Hello analog electronic bird fans – artist Kelly Heaton has organized & published videos of birdsong circuits in one spot! The videos are ordered chronologically so you can see Kelly’s process unfold over time (2018-2022) #ai #circuit #bird #electronicart #PCB ⚡️🐦💛
Documentation of analog electronic circuits that generate bird-like sounds These include my Printed Circuit Birds (2019 – current), transparent birds (2018 – 2020), and paintings of birds with embedded circuitry (2018). This collection also includes footage of my breadboarding process to develop my designs. At the heart of these circuits are systems of coupled oscillators, ranging from only four units to as many as six. These oscillating systems can be thought as a very primitive brain with a handful of neurons that charge and trigger each other. Because they are capacitively coupled together in a system, the oscillators form a vibrating web of electrical relationships that can be hard to predict. The oscillators affect each other to form complex patterns, i.e. syntax and grammar, that are amplified so we can hear the flow of electricity as a “birdsong.” I do not use software or recorded audio — all of the sounds are dynamically generated by the analog electronics you see. My most common method to generate oscillation is the astable multivibrator. My circuits are also environmentally responsive thanks to sensors, such as light-sensitive resistors, which give them an even more life-like quality. For more information on how I develop life-like circuits, please look at “Electronic Naturalism” and “Hacking Nature’s Musicians.”
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