was originally. In ancient times, we had a different consciousness. It wasn't the kind of consciousness that we have now. When people made sounds, they could see other beings still.... Tibetans know this. Tibetans use singing bowls not to sound pretty and sell in shops. The original singing bowls are very specific frequencies which release specific chemicals in the brain and body in order to alter the state of consciousness."
- Genesis P-Orridge -
Also see: H.P. Lovecraft, "The Music of Erich Zann"
The attempts to represent sound in geometrical space also bleeds into the area of synaesthesia which is a topic I keep meaning to bring up in this neck of the woods for a whole variety of variegated reasons.
Yeah, I vaguely recall something about that too. I'm guessing it was John Perry Barlow, also one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He wrote this article around that timeframe: "Is There a There in Cyberspace" What is interesting about his search for a soul or prana in the cybermedium is that 15 years on, we're demonstrating that it does in fact exist to a degree and may just be a result of improved interface. Witness the evolving manifestations of Le Robo-Daggit McSmurf Buttersworth as summoned by the Priests of Jawn.....Though I wonder if in Barlowe's case his search for the soul of cyberspace was symptomatic of it not existing in meatspace for him. When the only tool you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail..... Rather than look for a replacement of existing interaction possibility, as the early VR pioneers seemed to be predicting, the virtual has become an extension of the actual to the point where it is just another tool in the arsenal.
But back to the music for now. I also found this description of Jaron Lanier's The Sound of One Hand. Same general timeframe.
In a way, this thread is part 3 in the recent discussions of "21st Century Asymmetrical Technology Paradigm Shifting for Fun and Profit..." (part 2) and (part1)....This all kind of leads to how we're now witnessing virtual interactions that no longer carry the weight of novelty.
I was helping someone yesterday on a project about how the videogame "Guitar Hero 3" is impacting the field of musical education. And it's become apparent, yet again, that kids take to shit that their parents just don't understand. What this all means long term as they grow up with technological synaesthesia is anybody's guess.
As far as esoteric vibrations, I need to make a decent recording of "The Note" and post it for further consideration....unless Gtown happens to have a snippet sitting around....
Herrdoktor: I really want to respond to this, but your comment made my head pop off my neck, Scanners style.
(Feedback soon, after the bloody stump stops spraying all over Michael Ironside's desk.)
BTW: What is "the Note?" A sonic experiment resembling the Zanoni/P-Orridge effect? Somebody post that shit...
A couple of quick notes...
Jaron Lanier's description of wrapping his head around playing the virtual instruments reminds me of this game - "The Journey to Wild Divine," which makes you use biofeedback / meditation techniques to develop your "psychic powers" within the game. Reviews here and here. Like Jaron Lanier's VR sax, and like the linkage between Sound & Vision, this is a really fascinating game that can't help but get you thinking in a different way about the interaction of mind and technology: you control stuff onscreen without moving a muscle. (Get ready to fit me for my Firefox helmet, yo.)
And re: the prana of cyberspace... the concept of the groupmind is a persistent notion in esoteric circles for a reason.