PLACEB0_BUTT0N is an experimental ambient music project by John Beers (Luciftias). The music is created through a generative, rule-based process that begins with images, some produced through text-prompt tools, others created by hand or through non-AI methods. These images are resized and processed using a custom Python utility (image2sound), which converts the color values of each pixel into raw audio data.

The resulting color-audio files are shaped by human decisions: tempo, key, structure, phrasing, and performance. They are mixed in Audacity, expanded in stereo, and enhanced with reverb, EQ, and dynamic shaping to reach their final form.

Please note: Although some artwork prompts have involved AI tools, the music itself is not AI-generated. Every sound originates from the color data of the images and the compositional choices applied to them.

The name "placebo button" reflects the project's conceptual roots. Inspired by the Type O Negative quote "Functionless Art Is Simply Tolerated Vandalism...We Are The Vandals," the project embraces the idea of art as a beautiful, intentional non-mechanism, a button that appears to do something, yet whose true effect lies entirely in the experience of the listener.

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Open source philosophy is at the core of this project. From the software used in its creation to the licensing of the audio itself. Here are a few of the projects I use:

• Python - The programming language I use in creating image2sound
• image2sound - Python utility to convert images to audio
• Fedora Silverblue - Atomic desktop Linux distribution
• Audacity - audio editing
• Inkscape - vector image editing
• GIMP - image editing
• OBS Studio - video capture
• Cavalier - audio visualizer
• Ear Tag - audio file tag editor
• Peertube - decentralized video sharing
• Mastodon - decentralized social network
• Funkwhale - decentralized music sharing
• Bandwagon - open community for musicians and bands

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