Music Machines

All of these machines are dynamic: sound and movement are constantly evolving. *De Krachtgever* (The Power Source), a wall of vibrating boxes, is their best-known work, having won them the Golden Nica at the 1998 Prix Ars Electronica in Linz in the computer music category.

The first version of De Krachtgever was developed in collaboration with students and staff in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Twente in Enschede as part of TARt’93. At the first presentation, in November 1993, three man-sized stacks of three steel boxes per tower and one stack consisting of eight wooden boxes were displayed. The boxes are connected to each other by coil springs. An electric motor with eccentrically rotating weights is attached to each stack. These vibration motors are controlled by a computer, which varies the rotational speed of a motor in such a way that interesting interferences arise between the imposed vibration frequencies and the resonance frequencies of a stack. This makes it possible to set one box in vibration separately from the other boxes, or to set an entire stack in the same vibration. Combinations of vibrations occurring simultaneously at different levels of a stack can also be generated.

In Acuática, Bosh & Simons captured the sound of air bubbles—produced by a compressor—in water-filled demijohns and manually mixed the air and other sounds, which were then amplified and played back through a quadraphonic sound system.

Will you be tuning in to hear about these unique machines and more tonight at 11:00 PM?