Bytebeat Metabiosis

One-bit music is created by turning a voltage signal on and off to create pulses that vary only in their interval. This simple sound generation method was typical of video game consoles and home computers of the early 1980s, later explored through the demoscene’s interest in minimal audio-visual presentations. In 2011 Ville-Matias Heikkilä (AKA Viznut) reduced the necessary code to a single expression in the language C. This technique, known as bytebeat, conforms to the category of low-complexity art as defined by Schmidhuber (1997).

“Bytebeat Metabiosis” is performed using a simple Arduino device running bytebeat code. Four parameters can be modified in real-time to unpredictably explore the “phase space” of the code. The visuals are prepared using an analogue video circuit of square wave generators, patched to create modulations and interference patterns. The performance can be seen as a collaboration between biotic (human) and abiotic (electronic circuit) entities, mirroring our embedded situation in a techno-ecological world. The circuit creates a suitable environment for the performer’s actions, a symbiotic relationship known as metabiosis. This improvisation illustrates how simple algorithmic methods generate epiphenomena of aesthetic interest, a metaphor for life itself.

Performance

“Bytebeat Metabiosis” will premiere at MANTIS (Manchester Theatre in Sound) Festival, University of Manchester, 28-29 October 2023.