ICAD02-1 LIQUIPRISM: GENERATING POLYRHYTHMS WITH CELLULAR AUTOMATA

This paper describes a MIDI instrument for the generative composition of polyrhythmic patterns. Patterns are determined by the activation of cells in a non-homogeneous set of inter-connected cellular automata grids which form the faces of a cube in virtual three-dimensional space. This paper discusses the selection of the rules of the cellular automata which enable rhythmic outcomes to be generated by the system, and the motivation for organizing the cells in their current configuration. The fluid sonification and visualization of the cellular automata arrays was a specific aim of this work for gallery installation. Hence the means by which the rigidly-defined and deterministic automata behave was intended to be visualized and sonified in such a way as to convey a sense of emerging liquidity from the mechanism. A brief discussion of these issues appears in this paper. 1