Mushroom in the Wild Playing Synth

Bioelectrical fluctuations in the mushroom are controlling the robotic arms. I spent the day searching around for a suitable specimens then this appeared just as I was about to give up. The mushroom is an Amanita Rubescens/ Blusher (I hope!) which is closely related to a Fly Agaric. This has got to be one of the funkiest mushrooms I’ve ever connected up. It was creating lots of signals, possibly due to the sun and wind on the filming day, and all the rain we’ve had recently. The MIDI controller is controlling a synth in Ableton Live. There's a bit of an LFO on a chord effect which is why the pitch altering a little each time the beater hits the pad. It adds a nice, organic, human-like instability to the sound because no two hits sound exactly the same. The film was made in Snake Woodlands in Derbyshire. This production and experimentation is funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.