Sounds synthesis with slime mould of Physarum Polycephalum

Miranda, Eduardo R.; Adamatzky, Andrew; Jones, Jeff

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel application of bionic engineering: a bionic musical instrument using Physarum polycephalum. Physarum polycephalum is a huge single cell with thousands of nuclei, which behaves like a giant amoeba. During its foraging behavior this plasmodium produces electrical activity corresponding to different physiological states. We developed a method to render sounds from such electrical activity and thus represent spatio-temporal behavior of slime mould in a form apprehended auditorily. The electrical activity is captured by various electrodes placed on a Petri dish containing the cultured slime mold. Sounds are synthesized by a bank of parallel sinusoidal oscillators connected to the electrodes. Each electrode is responsible for one partial of the spectrum of the resulting sound. The behavior of the slime mould can be controlled to produce different timbres. © 2011 Jilin University.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2011
• Deposit Date: Aug 25, 2015
• Journal: Journal of Bionic Engineering
• Print ISSN: 1672-6529
• Publisher: Springer (part of Springer Nature)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 107-113
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1672-6529%2811%2960016-4
• Keywords: Physarum polycephalum, bionic musical instrument, unconventional computing, sound synthesis, sonification
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/962094
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1672-6529(11)60016-4
• Contract Date: Apr 7, 2016