FontanaMixer is a generative sound environment by Karlheinz Essl based on John Cage’s conceptual piece “Fontana Mix” (1958).
“In 2004 I received a commission by the festival WIEN MODERN for creating a new realization of this piece. After starting using the graphical procedures as they where described in the score I realised that I would not come any further: It would have taken me months to finish the piece if I had measured thousands of parameter values. Instead of the graphical random generator that John Cage supplies with his piece I used realtime random generators of my Realtime Composition Library in a computer program written in Max/MSP. By sticking to the concept of Cage I created a version which duration is not limited but infinite and which would always create new and unforseeable structures.”
A stereo version with 4 sound sources is available for Mac OS X as freeware.
