Constrained Circles

The constraints for my assignment were:

To create a circle that is:
A living thing
Produced by moving air

To begin, let’s define “a living thing”. One could make a valid philosophical argument that everything we can imagine and everything we cannot imagine is a living thing. Every thing is made of stardust. So, in the grand scheme of things if we human beings are alive… then a rock is alive… perhaps vibrating at very different frequency than a human being does… it may not be a sentient being… but that was not the constraint of the assignment… like us a rock is a specific coagulation of stardust… of energy… and so it is arguably alive…

On the other hand, we could also argue, with equal validity, that nothing is a living thing. It all depends on how we define “living”. However, since we are, by the very nature of the constraints set forth, assuming that the notion of the existence of “living things” is acceptable, then I would argue that algorithms are living things. The algorithms I create are an extension of my personage, which most of us would agree is a living thing. They are an extension of my energetic self. Further, as you are about to witness, when I catalyze the algorithm, we will experience a response, which is a very organic action… stimulation/reaction… Here is the very simple algorithm I will instantiate.

Simple Csound Algorithm
;Orchestra
sr = 44100
kr = 44100
ksmps = 1
nchnls = 2

;Instrument 1
instr 1
kenv1 linseg 0, 1.5, 10000, 3, 5000, 4, 2500, 1.5, 0
a1 oscili kenv1, 440, 1
outs a1, a1
endin

;Score
f1 0 16384 10 1 ; Sine
i1 0 10
e

The second constraint “Produced by moving air” is simple… I will use the loud speakers in this room to move the air within it in a circular pattern… a sine wave. A sine wave is actually a circle, drawn over time. Let me demonstrate this with a quick video.

So now I will satisfy the dictums of the assignment. To do so I will catalyze, what I consider to be, a living algorithm into producing a circle (a sine wave) by moving the air in this room using the loud speakers. It will actually produce 4400 circles since the sine tone frequency will be 440hz, which means that it vibrates the air at a rate of 440 times (or sine wave cycles) per second, and because the period of the sine wave is 10 seconds. 10 x 440 = 4400

Execute Csound:

So there was a circle that is a living thing produced by moving air.

And, just for fun, here is the sound file from a quasi-random distribution of 70 sets of circles: