• About the project:
 This solo live electronics project merges vocabularies and approaches from different, often seemingly clashing, realms of electronic music: noise and no-input music with electroacoustic composition with vibrant underground tekno. The sets are very hands-on, using a custom-built live-electronics instrument programmed in SuperCollider. Playing it is very involved, and as real-time as playing an acoustic instrument.
Bookings/contact: stm@modularbrains.net

• About this piece:
Megas Diakosmos ('Μέγας Διάκοσμος', i.e. ‘The Great Order of the Universe) takes its name from a lost cosmological treatise written by Leukippos, an ancient Greek natural philosopher of the 5th century BCE. In this treatise, Leukippos introduced for the first time an Atomic Theory of cosmology, surprisingly comparable to contemporary cosmological theories. Very little is known about the work, but according to remarks of other ancient writers, Leukippos postulated that the universe consists of tiny, invisible, indestructible, unchangeable and indivisible 'Atoms' (the 'Being') differing only in size and shape, and of 'Void' (the 'Non-being'), that exists in-between atoms and has also material properties, although different (anti-matter?). This infinitely expanding and contracting void allows atoms to move and collide eternally, creating and destroying matter, new bodies, and our world, but also a vast number of other worlds in the universe, some inhabited some not.
Leukippos' atomic theory and turbulent cosmogonic vision form the conceptual and experiential starting points for the composition, its sonorities and their development throughout the piece, as well as for the system and sound synthesis methods used. The system is a cybernetic model based on digital feedback and implemented as a sonic complex dynamical system – mathematically similar to a cosmological entity or universe in motion. This sonic universe is defined by the sample-by-sample interactions of a single binary digit (One, or ‘Being’) moving incessantly within a world of Void (Zeros, or ‘Non-being’). This digit floats and collides, is fused and split from delayed copies of itself, thus creating countless sonic bodies in states of equilibrium, oscillation, chaotic behavior, noise and silence.
Although Megas Diakosmos is a fixed medium piece, all the different ‘worlds’ (layers and sections) were performed in real-time using a hands-on, live electronics version of the system to maintain an aspect of ‘in-time’ timelessness, and to accentuate the primal and visceral character of the composition.


• More info and a schematic of the live electronics instrument can be found here:
http://modularbrains.net/megasdiakosmos.html

This piece appears together with an artist interview at Gonzo(circus) [issue 103], a Belgian/Dutch magazine for contemporary music and culture.
http://www.gonzocircus.com/gc103


Stelios Manousakis - Megas Diakosmos [2011]

(for L-system Digital Sound Synthesis)

"The development of an organism may [...] be considered as the execution
of a 'developmental program' present in the fertilised egg."
(Lindenmayer A. – Rosenberg G.: ‘Automata, Languages, Development’, 1975)


The fundamental concept behind this piece is emergence, or how a complex organism can grow and evolve in a structured environment according to its genetic predisposition. The piece itself is conceived as a constantly developing, purely synthetic musical organism. This organism is designed as a complex dynamical system whose structure develops over time. The model is implemented with a hierarchical network of Lindenmayer systems - a generative algorithm invented to model the growth of plants and muliticellular organisms. The DNA of this musical organism is embedded in the L-systems as a set of compositional and transformational rules; genetic algorithms are used to evolve these rules over time. The L-systems control a granular DSP engine in a multitude of different levels by generating a constantly varying number of musical agents with hierarchical relations that move, act and interact with and within their environment. The behavior of the agents is used to develop the initial musical seed causing complex contrapuntal patterns to emerge in all the time-scales of the composition. The piece was composed in 2006, and was awarded an honorable mention at the Gaudeamus Music Week in 2007.

The sound synthesis and algorithmic control model for this piece was developed by Stelios Manousakis, see: http://modularbrains.net/research.html

Do Digital Monkeys Inhabit Virtual Trees? [2006]

(for computer processed harpsichord)

'Undercover Harpsichord Agents Terrorize The Court' is an electroacoustic tape piece, whose sound material consists of transformations of a set of harpsichord recordings performed by the composer. A controlled granular synthesis engine is used to playback and process the original material. The data structure for the process is provided by a complex hierarchical network of Lindenmayer Systems and Genetic Algorithms. This network generates a constantly varying and interconnected number of musical agents that move in a 5-dimensional space, with each dimension mapped to a certain parameter of the engine. Each active agent controls primarily one granulator but can also affect any level of the audio engine or the data structure. The agents generate a plethora of contrapuntal harpsichord voices, creating a vibrant environment under constant transformation. The original sound material is used as the seed for creating an expressive sonic palette that clashes with the traditional characteristics and use of the harpsichord. The piece commences with a sonic world slowly evolving out of noise. Contrasting musical elements struggle with each other and form sound and pattern masses with chaotic behavior that collide violently, leading to a collapse and decay of the world to its initial amorphous state.  The piece was composed in 2006.

The sound processing and algorithmic control model for this piece was developed by Stelios Manousakis, see: http://modularbrains.net/research.html


Undercover Haprsichord Agents Terrorize the Court [2006]

Stephanie Pan: Voice
Stelios Manousakis: Live Electronics

Recorded live in De Flat Studios, 28/01/2007

This piece is a setting of two poems by Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962), an American poet, painter, essayist and playwright, best known for his poems and their unconventional use of language and writing. The two poems are characteristic of Cummings' poetry, in that they express clusters of meanings delivered through different linguistic channels simultaneously: semantic, syntactic, phonemic/sonic and the visual layout. However, the poems are very different and in some aspects clashing: short versus long, visual versus sonic, quiet versus noisy, oneness versus multitude. The first poem, " l(a ", is an example of Cummings' visual poetry with its characteristic use of punctuation and layout, depicting a scene while expressing the feeling of loneliness. The second poem, "NOISE", is a sonic poem, in that the linguistic focus is often shifted to the phonemic quality of the words, while the syntax obscures the meaning to describe a noisy city environment (New York City) with all its embedded worlds and bursting sounds. The settings use extended vocal techniques, live electronics and lighting to expand the poetic language by enhancing the discourse between the different aspects of each poem, focusing on phonemes, words, phrases, images, and the overall ambiance of each section. 
The piece was written for Stephanie Pan, and it was composed in 2006-2007.

For more, see: http://modularbrains.net/twopoemsbyeecummings.html

Two Poems by E. E. Cummings: l(a  [2006-07]

Recorded live in De Flat Studios, 28/01/2007

Voice: Stephanie Pan
Live electronics, programming: Stelios Manousakis

This piece is a setting of two poems by Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962), an American poet, painter, essayist and playwright, best known for his poems and their unconventional use of language and writing. The two poems are characteristic of Cummings' poetry, in that they express clusters of meanings delivered through different linguistic channels simultaneously: semantic, syntactic, phonemic/sonic and the visual layout. However, the poems are very different and in some aspects clashing: short versus long, visual versus sonic, quiet versus noisy, oneness versus multitude. The first poem, " l(a ", is an example of Cummings' visual poetry with its characteristic use of punctuation and layout, depicting a scene while expressing the feeling of loneliness. The second poem, "NOISE", is a sonic poem, in that the linguistic focus is often shifted to the phonemic quality of the words, while the syntax obscures the meaning to describe a noisy city environment (New York City) with all its embedded worlds and bursting sounds. The settings use extended vocal techniques, live electronics and lighting to expand the poetic language by enhancing the discourse between the different aspects of each poem, focusing on phonemes, words, phrases, images, and the overall ambiance of each section.  
The piece was written for Stephanie Pan, and it was composed in 2006-2007.

For more, see: http://modularbrains.net/twopoemsbyeecummings.html

Two Poems by E. E. Cummings: NOISE   [2006-07]

About the project: 
 Stelios Manousakis' solo live electronics project merges vocabularies and approaches from different, often seemingly clashing, realms of electronic music: noise and no-input music with electroacoustic composition with vibrant underground tekno. The sets are very hands-on, using a custom-built live-electronics instrument programmed in SuperCollider. Playing it is very involved, and as real-time as playing an acoustic instrument.  Bookings/contact: stm@modularbrains.net


About the piece:
L'Hypothèse de l'Atome Primitif Sonore (‘The Primeval Sonic Atom Hypothesis’) is named after a cosmological theory, 'L'Hypothèse de l'Atome Primitif', presented in 1931 by Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître, a Belgian physicist, astronomer and priest. The theory was later mockingly dubbed by its opponents as the 'Big Bang' theory, a name with which it has become widely known ever since. Lemaître, based on Albert Einstein's general relativity theory and on Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman's equations, proposed a model of the initial conditions and subsequent development of the Universe, in which the Universe expanded and continues to expand from a single point containing extreme amounts of energy. This expansion happens in forward time and is coupled by a contraction in backward time that brings the mass of the entire Universe back into a single point (‘l'atome primitif)’, where and when the fabric of time and space comes into existence.

Lemaître’s theory is the inspiration for the structure of the piece and for the sonorities found in it. The piece begins with the bursting of a highly condensed core of sonic energy, which after a period of turbulence and constant transformation creates a plethora of sonic worlds to be observed: some slow and calm, others very fast, others oscillating, and others in chaotic states - but all constantly breeding change and transformation, even when they momentarily appear to be static. The piece zooms in and out of these worlds, looking, or rather listening, at these sonic galaxies from the cosmic to the quantum levels and in-between.

To realize the above, the piece also treats Lemaître’s theory as the conceptual starting point for the sound synthesis and control methods used, with the metaphor of a single point generating the Universe being the core of the design of the live electronics system: The system is a cybernetic model based on digital feedback, which is set in motion by one single binary digit: the primeval atom of digital technology. No other sound sources are used but real-time manipulation of that digit’s path within a synthetic sonic phase space of possibilities, thus revealing its multi-faceted potential and the emergent beauty of the constantly shifting digital universe it creates.

The piece is an Open Composition, meant to take its final shape through live performance, creating an immersive sonic experience that fluctuates between varying degrees of tension and release.


More info and a schematic of the live electronics instrument can be found here: http://modularbrains.net/lhypothesedelatomeprimitifsonore.html


Stelios Manousakis: L' Hypothèse de l' atome primitif sonore (live) [2010]

About the project: 
 This solo live electronics project merges vocabularies and approaches from different, often seemingly clashing, realms of electronic music: noise and no-input music with electroacoustic composition with vibrant underground tekno. The sets are very hands-on, using a custom-built live-electronics instrument programmed in SuperCollider. Playing it is very involved, and as real-time as playing an acoustic instrument.  
Bookings/contact: stm@modularbrains.net


About this piece:  
Fantasia On A Single Number (pronounced: /fantazía/) is an open composition that takes its final form through live performance. ‘Fantasia’ is the most open to improvisation classical music form. Described by Renaissance composer Luis de Milán in the 16th century as an instrumental composition whose form and invention spring ‘solely from the fantasy and skill of the author who created it’, the form developed considerably in the following centuries, varying widely from free, improvisatory types to much stricter contrapuntal forms, while always remaining highly virtuosic.

Fantasia On a Single Number grows from and expands on the tradition of virtuosic, 'composed improvisation', and is an exploration of the continuum between these two poles (composition / improvisation). It is an Open Composition whose structural backbone and overall dramatic arc are pre-defined, but in a manner that allows - and at specific points requires - the inclusion of spontaneous ideas and their development according to the compositional and aesthetical framework of the piece. This ensures that particular qualities and micro-moods will freely emerge and develop within each performance, while assuring that the piece always remains recognizable, retaining its formal outline, together with key sonic, gestural and motivic characteristics.

Fantasia On A Single Number is composed for a live-electronics instrument; the instrument is designed as a complex dynamical sonic system whose raw power the performer guides into states of equilibrium, oscillation, chaotic behavior, noise and silence to create an immersive sonic experience that fluctuates between varying degrees of tension and release. The piece and the instrument are based on digital feedback, set in motion by one single number which draws from the guts of the machine an intense visceral stream of bursts, rhythms, turbulence, drones and resonances. No other sound sources are used but real-time manipulation of the number's path within a synthetic space, revealing its emergent beauty as it populates a constantly shifting digital universe.

More info and a schematic of the live electronics instrument can be found here: http://modularbrains.net/fantasiaonasinglenumber.html


Stelios Manousakis: Fantasia On A Single Number (live) [2009]

Stelios Manousakis is a composer, performer, sound artist and researcher. In these capacities he strives to develop a new musical and artistic language that is both visceral and cerebral, communicating in a purely cognitive and experiential level while being complex and multilayered.

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