Semblance of Fern (2025)
Semblance of Fern is a module developed in collaboration with composer Sarah Belle Reid in 2025, to support the creation of an installation of the same name. The installation was commissioned by the Experimental Sound Studio of Chicago, as part of their Florasonic series—produced in conjunction with Chicago’s Lincoln Park Conservatory. The piece was installed at the Conservatory beginning in October 2025, and ran for several weeks. All sounds in the Semblance of Fern installation and live premiere performance were generated using a [Nonlinear] Dynamics system and the initial Particle Simulator prototype.
The Semblance of Fern module presents an adaptation of the famous Barnsley Fern, a simple recursive mathematical formula that is used to “draw” fractal fern-like shapes. The basic concept of the module is that it uses the Barnsley Fern as a control voltage generator, producing continuously-evolving voltages that follow the algorithm’s psuedorandom production of successive pairs of X and Y coordinates.
Part of the process of realizing the module involved developing strategies for normalizing and interpolating the typical output of the Barnsley Fern algorithm. Additionally, Sarah Belle Reid developed several “tweaked” versions of the original algorithm, which she refers to as “mutants”—essentially, adjustments to the algorithm that produce various fern-like and non-fern-like shapes. The module offers access to all of these so-called mutant ferns, along with a pair of outputs dedicated to producing the original, unadulterated Barnsley Fern. Additional provisions include options for variable quantization and interpolation of the output signals, as well as continuous control of the algorithm’s calculation rate.
For more information regarding the module’s operation and its role within the piece Semblance of Fern, see the above video, produced by Reid in late fall of 2025.
As of February 2026, only two Semblance of Fern modules have been produced, both of which are with Sarah Belle Reid.