COUNTERSOUL is a real-time, in browser generative music & visual performance of the Bitcoin blockchain. Its development began in late 2021, and completed in January 2023 and is the first generative musical composition inscribed on Bitcoin, and essentially was the beginning of the development of our generative –Music Engine–.
The work brings the fundamentals of the Bitcoin blockchain into a generative (forever different and changing) musical system. COUNTERSOUL’s algorithmic base continually generates all aspects of music and visual elements in real time based on the current block height number of the Bitcoin blockchain as it’s sole input.
the Performance of COUNTERSOUL
COUNTERSOUL was intended to be listened to over long periods of time. With it’s ever-evolving design, it ensures a unique listening experience every time you play it. The sequencing and phrasing of COUNTERSOUL makes for easy background listening whilst doing work on a computer. A great example is to listen to COUNTERSOUL whilst you wait for a transaction to confirm, being notified by subtle changes in the music when a new block is mined.
COUNTERSOUL will run in most web browsers, but consider using modern hardware and up to date web browsers for an optimal experience.
–Click Anywhere within the live COUNTERSOUL window below to start the music:–
Bitcoin Block Height
The block height value is converted to a Hex colour code and used to determine the main colour featured in the work at any time. Blocks are continually added to the bitcoin blockchain, so COUNTERSOUL evolves as this proceeds. The frequency of changes to the block height is unpredictable, but on average a block is added about every 10 minutes. In addition, COUNTERSOUL responds in different ways to special block height numbers and lead ups to on-chain events such as the mining difficulty adjustments, halvenings etc. and is programmed to continue doing this into the future.
Generative Music
The music and sounds are produced in real-time by the code and uses randomness to ensure that the music and visuals continuously vary in subtle ways. COUNTERSOUL employs a combination of pre-composed elements and a generative sequencer.
Reverb and Delay
Sounds are passed through effects for additional spaciousness and ambience. In particular, COUNTERSOUL makes use of delays (echoes) and reverberation. These effects are built from scratch in the code. The reverb algorithm is custom made for COUNTERSOUL based on multiple feedback delay lines.
Virtual Synthesizers
The sounds produced by COUNTERSOUL are synthesized. This means that the code includes virtual instruments for making the sounds to play the generative music composition. These synthesizers uses various types of synthesizers including subtractive, frequency modulation, and stochastic synthesizer techniques.
The Sequencer
The music of Countersoul employs a combination of pre-composed elements and a generative sequencer. Other parts are comprised of probabilistic sequences that update from time to time. The density and level of playback of these sequenced parts varies over time in response to blockchain state and events. All musical parts are subject to quantisation against metrical time and harmonic progression.
Generative Graphics
The visual elements of COUNTERSOUL are generative and synchronous with the music. The scalable vector graphics (SVG) routines built into modern browsers are used for drawing the visual elements. This ensures that they will appear clear and crisp at any resolution and on any screen size. SVG elements are programmatically created and deprecated as required in response to the music or blockchain events. Even though there is no technical limit to the complexity of the visual elements, a balance between generation and depreciation maintains a reasonably consistent work load for the device running COUNTERSOUL.
The Code
The code is only Javascript, css + html, using only built-in functions provided by standards-compliant browsers and the 37KB codebase does not use any external libraries. The minified code includes an interchangable URL which the user can forever input their choice of block height input data (API), which is the sole datapoint for COUNTERSOUL to function.
On-Chain Provenance
You can view your specific COUNTERSOUL version (1-25) in the browser by accessing the countersoul-editions live links, accessible HERE.
COUNTERSOUL #1, #2 & #3 Sold at Scarce City Auction House
COUNTERSOUL Editions #1, #2 and #3 were auctioned on the Scarce City auction house, a marketplace that uses Bitcoin technology to sell Bitcoin related art and physical goods for Bitcoin, The editions collectively sold for 0.555 BTC.
About Bitcoin
Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. Bitcoin is open-source; its design is public, nobody owns or controls Bitcoin and everyone can take part. Through many of its unique properties, Bitcoin allows exciting uses that could not be covered by any previous payment system.
An Introduction to Bitcoin – Andreas Antonopoulos
Andreas Antonopoulos is one of the most trusted and entertaining educators in the bitcoin industry. He’s known for his unbiased, honest, easy to understand explanations of complex things – like bitcoin itself. Watch this video to learn what bitcoin is, why it’s different from current systems you already know (like banking), and how it might affect all of us in the future. At the end there are some great questions, ones you’ve probably already asked or will be asking.
COUNTERSOUL
Artist: Music Non Stop
Released: 10/02/2023
Build Time: 18 Months
–Generative Audio/Visual–