MIDI Piece - 'Fractal Window I'

Duffing Attractor This piece was created and copyrighted © 1996 by Forrest Fang using Robert Greenhouse's program, The Well-Tempered Fractal, which is available from the Fractal Music Project website. The program generates MIDI data from different types of fractals, according to certain parameters that the user sets. The one here is based on the Duffing attractor:

Several different runs of the program were 'assembled' on a commercial sequencer, and their data were slightly randomized by Mr. Fang according to whim. He then transposed the different voices into octaves that seemed to aurally complement each other. Despite all of the technical aspects involved in creating the data, the piece was generated intuitively.

The piece is designed to play in the background for those browsers that support background sound. If your browser does not support background sound, you may be able to hear the piece by clicking here. You will need a MIDI player program and sound card for your computer.


Biography - Forrest Fang

Forrest Fang studied electronic music and Western composition at Washington University at St. Louis. Several years later, he studied zheng (Chinese zither) with Zhang Yan of Mainland China, gagaku with former Japanese Imperial Court musician Suenobu Togi and gamelan with Balinese composer I Wayan Sujana. He has released six recordings for the Ominous Thud and Cuneiform labels, including his latest, "Folklore," for Cuneiform. He has also appeared as a guest musician on electro-ambient pioneer Robert Rich's Hearts of Space release, "Propagation." Mr. Fang is currently working on his seventh release, which will include elements of fractal and algorithmic composition.


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