Welsh software that “turns DNA into music” was originally developed on a Mac, according to a News Wales article. The software, which converts a person’s DNA sequence into music, is now available free online, thanks to the work of computer scientists at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
ProteinMusic is a Java program that was originally developed in 1996 by Dr Ross King, who was then working for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, and pop-star Colin Angus of the Shamen, according to the article. A song, “S2 Translation,” based on PM, appeared on the Shamen album, “Axis-mutatis.”
“King and Angus developed a program written in C on an Apple Mac together with a MIDI connection to a synthesizer,” according to News Wales. “Such specialist music software and synthesizers were required to run the program at the time. However, advances in technology mean that a completely re-written version of PM developed by Dr. King and Andreas Karwath, who both work at the Department of Computer Science at UWA, can now run on any standard personal computer that has a sound card.”
King said the idea behind the program is to illustrate the complexity and beauty of the structure of proteins. Further information about ProteinMusic, along with instructions for downloading can be found online. (Thanks to MacCentral reader, English Darren, for the heads-up on this item.)