Pieces created using Lindenmayer systems (L-systems) for non-standard sound synthesis and algorithmic control structures.
See: http://modularbrains.net/research.html

Fixed medium music (L-systems)

(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]

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.