Tristan Perich’s 1-Bit Symphony (2009–10) is an electronic composition in five movements on a single microchip housed in a CD jewel case. 1-Bit Symphony is not a recording in the traditional sense; it is a complete electronic circuit that literally performs its music once it is turned on. Programmed by the artist and assembled by hand, the circuit plays the music through a headphone jack set into the case itself.
Using the same format as Perich’s lauded (and sold out) 1-Bit Music, 1-Bit Symphony reduces the hardware involved in that earlier piece, while expanding its musical ideas. 1-Bit Symphony utilizes on-and-off electrical pulses, synthesized by assembly code and routed from microchip to speaker, to manifest data as sound. The device treats electricity as a sonic medium, making an intimate connection between the materiality of hardware and the abstract logic of software.
While 1-Bit Symphony is purely electronic in its execution, its contents reflect Perich’s longstanding interest in orchestral composition. Since 2006, Perich’s compositional work has combined one-bit audio—the lowest possible digital representation of audio—with acoustic classical instruments, providing insight into the conceptual and aesthetic relationships between physical and electronic sound. With 1-Bit Symphony, Perich brings this insight back into the digital realm, juxtaposing the grand form of a classical symphony with the minimal nature of one-bit circuitry.
Audio: 1-Bit Symphony (Movement 2, 2009). Composed and designed by Tristan Perich. Image: Tristan Perich holding his 1-Bit Symphony. Image by: D. Yee.
Tristan Perich‘s work is inspired by the aesthetic simplicity of math, physics and code. The Wire magazine describes his compositions as “an austere meeting of electronic and organic.” 1-Bit Music, his 2004 release, was the first album ever released as a microchip, programmed to synthesize his electronic composition live. His latest circuit album, 1-Bit Symphony (Cantaloupe, 2010) has received critical acclaim, called “sublime” (New York Press), and the Wall Street Journal said “its oscillations have an intense, hypnotic force and a surprising emotional depth.” His award winning work coupling 1-bit electronics with traditional forms in both music (Active Field, Observations) and visual art (Machine Drawings, Microtonal Wall) has been presented around the world, from Sonar and Ars Electronica to the Whitney Museum and bitforms gallery. www.tristanperich.com