Work is coming to a climax on the Fragmented Orchestra, with more sound transmission sites being installed around the UK on a daily basis. There are 24 sites in total, spread as far afield as Inverness, Belfast and Cornwall, so it's no small feat to co-ordinate and maintain; it's also vital that each site provides a reliable 24/7 audio stream to the central neuro-granulation server at the FACT gallery for the duration of the installation, a requirement which has thrown up a number of unexpected obstacles. One illuminating example is the site at the Kielder Observatory, Cumbria, which is not connected to the Internet and so is hooked up via an RF transceiver to the nearby village, at which point the radio transmission is encoded in real-time and streamed via the net to the neural server. This then relays the mixed-down stream to the web for (eventually) web clients to listen in to. Heavens.

Still, the infrastructure is now mostly in place. I accompanied Nick on Thursday's installation at Brighton's West Pier, which remains an icon of the city despite being rendered a skeletal hulk by a fire in early 2003. The soundbox itself is installed in the beach hut at the end of the pier, picking up an evocative mix of seagulls, waves and passers-by - and relaying the neuro-granulated stream through the resonant surface of its window.

As we were finishing laying the cables for the site, we were fortunate enough to witness what is apparently another iconic Brighton sight: the nesting of a staggeringly vast flock of starlings, who gather together each dusk to swoop around the pier before landing on it to rest. Never before have I seen flocking on such a remarkable scale.

It's busy season again. The dead laptop has returned from its 5-week absence to be greeted with a nonstop influx of work: some for The Fragmented Orchestra, whose systems development is now well underway, giving me a new insight into the perils of pthreads, concurrent programming and network resilience; soundtracking this unbelievably auteured gem, alongside filmmaker Garry Sykes; and, most of all, this:

The annual show by What They Could Do is once more almost upon us, and as frantic preparations come to a close, a thrilling lineup has emerged from the dust, featuring the world premiere of Karaoke amongst other things. One week to go...

I was delighted to discover that the Fragmented Orchestra won last night's annual PRS New Music award -- a thoroughly well-deserved accolade for this brilliant trio, who will be realizing the project at FACT in Liverpool over the next few months, alongside field work at the 24 neural sites around the UK that make up the project's cross-geographical cortex.

The Fragmented Orchestra is a groundbreaking composition that will mirror the function of the human brain and the way it processes sound. At the heart of this pioneering new work are 24 ‘neuron units’ placed across the UK in locations chosen for their inherent sonic rhythms. These will include a football stadium, cathedral, dairy farm, school playground, motorway crash barrier and a field. Each solar powered Soundbox contains an artificial neuron modeled on those which fire within the brain’s cortex and will be attached to a resonant surface. Inside these devices, the size of a video cassette, is a minute microphone, computer, Feonic FI drive and amplifier, which will capture the huge array of sounds made at each location.

As each of the ‘neurons’ are stimulated by sound, created by both the public and the elements, they will select audio fragments to be streamed across an invisible network or cortex created between them. Using cutting edge technology, this cortex will form a living instrument which communicates with itself and in turn its audience. The total composition is created through newly-developed software and constantly evolves as the micro-fragments of sound are heard as music.

There's also a stunning introductory video which gives a more informative outline.

I'm honoured to have been invited to develop the project's digital interactive structure, including a web-based element which will allow a visitor to explore each of the neural sites and listen to the collective output of this 'living instrument'. More news on this soon!