Oszilot is an experimental sound art project in which everyday objects are transformed into oscillating sound objects via acceleration and gyro sensors. In the process, the objects lose their everyday function and “become animated and symbolic art objects creating rhythm patterns, soundscapes and abstract musical structures”, transforming into living beings, ritual instruments, or futuristic manifestations of imagination. Thus, Oszilot is best conceived as a mix of sound art installation and musical performance: the movements of the oscillating objects are turning into sounds generating shifting musical patterns. It is an ongoing experiment, in which basic pendulum physics meet digital sound synthesis.
Making music with pendulums is said to open up a whole new world for composers as well as to require a different approach to composing: “Each pendulum is like a musician with its own characteristics. The choice of sounds depends on the appearance and the physics of a pendulum object. For example, a clear, metallic sound will likely be chosen for our spaghetti pan and something more wooden-sounding and organic for a hanging tree trunk. It also becomes tantalizing to play with expectations, which might be delivered or not. Being able to assign different sounds to the pendulums opens a spectrum of musical possibilities. Mostly the sounds of the pendulums change after every musical piece. Genre-wise the music can be described as Drone, Ambient, New Age, Soundscape, Minimal Music or Generative Music.”
Check out this documentation video:
Here’s a video of a jam session:
In september Oszilot will be awarded at the Ars Electronica Festival:
