Ilpo Väisänen, Dirk Dresselhaus

On October 30, 2021, Brainwave Music No. III was recorded live as part of a series of ten groundbreaking Brain Wave sound installation performances by Ilpo Väisänen and Dirk Dresselhaus (die Angel). The event took place in the evocative setting of the Life on a Leaf House in Turku, Finland.  

At the core of this performance was an interactive system driven by brainwave interfaces. Harnessing the performers’ neural activity, the system enabled Väisänen and Dresselhaus to directly process and shape the output of several semi-modular synthesizers via control voltage (CV). In this way, their states of mind became an active compositional force, blurring the boundary between human consciousness and machine-generated sound. The result is a sonic exploration that challenges conventional approaches to electronic music performance. Brainwave Music No. III reflects moments of synchronicity, tension, and transcendence — offering listeners a rare opportunity to experience what happens when inner mental landscapes are externalized into pure sound.