Concept Album With MBCIU 7T MRI >:) by Hextape

MRI systems are one of the few scientific instruments that can double as musical instruments. They create unique rhythmic sounds when acquiring images which have been a source of inspiration to artists and engineers alike. Many a scan subject has tried to find meaning in the sounds of an MRI pulse sequence.

It is no wonder then that musicians looking to capture the MRI experience have sampled and incorporated these sounds into their music. MRI engineers have been known to use MRI systems as musical  instruments   -  you may have seen this video of a pulse sequence that has been programmed to  emulate the classic rock riff in Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" (Originally  part of ISMRM Sound and Vision 2001). More recently, in 2015, a research group from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio published their work on a more sophisticated method of encoding music into a MRI pulse sequence that produces data along with the music. The publication can be found here and you can listen to the pulse sequence here.

In November 2022 artist Hextape released the concept album ">:)" which incorporates recordings of the MBCIU 7T MRI. We are proud to have played a role in this and it is wonderful to hear our instrument incorporated into this artwork. The album can be found on Hextape's bandcamp page; we highly recommend you listen: