page_title: FM3
section_title: Buddha Machine
hierarchical_section_title: FM3 / Buddha Machine
caption_attribution_description: Buddha Machine 2.0 Version 2 has a pitch control so you can speed up or slow down the loops. It's nice. Build quality on this version isn't as good as the first one though.
context_page_description: FM3 is the Beijing, China-based music duo of Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian. They are considered among the pioneers of electronic music in China. Since 1999, Virant and Jian have been creating meditative music by combining the sound of Chinese classical instruments with modern digital techniques. The duo is best known for its 2005 release, the Buddha Machine loop player.
context_section_description: In 2005, FM3 began work on a small musical loop player that the group called the Buddha Machine. The Buddha Machine fulfills certain criteria of a generative music device, while the idea of layering loops of ambient sound is credited to Brian Eno, who worked similarly using tape machines for installations. Eno was himself an early supporter of the Buddha Machine.
  Roughly the size of a pack of cigarettes, the device features a single toggle switch to cycle through samples, a combined power and volume dial, and an integrated speaker. The device contains a chip holding nine digitally encoded drones, ranging in length from 1.5 to 40 seconds. The name and idea is derived from a popular Chinese device that intones repeating loops of Buddhist chanting. In an interview with the public radio show Studio 360, regarding the creation of the Buddha Machine, Virant said he was inspired by a device found in a Buddhist temple. Attracted to its design, he applied its construction as a means of presenting his loop-based music.
  Following the original version, two other editions of the Buddha Machine have been released: The second unit, released in 2008, features nine new loops and pitch control, while the third unit (entitled Chan Fang 禅房; translated as Zen Room) – released in 2010 – replaced the electronic drones on the first two units with loops performed on the Gu Qin, an ancient Chinese classical instrument. Following the release of the third version, the band also produced apps for the iPhone and iPad with similar functionality to the physical devices.
  The pair collaborated with industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle and Industrial Records in 2009 to make a Buddha Machine model entitled "Gristleism". According to the promotional material, the Gristleism features "thirteen original and uncompromising loops" and a “mix of signature TG experimental noise, industrial drone, and classic melodies and rhythms”. As of March 2014, the limited-edition product is no longer available.
  In November 2012, the fourth-generation Buddha Machine was released, containing eight new loops and encased in a “dayglo” case that was available in four colours. In 2013, FM3 collaborated with Japanese musician Keigo Oyamada, better known as Cornelius, to produce a loop-playing device called “Ghost in the Machine”. The device contains three tracks from Oyamada's soundtrack for the anime film Ghost in the Shell: Arise.
  David Byrne, in his book How Music Works, references the Buddha Machine as an early step toward a future where all types of music could be machine generated. Additionally, in his online journal, Byrne compared the device to both the work of composer John Cage and oral literary traditions, writing in 2011:
  
  …a transistor radio sized device that plays endlessly changing sounds, chosen by the program, from a given set of notes and sounds. There is, as one would expect, no arc to these compositions – no beginning, middle and/or end. They are merely states of being, not substitutes for narrative. These indeterminate scores can be viewed a bit like the literature that emerges out of oral traditions – the great epics and sagas.
  A Buddha Machine collaboration with Philip Glass, Philip Glass 80, was released in January 2017 to celebrate the composer's 80th birthday.
  The original Buddha Machine 1 was re-released in a slightly redesigned form in November 2017, available in four colors: green, blue, red, and orange.
caption: Buddha Machine 2.0
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