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…and to his magical instrument, the Blippoo Box

 

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“I have always considered sound a “material” to sculpt; thus I consider the “art” aspect of the Blippoo Box to consist of how it sculpts sound into abstract sonic soundscapes. This art is interactive, as the optional “playing” of the box can be a performing art, and hence the box becomes a musical instrument as well. To play a Blippoo Box means to anticipate what the box is doing and not vice versa, as the behavior can only be predicted in a broad sense. This forces the player to improvise.”

“Chaos theory assumes that nature is ruled by endless chains of causes and effects. These chains form a multidimensional matrix where all the chains are interconnected while combining to form more complex chains on larger scales. It interests me from an artistic point of view that many natural processes are balanced systems that appear to have many possible stable states, in which the chains of cause and effect repeat themselves.”

excerpts from Rob Hordijk, ‘The Blippoo Box: A Chaotic Electronic Music Instrument, Bent by Design’

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Gibber was a very nice gift Rob sent me last summer, after finally moving and and settling in Mallorca. As he knew about my love for early speech synths and my hacked Texas Instruments’ toys, he sent me the Gibber board, which I mounted on an empy Speak& Spell box and added a couple of pressure sensors to the circuit. Such a fun and very nice sound design, based on a 40-year old SPO256-AL2 speech chip.

Gibber with Blippoo

 

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At times I spend a lot of time with these beautiful instruments as I find their company very instructive in many ways. Still some people ask me about these “pieces”…, well they are not pieces, they are mainly fragments of an everyday sound practice, ‘musicking’ if you wish, and beyond Kant and his ‘contemplations’. Everything I do with sound and not, aspires to be speechless, without the urgency of communicating anything. If it expresses anything at all, that is pure character, essence more than intentionality. It manifests potential energy more than activity, relying on its own bare existence and ephemerality. The ephemerality and beauty of the creative spirit of some many wonderful people like Rob. The presence of his sounds will continue to resonate with us.

Thank you for your beautiful instruments and sounds.

RIP Rob Hordijk (1958-2022)

 

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