…wie der Computer Musik macht

Sounds and sequences of tones generated by a computer are used today as a matter of course in many areas alongside the sounds of traditional instruments. They are widely used in contemporary music – in pop music, advertising, movies, experimental music, and experimental music.

With the sounds of traditional instruments we usually have an intuitive idea of how the sounds are generated, and how their characteristics can be influenced. For example, when I want to produce a piercing sound on a recorder, I have to blow hard into it. But when I want to produce a soft, warm sound, I have to blow more carefully.

When it comes to computer sounds, though, we lack this intuition. The computer is like a black box; we cannot see directly how its interior works.

The installation »…wie der Computer Musik macht« […how the computer makes music] offers visitors the opportunity to cast a quasi-glance into the interior of a computer, and with the aid of a series of small, mostly interactive units, to understand how the sounds are produced there.

Inspired by: Peter Weibel
Consulting: Ludger Brümmer, Benjamin Miller
Production of the ZKM_Hertz-Lab