This software randomly generates house music using the number pi. Pi is the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference, a number with infinite digits in a random non-repeating sequence.
The software progressively calculates the sequence of digits in pi, starting at 3.14 and progressing towards infinity. As the program calculates the digits, it feeds the results into an algorithmic music generator containing my structural criteria for house music. The resulting piece of house music is infinitely long and static and never repeats itself.
The number of processor cycles required to calculate pi increase with the number of digits it is calculated to. After months or years of playing the song, any fixed computer hardware will be unable to calculate the digits fast enough for the song to play continuously.
The rate that the number of processor cycles increase per pi-digit is bound by the formula N*log(N). However based on Moore's Law, processor power per dollar increases at an exponential rate, doubling every two years. By upgrading computers regularly with market trends, the song can be played indefinitely.
-- FROM THE ARTIST'S STATEMENT
The number of processor cycles required to calculate pi increase with the number of digits it is calculated to. After months or years of playing the song, any fixed computer hardware will be unable to calculate the digits fast enough for the song to play continuously.
This is very nice when talking to people in the "art" world but the problem of generating pi digits in short amounts of time has been solved since the 70s – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauss%E2%80%93Legendre_algorithm.
N*log(N) is the same as log(N)^N right? I need to brush up on some of my mathematics! XD
But yea, i think that's really interesting what you've done there. Pi never fails to fascinate anyone and everyone who understands its significance in the world around us. But i was wondering if you could do the same thing for the exponential function e? or is the algorithm for getting that calculated a lot more complex and hence heavier for a computer processor to do quick enough to make music?