Buddha Machine 2.0

1/16/2009, 8:29 PM
From: Aural States
By: Alex Mudge

Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian are a husband and wife ambient music duo living in Beijing. Virant and Jian (their group goes by the name FM3) decided in 2005 to forgo the traditional means of releasing material–CDs, or mp3s to be played through computers and iPods. Instead, FM3 took their cue from small transistor radio-like, handheld devices that loop Buddhist chants favored by some devout Chinese. From that notion came the first Buddha Machine–a brightly colored plastic device that contained nine audio loops ranging from five to forty seconds. The small unit was fitted with its own speaker. The loops would play infinitely (or as long as battery life would dictate), or until the listener selected a new loop.

Since its 2005 release the Buddha Machine has taken on a life of its own branching far out from the the ambient music devotees. This thing has become big in the DIY circuit bending world. FM3 encourages listeners of the Buddha Machine to interact with the music, and the loops are available for download under a creative commons license.