The newly upgraded Buddha Machine (version 2.0) is getting remixed, barely weeks into its commercial release. Over at Kill Ugly Radio (i.e., uglyradio.wordpress.com), the “piano” loop from the Buddha Machine 2.0 has been taken, backward-masked, and mixed as a conflation of three overlapping samples (MP3). The result is a kind of abstract chamber minimalism. It clocks in at three minutes, and though it’s built from a sample only 26 seconds long, the repeated material sounds fresh on each cycle, thanks to the shifting context of layered pianos and the lightly introduced digital effects.
The Buddha Machine is a small device that resembles an AM radio. It doesn’t receive signals, though — it contains nine short loops that can be alternated through at the push of a button. Remixing is appropriate for a machine whose second iteration (which includes nine new loops, and the ability to slow or speed a given loop) was inspired by what musicians did with its first release. Christiaan Virant, one half of duo FM3 that created the Buddha Machine, said the following in an interview on Disquiet.com earlier this month: “It was really the fans that made us think about how to improve and upgrade the box. We always considered the Buddha Machine as our ‘album.’ But many, many people out there were inspired to use it as an instrument.” Read the full interview here: “Buddha Machine, Reloaded,” disquiet.com.