A.I.F.X

A.I.F.X [2019, AI, CRYPTO, WEB-ART]

AIFX is an experimental music and digital performance project that merges blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, and live music experiences within the metaverse. It was the first-ever token-gated virtual concert, accessible exclusively through AIFX NFTs, which functioned as cryptographic tickets. At its core, the project explored the potential of AI-generated music, with an AI model trained on the sonic structures of Aphex Twin performing in a decentralised, digital venue. By integrating generative sound with blockchain-based access, AIFX questioned contemporary notions of authorship, spectatorship, and digital ownership, proposing a new model for experiencing live music in virtual spaces.

AIFX NFTs: Decentralised Cultural Capital

AIFX functioned as an experiment in token-based cultural access, where ownership of an NFT conferred not merely collectible value but the ability to participate in a temporary, metaverse-based concert environment. Unlike conventional ticketing infrastructures—typically regulated by commercial gatekeeping and centralized distribution—the AIFX NFT collection reimagined performance access as a cryptographic protocol, ensuring an immutable, non-transferable form of entry.

This framework was particularly significant within the context of Web3 economies and contemporary digital art practices, as it suggested an alternative model of engagement:

⋆ Beyond Spectatorship – Rather than positioning the audience as passive observers, AIFX’s NFT infrastructure suggested a model of collective co-ownership, where presence within the event space was contingent on digital asset possession.

⋆ Decentralised Cultural Capital – The NFTs operated as a form of cultural currency, where participation was bound to blockchain-mediated authentication rather than institutional or corporate platforms.

⋆ Programmable and Scarce Participation – The token-gated system ensured an exclusive audience, raising critical questions about the politics of access within digital culture.

A.I Aphex Twin

The AIFX sound model was an early exploration into AI-generated music performance, utilizing recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to analyze and synthesize compositional patterns derived from Aphex Twin’s work. Unlike later transformer-based models that prioritize vast data synthesis and high-fidelity generative output, AIFX emerged in a period when AI music composition was still bound by the limitations of early machine learning architectures—characterized by a rough, often uncanny aesthetic reminiscent of fragmented MIDI sequences and erratic algorithmic improvisations. This was not an attempt to directly reproduce the artist’s sound but rather to construct an autonomous system capable of generating new compositions within an inferred stylistic framework.

Trained on a limited dataset of Aphex Twin’s MIDI compositions, the model captured latent harmonic and rhythmic structures, producing outputs that oscillated between the familiar and the alien. Its generative process was contingent on the recursive nature of RNNs, which struggle with long-range dependencies yet lend themselves to the glitchy, fractured temporalities that became an aesthetic hallmark of early AI-generated music. This raw, synthetic quality aligned with a broader cultural moment in which AI was perceived less as a tool for high-fidelity replication and more as an unstable, emergent collaborator—a theme echoed in early deep learning art experiments and GAN-generated imagery.

The Metaverse Concert Hall: A Decentralised, Networked Performance Environment

The AIFX event space was designed as a bespoke metaverse venue, a fully digital performance hall existing outside traditional institutional frameworks. This environment was conceived not as a mere digital stage but as a conceptual and technological proposition, testing the limits of networked performance, virtual embodiment, and audience agency.

⋆ Exclusive and Encrypted – Access was controlled entirely by AIFX token ownership, enforcing a cryptographic model of performance admission.

⋆ Algorithmic Aesthetics – The visual and sonic elements were non-static, responding to live inputs and engagement from the NFT-holding audience.

⋆ A Critique of Platform Capitalism – The event functioned independently of major social media and streaming platforms, highlighting the potential of peer-to-peer, decentralized cultural distribution.