David Tudor exhibition

 

PERFORMANCES - NEURAL SYNTHESIS Nos. 1-9

Performer: John D.S. ADAms

                                                                                                                                        

NEURAL SYNTHESIS (Nos. 1-9) was a work created by David Tudor in collaboration with engineers Forrest Warthman, Mark Holler, and Scot Gresham-Lancaster.  It used an analog neural network synthesizer developed by Intel to generate complex oscillations.


The synthesizer's performance console controls the neural-network chip, R-C circuits, external feedback paths and output channels. The chip itself is not used to its full potential in this first synthesizer. It generates sound and routes signals but the role of learner, pattern-recognizer and responder is played by David, himself a vastly more complex neural network than the chip.


During performances of Neural Synthesis (1-9), Tudor chose from up to 14 channels of synthesizer output, modifying each of them with his other electronic devices to create the final signals.


He debuted the synthesizer at the Paris Opera (Garnier) in November 1992 in performances of Neural Network Plus for the dance Enter with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. In 1994, during later experiments with the synthesizer in Banff, four discrete channels representing 12 recorded tracks were mixed to stereo.

Performancesperformances.html
MODULESmodules.html

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