ptera

Six snare drums. Twelve electromagnets.

Everything you hear is generated by the snare drums themselves. No synthesizers. No samples. No hidden sound sources. By driving the snare wires at audio rates with electromagnets, the drums leave their familiar role behind and become acoustic oscillators.

Working with such an instrument also demands a different way of composing. The custom software developed for ptera draws on the principles of modular systems. Rather than prescribing fixed outcomes, it creates conditions for happy accidents to emerge. Composition becomes a dialogue with the instrument, where intuition, chance, and the behaviour of the material continuously shape the music.

This relationship extends beyond the software. The subs don't add another sound source; they complete the instrument, entering into a symbiosis with the snares and allowing their lowest frequencies to unfold as a tangible physical presence.

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displayed at Gare du Nord, Basel (CH) | Society for Arts and Technology [SAT], Montréal (CAN)