This talk of "universal music" puts me in mind of Arthur C Clarke's short story The Ultimate Melody from Tales From The White Hart. This is one of a collection of anecdotes told by a research scientist at his local, The eponymous White Hart. They all manage to stay just this side of Baron Munchuasen, but each has a little niggle that doesn't quite add up: are they true, or is he simply telling very entertaining porkies?

In TUM a researcher is tring to extract the fundamental essence of melody from popular tunes, which he believes match rhythms in the brain's operation. He feeds them into his computer (i.e. a room full of wires and valves [tubes]), which searches for common elements; it puts the results together into a tune, which he then evaluates. As this was the Fifties -- Kips or even Cips, not Mips -- he has to leave it running overnight, and listen to the results the next morning. As you've guessed, he comes in one morning and hears the Ultimate Melody, which instantly takes over his brain. He is found later in a catotonic state with a dreamy expression on his face, by one of the lab assistants, who turns of the computer before going for help.

See if you can spot the niggle!

Steve