Entropic Death (2007)

Entropic Death can be accurately described as a "process piece" in which rigid precompositional algorithms determine the evolution of the music. Two sine tones start at 400 Hz and randomly move up or down one Hz every five milliseconds. When each of the tones gets to a point either 50 Hz above or below where they started, they "split" into four, with two tones at 350 Hz and two at 450 Hz. This process continues until there are a total of 14 sine tones spanning a frequency range of 50-750 Hz. When the last tone of the last generation reaches its destination, a short celebratory coda articulates all of the destination frequencies along the way (a harmonic series with a fundamental of 50 Hz).

Since the pitch fluctuation of the sine tones is completely random, the piece could conceivably last anywhere from a few seconds to forever (although practically speaking it would be limited to the lifespan of my computer). It usually ends up taking around five minutes.

duration: 5:00 | mp3