violin, viola, cello, bass and 4 computer controlled oscillators

pulsonance was an exploration in beat frequencies, close tuned frequencies that interact with one another to create audible rhythmic patterns. This piece was inspired by Alvin Lucier and his pieces such as Crossings. One thing I found when I listened to such pieces was that, because the piece always returned to a tone that was consonant or non-beating, the consonant tone took a foreground positin in my memory and therfore became the dominant element of the piece. I wanted to explore music that was created totally of beating tones.

The result was unfortunately unsuccessful. The beatings I wished to occur between the strings and the oscillators was imperceptable. Perhaps because of the acoustic situation of the room or perhaps the concept is flawed. In the future I may attempt a studio verion so that I may control more of the variables.

You may view the score here.
pulsonance || pdf 932kb

Below is the control interface for the oscillators. It was created in Max/MSP and controlled by a custom MIDI controller called the DIGIT glove which I designed and built.