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as a few unfortunate souls in the #em411 irc have experienced, i've had somewhat of a breakthrough in how i think about generative music. i figured i'd spread the misery to a few more people while my caffeine wears off for the night.
the germ of the idea is that you can score something in binary, and then encode it in analog for storage and decode it for use.
so let's just dive in:
'scoring' in this context means telling a set of simple machines if they are to perform their sole function or not-that's the binary. one set of binary instructions might be
bit 1= note on/off
bit 2=raise/lower
bit 3=quantize to pitch set 1/2 (this is good for classical music or any other kind that has a strong push-pull quality)
bit 4= interval 0/1
bit 5= interval 0/2
bit 6= interval 0/4
bit 7= interval 0/8
what these bits would do is this: bits 4-8 would sum to an interval. bit 2 would either add or subtract that interval from the last pitch. bit 3 would quantize that product to one of two pitch sets, and bit 1 would determine if the note is played at all.
now the elegance come in how modular and recallable this information is. you could replace any bit with another machine. for instance, you could write a counterpoint to that line with simply another set of bits like:
bit 1=counterpoint linked/unlinked
bit 2=intervallic/pitch based
bit 3=straight/mirrored
bit 4=phased/unphased
etc.
or you could write programs that change the timbre according to rules, or programs that test something about the audio. the point is that, instead of notes and things like filter cutoff, you're sequencing simple devices to influence rather than explicitly replacing the data at any point.
the two other ideas that make this a fairly elegant solution to spontaneous composition are that you can encode these sets of bits into one number each at one point. that makes it so you can store them in a normal numeric sequencer.
the second thing, which i have yet to implement, is that you could extract a meta-score from data that reasonably fits the texture of your machine. all you'd have to do is ask the data at each point if it is or isn't doing those specific things.
anyway, this is what i think about as i walk my dogs. i have made the first set of bits. with the pitch sets of [C Eb G] and [D F A B] it can sound like a classical theme pretty easily. i hope to make the counterpoint bit-set soon and render a nice album of improvised baroque electrowank very soon.
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03/15/08
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celibacyclub
yay baroque electrowank is my favorite
03/15/08
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mlbot
I'd prefer a Rich Electrowank
03/15/08
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mrmistermr
danger electrowank
hate electrowank
quick electrowank
slow electrowank
luxury electrowank
03/15/08
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ChrisGains
That is an interesting idea, sort of like switching on and off simple functions to process your notes.
03/15/08
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j_chot
I've often pondered series of logic gates controlling song structure.
03/15/08
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ricemutt
I don't grok it roid, sorry, haha. I'll def. check the music though.
have you seen this?
link
wakax showed me this app... it's a lisp-type programming language that hosts AU plugins and sends control data to them. pretty wild.
03/15/08
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ejectorset
wow that software looks pretty cool.
03/15/08
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atum
i got that, its alright. something similiar but easier to use is LEMUR but dunno if there is an OSX version
03/15/08
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Squeal
I think I'm gonna need a diagram.
or a diorama.
Remember, stroid, you're dealing with morans here.
03/15/08
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Roshi
Or examples?
03/15/08
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morgberg
this blog is so bourgy.
03/15/08
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astroid
bring it on people. i have a quota of people that i need to call me 1. an academic 2. a wanker or 3. pretentious everyday.
i don't know if i can explain it better. everytime i try, it gets more convoluted.
basically, i sit and think about bach pieces and how the phrases are put together and then try to encode that in the least amount of information so that i could make one patch in the g2 that is as fluid and complete as a bach piece. why bach? because his music tends to recycle and manipulate themes in a very thorough way. he wrings every drop out of a tiny fragment of music.
i don't have examples yet, but i will.
03/16/08
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monkvolcano
yea don't worry.. i've got teh 'yer fat' quota taken care of.
03/16/08
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monkvolcano
btw.. when all ur brains are plastered to the wall, roid will have the last overthought pretentious laugh.
03/16/08
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electrodan
remember when you had a taxicab-yellow guitar?
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