Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Download this live album on Bandcamp:
animalsandsynthesizers.bandcamp.com

Playing live with microscopic life forms. In collaboration with Wonder Science TV. This session was played live on Youtube on September 20th, 2020 and re-uploaded now in better quality.

00:00 - i
07:03 - ii
13:21 - iii
21:36 - iv

Video curtsy of Wonder Science TV
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQuj...

Chemosynthesizers:
Similarly to organisms that make their own food using sunlight during photosynthesis, these bacteria make their own food using chemicals. They are one of the few members of the chemosynthesizers, meaning that they can synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water using energy from inorganic compounds. These use sulphur. They are gliding, colorless, sulfur bacterium (Genus Beggiatoa, species not determined) and the iridescent spheres are intracellular sulfur globules, products of their oxidation of sulfide as an energy source. Similar metabolisms by related but different genera underpin the biological oases around many hydrothermal vent systems.

Beggiatoa are some of the largest prokaryotes (single-cell, no nucleus), being up to 200 microns in diameter. These slow moving chains of filamentous bacteria move together; they are coated in slime which helps them glide.

Synthesizers:
This session was played live using a Juno HS-60, Moog Sirin, Korg Monologue and Korg Volca Keys. Live sequencing and processing with Supercollider.