--- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com , Bakis Sirros <synth_freak_2000@...> wrote:

>
> prime divisions
> please, refresh my maths a bit...
>

hi Bakis

Sorry to drag the conversation back to this, but you did ask.
The reason this idea came to mind was a recent piece in The Times referring to a lecture by Marcus du Sautoy at the Royal Society available here: http://royalsociety.org/Video-Library/#

Entitled The secret mathematicians, it concerned the use of maths in art and starts with a piece by Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time. It uses rhythms of 17 and 29 beats - as these are prime numbers, a sequence would not repeat (at least until you get to 17*29).

I think La Monte Young used primes too.

The lecture also refers to the Fibonacci series which I think is mentioned in a later post but I haven't got there yet.

Anyway, as I play with long automated noises, I thought prime-based rhythms would be fun.

A prime number is only divisible by one and itself (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 etc).

Cheers, Nick