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Sounds synthesis with slime mould of Physarum Polycephalum

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research (ICCMR), University of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL48AA, UK

    Eduardo R. Miranda

  2. Unconventional Computing Centre, University of the West of England, Bristol, BS16 1QY, UK

    Andrew Adamatzky & Jeff Jones

Authors
  1. Eduardo R. Miranda
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  2. Andrew Adamatzky
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  3. Jeff Jones
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Correspondence to Eduardo R. Miranda.

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Miranda, E.R., Adamatzky, A. & Jones, J. Sounds synthesis with slime mould of Physarum Polycephalum. J Bionic Eng 8, 107–113 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/S1672-6529(11)60016-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1672-6529(11)60016-4

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