AMAZE YOUR FRIENDS!
ANNOY YOUR CO-WORKERS!
ZONE OUT IN GENERAL!
Press the Play button to hear a composition by
Hamlet.
Hamlet is an aleatoric composer/artist
existing in the guise of a screensaver.
Aleatoric composition is a method of
composition involving random numbers. Hamlet first composes a
piece of music then plays the composition through your MIDI
Interface or Sound Card. As it plays back the composition, Hamlet
draws various geometric shapes and/or performs various bitmap
operations to your screen. The size, shape, color, and movement
of these graphic images are based upon the musical parameters of
the composition. Upon completion of the composition, Hamlet
clears the screen, composes another piece of music, and begins
again.
The effect of this screensaver can be quite
jarring. The music it creates is reminiscent of 20th Century
Avant Garde composition. However, if you watch the screen as the
music plays, you will be drawn to it as you see the interaction
of music and image. The effect can be quite hypnotic.
Hamlet's composing engine is not completely
random (although at first listen it is hard to believe). Hamlet
creates musical movements and phrases that are repeated during
the composition (much like the verse/chorus/bridge structure in
Popular Music). Part of the fun consists of identifying these
phrases and their repetition.
Click on the Download Link below that matches
your version of Windows. Running the downloaded EXE file will
automatically unzip the "HAMLET.SCR", "HAMLET.HLP",
and "HAMLET.TXT" files into the appropriate Windows
directory and Hamlet will show up in the list of screensavers
found in the Display Control Panel of Windows95 (or the Desktop
Control Panel of Windows3x).
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