The Stretta Procedure

Continuity

2011-09-21T21:55:00.000-04:00

Continuity by stretta

New modular track.

Practical Max 2

2011-09-21T21:52:00.000-04:00

A tour of beat factory

beat factory can be downloaded here

Some information on how pattr can be used to morph sets of parameters.

moving

2011-08-13T12:44:00.001-04:00

I get far better engagement on google plus, and much of my effort that would have been posted here is going in that direction. The only thing this blog allows me to do is interleave content and widgets with text. So, if I absolutely HAVE to tell something in that format, I'll do it here, but if you haven't done so already, I suggest you follow me at google+.

Here is an RSS feed of my google+
feed://plusfeed.appspot.com/101287835307087762724

morphing control voltage snapshots

2011-07-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

mcvs is a 12 output cv source for use with DC coupled audio interfaces. You can define up to eight snapshots per output. Then, with a single MIDI controller (or using the on screen control) you can recall the snapshots or interpolate between them. I made this to give my Cwejman Res-4 the brains to perform a similar function as the Buchla 291e Triple Morphing Filter.

download the patch

practical max episode 1

2011-07-21T20:39:00.001-04:00

Cycling 74 debuts a new video series in which I demonstrate some practical uses of Max and share the patches I make. In this first episode, I'm exploring what can be done with some inexpensive piezo mic elements and Tristan Jehan's analyzer~ external. But really, I'm just having an embarrassing amount of fun.

The patch and more information can be found here.

Making music is a process

2011-07-08T11:07:00.000-04:00

People seem to spend a lot of time making one synthesizer sound like another synthesizer. While I believe there is some value to be had from comparison videos such as these, I feel the conclusions that are implied overreach. You're supposed to come away thinking that if a virtual instrument can replicate the sound of an expensive vintage piece of gear, then that piece of gear is unnecessary.

It being 2011 and all, I'd kind of expect that we'd be able to emulate a fairly simple subtractive synthesis architecture with a reasonable degree of accuracy. In fact, given enough time and effort, a reasonable emulation of [x] using any number of modern tools could be achieved. That's the point of a dedicated emulation, to make your life easier, to save you time and effort.

While the success on sound accuracy is debatable (and a waste of effort, IMO), the argument places all its emphasis on the end point.

There are two debates conflated into one, and that is the problem. On the surface, they ask, can you hear the difference between a simulation and the actual. A valid question, but this is only one of many aspects of that tool in use, and doesn't tell the whole story of utility, yet many people believe it is the only one that matters.

Thankfully, the modular synth won't challenge/response my ass every time I want to move it to a new room ;)less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplyNickstutorials.com
AbletonTutor

What is your goal? If your goal is to closely replicate the sound of a Prophet-5 preset inexpensively, I'd imagine the Arturia Prophet V (or others like it) to be a useful product.

I suspect though, the real goal for many customers is music creation. There is a huge difference between recreating something that already exists and the process of original creation. I don't personally care how accurate a simulation is. The only thing I care about is if the tool is useful to me.

I'm looking at all these demos of the monome, but I'm yet to see it do something I can't already do. Why bother getting one? I don't get it.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyRosalind Chia
TheChiaChia

#conclusion You monome people are really weird.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyRosalind Chia
TheChiaChia

…and there is nothing that can be done with a sampler that can't be done by editing little bits of tape together.

Making music is a process. How well you relate to your tools has an enormous impact on the success of achieving your goals. If you look at the endpoint only and ignore the process, you're depriving yourself of an vital component of the act of creation.

We're going to need more patch cords...

2011-07-05T12:30:00.005-04:00

I've been slowly building my modular over the last 10 years or so. It started with a 6U Doepfer Basic System I bought used from Germany, with the details of the transaction hashed out via bablefish. Back then, the euro format was supported by three small companies and their presence in the United States was minimal at best. But interest in analog hardware was growing, driven by a new generation of synthesizer enthusiasts, who were rediscovering the lost joy of manipulating sound with physical controls.

At the time, only vintage hardware featured knobs that directly manipulated the sound. All modern instruments were programmed via an LCD menu system. The market for vintage instruments exploded and analog synthesizers became scarce. People discovered these primitive instruments offered a fairly limiting palette of sounds and, for those who sought a combination of hands on control and open ended signal and control path flexibility, modular synthesizers were where it was at. However, modular synthesizers in working condition were scarcest of all, with systems fetching many thousands of dollars. It was under these conditions that a market arose for a new generation of modular synthesizer.

Over the years, my collection of external synthesizer synthesizer hardware like the Roland JV-1080 dwindled and my resources were redirected into my fledgling euro modular. I expanded out of my rack mount chassis to a Doepfer monster case, which I liked tremendously because it consolidated my system into one space. I added a monster base, which gave me more room, but somehow took something away from the integration. Eventually, I outgrew that too. A module at a time over many years will do that. It isn't as though I never sold any modules, either. I'm not sure how much of my original basic system remains.

Today, my modular contains modules from Doepfer, TipTop, The Harvestman, WMD, Make Noise, Analogue Systems, Cwejman, Plan B, Malekko, Elby, Livewire. 4MS, Intellijel, and Analogue Solutions.

I've loved synthesizers since I was very young, but no single synthesizer has held my interest for this long. This is because the synthesizer itself evolves, and I can direct the upgrades and the addition of new functions. A new module doesn't simply add a single function, it changes what I can do with the modules I already have; the interaction is new, refreshing the possibilities of the entire system.

Last year, unsatisfied with the ergonomics of my off-the-shelf enclosures, I asked my brother to design and build a custom case for my modular. My work is entirely in the studio, so portability wasn't a concern, and, I can barely lift a monster case anyway. After many months of painstaking work under very tight tolerances, this is the result.

The basic criteria was to widen the six row monster base/monster case combination another rack width, creating a triple-wide configuration that is easy to reach across. The width of such a configuration is about the same a standard piano keyboard. The curved design brings the top row dow to a more reachable height. The foot print of the system isn't much wider than my previous configuration.

Additional improvements
• Front panel power switch
• Three slide out shelves
• TipTop Zeus power system provides native Analogue Systems power connections and additional fault tolerance. Amazingly, all driven from a tiny power brick. No more huge transformers. I can't say enough good things about this.
• Integrated LED lighting system with dimmer
• The entire unit is height adjustable
• Integrated cable tree doesn't take up any floor space and can be positioned on either side of the modular.
• Way more stable than previous system. The modular doesn't bounce or wobble when I patch

The triple wide boats provide additional flexibility in arranging my modules, for example, I've never been able to have my A-154 and two A-155 sequencers all in a row next to each other. In fact, the most populated row is the sequencer/logic/clocking row. It is very helpful to have all these modules grouped together.

In addition to designing and building the system, my brother and his wife drove up from Texas to personally deliver it. It is impossible to express how thankful I am that they were able to do all this. I hope you're able to appreciate the level of craftsmanship from these pictures. More setup photos at my flickr.

Some of you may be wondering what this thing sounds like. Please check out my all modular release, A Funneled Stone which was created with this exact collection of modules (with the exception of the RS-370 which I was finally able to place in the system). Now that I have my new modular system in place, I plan to embark on a follow up.

Oh, and what do you do with the leftover pieces of wood? You build a micro trebuchet, because that's how my family rolls.

I'm sure my brother will be reading the comments here, so let him know what you think of his work.

EDIT: 1512 around the web
muffwiggler
flickr
make
trash audio
matrixsynth
monome
reddit

portamentos

2011-07-02T21:19:00.000-04:00

The arc and grid make ideal companions. The grid is discrete, with edges, the arc is infinite, borderless. They complement each other beautifully. The grid is good at things the arc is poor at and vice versa. The grid buttons make dealing with high resolution data problematic. One technique I wanted to explore with the pair was to abstract high resolution data onto the grid.

Portamentos does just that. The grid displays several parameters (pitch, amplitude level, attack, decay, portamento time and filter cutoff) per step. Instead of using the grid to enter in data, which would be fairly coarse, the grid is used to indicate parameter value and to select which parameter and step is in focus. The parameter value is abstracted twice, both on the grid and arc ring. Once any parameter is selected on the grid, the value for all visible steps are displayed.

download here

plane m | vi | cv released

2011-06-27T12:02:00.002-04:00

Back from Los Angeles. Plane m | vi | cv was in a mostly-done state, but I was monomeless whilst traveling, so I worked on things that had nothing to do with the monome. Basically this meant working on the user interface. Usually when I make something for the monome, I just sort of throw it out there without paying attention to the UI (which is one reason why I feel developers should not make their own user interfaces), so, that explains why plane looks more polished. There are no rasterized elements of the user interface, so you can zoom and everything is perfectly smooth.

Oh, you don't need an arc to make use of plane. Also, you don't need a modular synth. plane m|vi|cv works perfectly well as a monophonic MIDI sequencer. Any size monome grid will work, but monome emulators may not.

There are a few more things added since the preview video earlier:

Added the ability to program sequences from a MIDI keyboard.

Added the ability to drive the sequencer from an analog pulse from a modular, like an LFO or clock signal. This opens up clocking of plane to drum machines, arpeggiators, or whatever crazy analog logic you can come up with. Pressure points control of tempo, rotating clock divider, whatever. Go nuts.

Added two synced LFOs.

Added the legacy clock module from polygome so you can slave to a MIDI beat clock source.

download here

Monster Announces Gratitude earphones

2011-06-24T13:40:00.001-04:00

I'm going to translate this recent press release from monster.

Monster announced the Gratitude In-Ear Headphones

translation: 'earphones'

...created in alliance with legendary band Earth, Wind & Fire...

translation: we gave EW&F some money.

specifically engineered and tuned to faithfully reproduce the true harmonics of live music and the sonic details of each musical instrument, resulting in a more natural and vibrant audio experience.

translation: other earphones faithlessly reproduce false harmonics. Reproducing 'live' music somehow has a different set of requirements from reproducing 'recorded' music.

They boast a specially engineered noise isolation architecture

translation: You jam them in your ear canal like every other isolation earphone.

that results in superior audiophile sound with the ability to reproduce detailed harmonic soundscapes.

Translation: we're just making shit up by this point.

Key Monster innovations that contribute to their natural sound

Translation: you don't want unnatural sound, right? What are you, a robot?

and help listeners truly get "inside the music,"

translation: more meaningless phrases. FFS, don't actually give us specifications like frequency response WITH DEVIATION or anything useful.

include a new Monster design that allows the earpiece to rest more comfortably and deeper within the wearer's ear canal

translation: shove this plastic thing into your ear

enabling a perfect fit, superior isolation and ultimate performance.

translation: ULTIMATE performance. To the extreme.

With 'Gratitude,' we aimed to capture the unique passion, feel and experience of the band with headphones that will reproduce the sounds of real music, not synthesized sample or tracks created purely in the studio. These headphones are specifically tuned to produce the signature tones and harmonics of brass, the staccato punch of the percussion, the cleanest possible bass and the most natural vocals.

translation: blah blah blah this is for 'real' music made on 'real' instruments by 'real' people. Not 'fake' music made by fake people because 'real' audio has magical qualities that require special earphones.

plane -p

2011-06-21T09:13:00.001-04:00

Here is the polyphonic MIDI version of the plane sequencer for the monome grid and arc. Also works great for drum sequencing.

Download here.

combines the charms

2011-06-20T08:26:00.000-04:00

This is a video capture of the recording session for 'combine the charms', which appears on 'could have the skies'

monome tuner display

2011-06-18T13:48:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I planned to see if I could get plane -p into shape for release, but I had an idea for a tuner adapted to the monome using the analyzer~ external. Semitones are displayed on the grid, and you can shift the window side to side to display a different range of notes. The arc is displaying a strobe tuner simulation. I'm not sure how useful it is as a tuner in practice, but I'm still glad I did it.

Download the patch here.

vcvi maxforlive

2011-06-15T17:21:00.000-04:00

vcvi is a suite of maxforlive devices to control your modular synth with a dc coupled audio interface.

You might be able to tell I'm clearing the decks a bit. My new modular case is arriving soon and I need to finish a few projects that were 90% done, such as 'could have the skies', for example.

One thing I'd like to release is plane. Everything in this collection of maxforlive devices is derived form stuff already inside plane. Since plane could easily be disassembled into the functionality in this suite, I simply decided it was something I should do myself and treated it as a pre-requisite to plane's release.

Not to mention, I'd find it useful. Which brings me back to my modular. I'd promised myself I'd shift my discretionary time to a follow up to 'a funneled stone' once the case arrives. I hope that sounds interesting to someone.

I recorded this tutorial because I can't be bothered to write documentation right now. It should get you started at least, or give you an idea of how the software is supposed to behave.

Included functions
Calibrated Step Sequencer
CV Source
CV Trigger Sequencer
MIDI Continuous Controller to CV
MIDI Note to Calibrated CV
MIDI Note to Gate
MIDI Note to Trigger
MIDI Note Velocity to CV
Synced LFO
Saw Cloud

download vcvi v1.0

Could Have the Skies

2011-06-14T13:18:00.002-04:00

Could Have the Skies is the third set of solo piano improvs under the Escape Philosophy moniker. The same rules apply as the previous Escape Philosophy releases; I don't have a preconceived idea what I'm going to play when I sit down to record, but I try to visualize something or express a feeling or memory.

I have a short period in the morning when the house is empty. The emphasis is on capturing a moment, including the hesitations and mistakes which I feel are more interesteing than pristine sound quality or the perfect take. You'll hear the familiar birds from the previous albums, body movements, dampers rising of the strings, etc.

Some of the piano music from Escape Philosophy was once described as pointillistic which I thought was pretty, and apt. There is guitar and orff chime bars on one track but otherwise, it is all piano, often manipulated by the monome grid and arc.

Listen for free online at soundcloud
Download album in MP3 format in exchange for a tweet
Download album in any format at a price you set

Could Have the Skies by Escape Philosophy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://stretta.com.

Awareness & Persistence

2011-06-01T09:20:00.000-04:00

Arguably, If you drink wine everyday for 20 years, You'd begin to become an expert on wine, or at least, what you like in wine. I drink sencha every single day.

There are a number of parameters you can adjust to get the most out of a tea. The timing of the infusions. Water temperature. Amount of tea. Teas have various qualities like intensity or duration of experience. Also, the quality of the tea varies over multiple infusions. The second infusion is sometimes the sweetest, or brews instantly. Some third infusions flower over a long sustained brewing. Others become undrinkable. Or give up completely. How you brew the first infusion affects the quality of the subsequent infusions.

And as grow older, you become aware of the scarcity or abundance of good tea. Some years are better than others. Often you can tell by the sweetness of the Spring harvest.

Just finished a slog through a 200g bag of old bulk sencha. Let me put it this way, I've never found a sencha in a 200g bag that wasn't like taking one for the team. Decent tea is still cheaper than coffee, but these are thrifty times. [brief daydream about a tea for music payment system]

Anyway, it was with trembling fingers I opened a shincha fukamushi this morning. I stuck my nose in the bag, inhaled deeply and nearly passed out. Tears welled in my eyes. I resisted an urge to burst out the front door, shove the newly unsealed bag into the face of the first person I met on the street and scream, "MY GOD, SMELL THIS!" It has been at least two or three years since I've had a tea like this in my hands. It wasn't expensive, it was just good. When I find an exceptional tea, I usually quickly buy some more because the good ones tend to disappear.

Knowing I've acquired the brewing rhythm for a geriatric sencha on life support, I gave great care to the first infusion, but struggled to remember how fukamushis behave. Fukamushis are temperamental teas to brew. They can go form nothing to overpowering within a small gradient of brewing parameters. Imagine two very different kinds of tea on one bag, With a fukamushi, you have broad and particulate leaf that brew at different rates. Because of the particulate, Fukamushis brew to an cloudy emerald green and are best admired in a white cup. Anyhow, I was very keen not to screw up any of the infusions.

First attempts sometimes fail. Tea, music, art, isn't for the easily discouraged. You have to know what you can salvage and when it is time to try again. An awareness of your mistakes is only useful when accompanied by persistence.

Despite screwing up my first attempt, I can taste the potential. The benefit of experience provides this insight. I look forward to tomorrow.

John Adams's at the 106th Juilliard Commencement

2011-05-29T09:01:00.001-04:00

The United States, being both a comparatively young country, and before that, a British Colony isn't known for contributing a lot of big names to the pantheon of great Composers. Babbitt, Bernstein (both), Cage, Copland, Glass, Ives, to name a few. Some of these composers, still living, have already etched their names into history. Among them I include John Adams.

Mr. Adams addressed the graduating class at Juilliard and his words resonated deeply with me. I have found, especially in political discourse, it is of paramount importance to control which issues are discussed because you want the issues raised where your position can be clearly expressed in as few words as possible. If your position requires any nuance whatsoever, you're sunk.

From the address:

But by choosing a life in the arts you’ve set yourselves apart from all that and from a nation that has become such a hostage to distraction that it can’t absorb a single complex thought without having it reduced to a sound byte.

Human beings like simple solutions and simple, binary answers. Reality is rarely so neatly compartmentalized. Often I've lamented our inability to embrace ambiguity.

John Adams continues:

A life in the arts means a life of sacrifice and tens of thousands of hours of devotion and discipline with scant remuneration and sometimes even scant recognition. A life in the arts means loving complexity and ambiguity, of enjoying the fact that there are no single, absolute solutions.

I've often said that great composition has a lot in common with humor. You have to set up an expectation and break it.

John Adams:

In order to achieve that element of surprise you have to set up expectation. The quality of the surprise—what Melville called the “shock of recognition”—depends on how carefully, how knowingly these expectations have been set up.

The entire address is 110% full of artistic wisdom (some contents may have settled during shipment), so I encourage you to read the full address here.

John Adams portrait used under a GNU Free Documentation License.

Lego Nyan Cat

2011-05-13T12:56:00.000-04:00

Jeeze. Do I have do do everything around here?

Here is the model in Lego Digital Designer format, which you can use to generate building instructions and also order the kit from the Lego store if you like. It is expensive, though, *gulp* You're better off sourcing parts through bricklink.

051111

2011-05-11T11:20:00.000-04:00

Recorded this morning, ostensibly for the could have the skies project. Part of the project philosophy is to keep things raw and unedited as possible, working with the sounds of the environment and whatever happy accidents occur along the way. At around 2:30 you should be able to hear my wife come home from taking the kids to school.

Recorded entirely in MaxMSP using a monome grid and arc.

Download won't be enabled until entire project is complete.

plane - m | vi | cv

2011-05-07T10:56:00.001-04:00

I recorded this video with me talking over it, explaining things, but I liked it better without the voiceover, so I left it out.

I've always loved step sequencers and I see the monome as an opportunity to address some of the grey area between the one-knob-per-function analog step sequencer and step sequencers with memory. The idea is to increase the available note range without sacrificing precision and increase the available sequence length range, without sacrificing direct manipulation and feedback. So, when the arc came around it seemed like a useful navigational tool to manipulate a large plane of data.

I've been referring to plane as a platform because there are a number of variations I want to implement using the underlying development. This version is optimized to serve as a control voltage source. As such, it produces a lot of outputs. The top row is step enable/disable which is typically used to fire off envelopes. Plane is generating control voltages directly. There are no intermediate bits of software or virtual instruments in-between plane and the end of the patch cords controlling the modular.

The row underneath it the playback loop ruler. Pressing anywhere in the ruler area moves the playback loop to that location. A chorded gesture changes the loop size. One section of the sequence can be edited while playback is occurring elsewhere.When the loop ruler goes off the visible edge of the grid, it lets you know in which direction the active stuff is happening.

Included is a very nice saw cloud simulation of multiple detuned oscillators with adjustable fatness which you can plug directly into your modular.

Also included is direct, accurate CV control of an oscillator via a closed-loop calibration procedure. Of course, MIDI output is also available.

This version of plane uses scale degrees and passes though my modal scale quantizer, so you can switch scales on the fly. You can also use a MIDI keyboard to transpose.

Or, it can also follow a programmed chord progression score, allowing you to improvise with a step sequencer within the harmonic framework of a lead sheet.

The bottom two encoders on the arc are serving as looping automated CV sources.

You don't have to use an arc with plane, you can navigate with the mouse or keyboard or powermate. Also, you don't need a 512 monome. All monome sizes are directly supported and can be hot swapped.

Here are a couple plane diaries I recorded during development.

I haven't released plane yet, so it isn't downloadable.

Max Matthews 1926-2011

2011-04-21T16:13:00.000-04:00

Sad news. One of the titans of electronic music passed away today. Max Matthew's influence can not be understated. Anyone who makes music with a computer owes him a deep debt. He pioneered the idea of using a computer and a digital analog convertor to generate sound. I had the good fortune of spending some time with Max on a number of occasions. He was a gifted speaker and spirited performer.

The music that lives within the spoken word fascinates me. There is the melody of the phrase, the natural rhythmic cadences and the pleasing harmonics of the individual sounds that form the basis of all music today. Natural selection has determined that verbal communication is pretty darn important to the survival of our species. As such, our ears are most sensitive, and centered around the frequencies dominated by human speech. We're hardwired to enjoy this stuff.

It isn't a fitting tribute, but I'll repost a track I made for Max called 'One of the most interesting kinds of sounds' It is a remix in the purest sense of the word. The composition is constructed entirely from digital audio culled from Max Matthew's 'Numerology' (1960), 'The Second Law' (1961) and 'Bicycle Built for Two' (1961) as well as Max's spoken lecture at Talcott. No other audio sources (synthesizers, microphones, other samples) were used.

Machfive Promo

2011-04-12T11:33:00.000-04:00

This is one of the things I made early this year at home. At the time, I think I was just listening exclusively to Bach and especially Glenn Gould because everything else seemed to drive me out of my mind.

I needed something short, that would highlight the major dot points in a unique way, but not come across as a power point presentation. Usually you try to overcompensate with bombast, and I wondered what would happen if you took the opposite direction.

I ended up recording my own version of a Fugue 6 WTC Book II BWV 875 for this piece and set about animating the camera in a way to suggest it was dancing with the music. The music was mixed in surround, and I wanted to emphasise the contrast between the dry piano up front and the reverb-drenched supporting lines in the back. This mix will sound a little different from the standalone full version.

What is the role of synthesis?

2011-04-06T16:14:00.002-04:00

Rembrandt is one of the greatest painters in history.

When I think of Rembrandt, I think of his amazingly-detailed, life-like, realistic portraits. There was a market for portrait artists in the 17th century because cameras were still a little down the road. Cameras did eventually affect the art of painting. We get to the late 19th century and suddenly, BAM! expressionism.

I believe sampling, and later, partial streaming of large sample instruments like gigasampler forever altered the role of synthesis. Libraries with scriptable actions like those for Kontakt offered unprecedented realism and expression, and are the tool of choice for orchestral or ensemble mockups. The massive disc, memory and CPU requirements, as well as tight DAW integration pretty much require that these instruments live in a studio computer. Closed, proprietary hardware simply can't compete. What sounds good today doesn't age well, but at least new sample libraries can be easily loaded into a computer.

For gigging musicians, there are many models of stage piano that can handle the sorts of tasks required for the role. You need a variety of pianos, organs, clavs, other types of keyboard instruments, and a selection of the greatest hits of useful synthesizer sounds from the last 30 years. What isn't needed is a accurate, modeled Ehru.

I've been fairly disappointed by acoustic modeling in synthesizers because the programability isn't there. You might end up with a realistic instrument sound, but the extent of editability usually turns out something like, "MAKE IT BIGGER" or "make it smaller." It is like the the more realism we strive for, the less editable it becomes. And why does the model need to live on the instrument anyway? It's just software. A one trick pony works better in the context of a specialized virtual instrument or sonic couture sample library.

When I see a new, expensive digital synthesizer, I ask myself, "how does this justify itself as hardware?" A powerful, editable synthesis architecture coupled to a compelling physical interface is, arguably, a recipe for a $4000 hardware, digital, non-workstation synthesizer. Eschewing physical controls for a small touchscreen isn't.

What I'm getting at is synthesis needs to move on to expressionism. Synthesists aren't clamoring for realism. The camera has won. Synthesis should be used to shape the future, not create cardboard cutouts of the past.

How to make iPhone ring tones

2011-04-05T10:03:00.001-04:00

This isn't exactly hidden knowledge, but I'll detail the procedure here for posterity.

Take an audio file of any type (except FLAC HA HA) and import into iTunes. Easiest method is to simply drag it to the application.

Go to iTunes preferences and hit the import settings button. Set "import using" to "Apple Lossless"

Go to your iTunes library and locate the audio file you what to turn into a ringtone. control-click (or right mouse click, or however you invoke contextual menus on your machine) on the file and select "Create Apple Lossless version".

Contextually click on the newly created file and select "Show in finder"

Go to the finder and rename the files extension from .m4a to .m4r (r for ringtone)

Drag that file into iTunes. Now it appears under ringtones in the iTunes sidebar.

Vimeo iPhone app

2011-03-29T12:58:00.000-04:00

Vimeo has released their free iPhone app, which no self-respecting vimeo user should be without. In some ways, it is even better than the web front end. For example, viewing your videos gives you endless scroll instead of cycling through pages. The mobile app makes the 'watch later' feature even more useful and relevant.

The app can also capture and upload video, even on a 3GS. Theoretically, one of my escape philosophy piano ambient tracks is included. This allows you to add a dreamy soundtrack to any video you capture with your phone, which fulfills how I envisioned creative commons working.

Download it free here and let me know how it goes.

holocene

2011-03-28T12:05:00.000-04:00

I received a production-run arc4 with the final firmware on Friday. This signaled a mad scramble to update my work for that and the latest serialosc with arc support so it'll be ready when people start receiving their units in a few days. So what do I do on Saturday? Make a new app, of course. Sure, that totally sounds like the responsible thing to do.

After receiving the arc4, I thought it might be a good idea to produce an example that demonstrates a 'bank' of encoder values that you can switch between. That gave birth to an application idea involving triggering modal notes from a pool of probabilities across three octaves of scale degrees. There is a separate bank of pitches depending on clockwise or counterclockwise rotation so you can shift the harmony with a simple gesture. The weighting of scale degrees is programmable and editable in real time on screen or with a MIDI controller. This allows for a more controlled structuring of compositional development over longer periods of time. The speed of the rotation determines how often a note is triggered, and can also be used as a modulation parameter for the FM synthesis engine.

Relevant synthesis parameters are also editable on the arc as the notes are triggered. The state of these parameters is overlaid on the LEDs, so interesting patterns emerge when this mode is engaged. There was a really awesome bug where switching editing modes also transposed the output modally, so I built in a score feature that allows you to advance a programmed chord progression with a button push.

A sit-the-arc-in-your-lap-and-doodle app has been on my mind a lot and I have at least three good starts in this area, but other priorities have often pushed these out of the way. The prototype arc2 I had lacked the mounting bracket for the USB cable and the logic board was floating free inside the enclosure, so I always had to use it (carefully) on a stationary, flat surface. It is really nice to have an arc that can be moved around or used in the lap. My cat disagrees.

I recorded this video, holocene, as a demonstration of this app, which I'm calling electric dharma wheels. This is the raw output from the electric dharma wheels, with some Eos reverb added after the fact.

The audio is posted at soundcloud and can be downloaded (click the little arrow in the widget)

The photo, music and video are all creative commons attribution only license. You're free to use, edit and remix or post in your blog or tumblr, tumblr as long as you (ahem) provide attribution, and preferably a back link.

April Synth Meetups

2011-03-21T16:26:00.001-04:00

Plug in. Check out.

Trash_Audio & Xart Synth Event 9
Chicago
April 2, 2011

Performances
Sunday, April 3rd 6-10PM
Alessandro Cortini
Richard Devine & Josh Kay

Analog Heaven Northeast
Lowell, MA
April 16th, 2011

Also of note, (not in April, but imminent nonetheless) is Gridfest in Santa Fe, New Mexico May 6-8

There is a kickstarter campaign that ends in a few days and they're very close to their goal.

I don't have any idea what to title this post

2011-03-15T18:30:00.012-04:00

I'm not into rehashing worn musical territory, but at the same time, I can't hide my influences. It should be clear to people who listen deeply within my music that two prominent influences are Vince Clarke and Mike Oldfield. Each appear in recent BBC documentaries dedicated to British 'prog rock' and 'synth' music. I re-watched these recently and felt it was worth pointing out a couple choice quotes, as they relate to my own interest in music production.

This is about as honest and emotional as I've seen Vince talk about anything. Here he expresses his intense drive to be in the studio, which I can really relate to. (the video will jump to the proper time, so you don't have to play the whole thing (if it doesn't, skip to 8:36)

I don't believe I've ever heard or seen Mike Oldfield in an interview before. It was his work that drove home the idea that it is possible for a single person to build a complex, layered piece of music.(6:50)

21st century media skepticism

2011-03-15T11:19:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my son told me about his research into the industrial revolution. I asked him what it was and it replied "It was a big change." After peppering him with questions about the industrial revolution, I informed him we're in the midst of a similar revolution, but with information.

Each major advance in information distribution technology, brings a corresponding period where we haven't built the proper defenses to sort out the nonsense from the real. We've all heard that you shouldn't believe everything you read, but there is an undeniable additional weight of authority from the printed word. After all, if you're going to go through the trouble of producing something on a printing press, the information better be important, if not true. By the 21st century, we've built up some healthy skepticism. We know just because something is printed, it isn't necessarily true, and, yes, there may be forces at work trying to manipulate us. In some cases, the memes are designed to exploit a hole in our psyche and the result becomes difficult or impossible to eradicate.

(image from http://kryz.tumblr.com/post/3787659677)

I sometimes worry about the kinds of defenses my kids haven't built to television advertising. They grew up in a post-tivo household, and we don't have cable, so it basically records stuff from our local WGBH station. We like the tivo as a parenting tool because it allows us to precisely control media dosage. A few months ago, my son came to me with a slight edge of panic in his voice and he informed me "DAD, THE TV HAS GONE ALL WEIRD." This was the first time he saw a commercial.

A few weeks ago, we went to the Museum of Science where, in the gift shop, we saw a video loop of a product they were selling, a kind of furry snake on a nearly invisible string that you can make appear as if it is threading through your fingers. Of course, the video avoids revealing the 'trick' to the product, but this was not apparent to my son, who desperately wanted to buy the product.

Radio, and television were hugely influential in the 20th century, but the distribution of content was centralized. In the 21st century, the internet is clearly the most dominant mechanism for information dispersal, but distribution is decentralized. Again, we're moving though a period where we're exposed and relatively defenseless to a new breed of information hacks and hoaxes.

Information is a virus, and we are the host. Speed of propagation is accelerated by technology. Skepticism is a defense, but can be circumvented by by appeals to greed (419 scams), or other mechanisms such as bootstrapping onto an existing belief system. The first step to protecting yourself is to understand we're all more or less as defenseless as my son watching the wiggly snake.

soome

2011-03-03T10:37:00.006-05:00

Improvisation on piano and monome. I'm using a hand-built arc prototype, generously on loan from tehn, who is very busy building and shipping monomes, dealing with the transition to serialosc required by the new edition and finalizing the arc firmware. I'm sure he'd prefer to be playing with the arc himself.

The software is grainstorm, which I'll upload to the monome wiki when arcs start shipping.

soome by stretta

creative commons attribution only license

grainstorm

2011-03-03T10:37:00.005-05:00

This video is a brief introduction to grainstorm, my granular synthesis application for the monome arc. Please take my enthusiasm as genuine, and not some marketing ploy by monome. They don't operate that way. I'm not trying to talk anyone into buying one. Quite the opposite as I think the initial production quantity is small enough benefit from a lower profile release to keep as many possible units out of the hands of people who wish to profit from the scarcity.

The arc isn't for everyone. Also consider the software available at launch: very little. My advice to those on the fence: wait. Also, don't base an arc purchasing decision on grainstorm.

Speech is a rather poor example, and in retrospect, maybe it wasn't a great choice, but I figured I had the soome video to show the more musical side. A more typical result:

grainstorm experiment by stretta samples

Grainstorm has four independent buffers that can be controlled with the arc. Primarily, you use the arc to scroll through the buffer. A push turn gesture on the same encoder widens the window from which grains are drawn. This isn't really evident in the video. A snapshot of various playback parameters can be stored on the grid monome where the it can be played like an instrument or sequenced with the on board sequencer. You can record live audio into the buffer, or load audio from disk. I'm just trying to provide a taste of what is possible with the arc. I've only had my hands on the thing since mid-Fed and I have a half dozen unfinished apps for it. Each new idea spawns two others. Grainstorm just happens to be the most baked at this moment. Meaningful support for the arc4 would be fairly easy.

I like to work with my hands. This is one reason why I enjoy working on the modular. The monome arc advances the ideal of touching sound, to be able to meaningfully improvise with audio in real-time, to sculpt like clay. Using the arc, I've thought a lot about Jeff Noon's Needle in the Groove.

and down
further down
not slow, but like poison to the beat
jody juggles another disc onto the decks
incisions of bootleg guitar, choked off
real familiar, scraped from the grooves like magic
it's the deep-down motherlode, it really is a ton of work to be done, for sure but donna's singing, all that slow tragic honey dripping out, word by word, dropped between the beats
and the dj's crazy tactics on the samples and scratches
I mean, if this is three months' work, I'm amazed
but mostly, oh most of all, the drumming
this 2spot guy can play
you hear him now, splicing the third verse open with scattershot blasts
and down
down flat
funky / holding / holding / making some splinter,
making some blow
deep jesus in the groove
have I been waiting for this like all my life, seems that way
through all the cul-de-sac affairs, the dead-end gigs
the slimeball singers and the junkyard songs
the lousy-arse contracts
all the drugs and the booze and the subhuman blues
all the thrash-happy merchants of the traps and the kit
all that shit
at last, at last some proper goddamn loving on the skins at last,
for me to drop the bass injection
listen to it
off-kilter cuts from the shine of a cymbal
alive with sparks
and a criminal tension that jody's scratching caught, and threw back
own in the cellar, on the other side of town, just this tripwire of sound
twisted space
and all the flavours of noise
gliding away
and throughout the whole song
that stupid cat
gallagher his name
that scruffball just slept on top of the amp, like soaking up the music, every last ounce
one last funky fuck flow-down falling and gone

crackle of silence

I have a bit of trepidation about something monome related appearing on music technology blogs because the reactions I've seen recently have gone non-linear. In other words, there are people that are not capable of judging something monome-related on its merits, rather, they are reacting out of existing prejudice. Of course, this isn't the exclusive domain of monome, some people will have something against ANYTHING out there, whether it comes from Avid, Behringer or myself, but the problem seems particularly acute with the monome.

I believe the issue with the monome is overexposure. The rise of monome coincides with the rise of online video. The 40h was out for about 18 months before it started to take off. The monome provided an interesting visual element to an electronic music performance, and capturing a performance with video and uploading it became the thing to do. There was a period where the music tech blogs would unquestioningly post any monome video and it became a blight. Hyperbolic blog titles don't help. ("This monome video will Charlie Sheen your face RIGHT OFF!") Cue the backlash. In this context, the reaction is understandable.

Interestingly, none of this has anything to do with monome (the company) themselves. They don't do facebook or twitter, they don't advertise. All the 'hype' monome generates is a grass roots thing from the user base. (guilty as charged, but usually I'm trying to demo an application I've developed)

Some people can't see past the bill of materials of a product. Some people have no idea about of the cost of production or running a business. Returns. Packaging material. Development. If the arc isn't worth it to you, it isn't. If it is, it is. But reading specs on paper (err..LCD?) and actually using the device are two different things, and I've had the luxury of this experience. Remember this when someone claims a BCR2000 is just as good.

stutter island

2011-03-03T10:37:00.004-05:00

stutter island was the first idea I was thinking of to adapt to the arc and I worked on it for a while before I actually laid hands on one. Then it was pretty much a matter of hooking up the arc control to the application.

You can quantize the movement to metrically sensible values, so you're constantly shifting the beat around, but it is still playing in time (to a degree you can control). I think a maxforlive version of this would be quite powerful, you could simply drop it on a track and flick between instances, generating interesting remixes in real time. I have another version where one encoder specifies when the stutter happens within the specified bar(s) and the other specifies the portion of the buffer to stutter. There are quite a few fun directions this can be taken. I'll upload stutter island to the monome wiki when units begin shipping.

Kawai K3 and K5

2011-02-21T10:26:00.002-05:00

Before synths became mostly digital, there was a brief period where we polyphony was the main attraction. However, in general terms, subtractive ploys didn't offer many vectors of expression.

That isn't to say there weren't expressive analog polys. I'd point to the CS-80 as an expressive instrument, with polyphonic aftertouch, ribbon controller and lovely ring modulator. It is just that subtractive offers a fairly limited set of parameters suitable for expression. Once you've routed aftertouch or velocity to open up the filter or amplifier a bit to make things louder and/or brighter, you've pretty much exhausted much of what makes sense musically.

While it is true the DX7 justifiably earned its reputation as difficult to program, the one thing people seem to neglect to mention is Yamaha's implementation of FM synthesis was extremely musically expressive to play. The patches came alive with velocity, not simply brighter or louder with velocity. The timbre could change is ways that were musically sensible, but responded with shifts of timbre way beyond what was possible with subtractive. Aftertouch was standard. The modulation wheel could do many more interesting things beyond introducing vibrato and if that wasn't enough, there were foot and breath controller inputs. All of these could produce timberal shifts that were previously unheard of.

Every major player needed their own take on a unique digital polyphonic synthesizer and the K5 was Kawai's first real additive synth. The styling of the K5 is very late-80s Roland, bearing striking similarities to the S50 sampler.

This was the grandpa of the K5000 series which came much later. The K5 retained all the qualities that made the DX7 difficult to program, but the real time expression didn't extend beyond what was typically available on a subtractive poly.The result was a very thin, flat, glassy synth. Worse, it was fairly noisy.

I picked up a K5m in the early 90s for $150, and, despite the limitations mentioned above, I used it a ton. I had a small program that would analyze Mirage samples and send the resyntheized data to the K5 for an extremely poor man's Axcel. It had a very capable multi mode. While programming individual harmonics over time (well, there were only four envelopes available to control the harmonics) from the front panel isn't very much fun, or musically intuitive, navigating and altering the multimode was straightforward and easy to use. So, I used it in layers a lot, adding a digital sheen to other, fatter synths, like the K3m.

The K3 predated the K5 by a very short amount, and it was pretty much a standard subtractive synth. The K5 did have a few unique features for the time, including a limited waveform creation mode where you could build up a waveform, harmonic by harmonic that pointed gently at where the K5 was ultimately going. There were a total of 32 different available waveforms available and these were fed into a lovely analog SSM filter. The envelopes were also analog. In mono mode, the K3 was completely capable of gobbling your entire dynamic range. The K3m was another module that I picked up used for $150 and used for a number of years.

Both the K5m and K3m ultimately gave way to a pair of Kurzweil K2500s and Roland JV1080 that I used from the mid 90s on though a transition to software instruments and a shift to the modular as the dominant hardware synth.

Update. I managed to dig up a very early specimin that is exclusively K5 and K3. The K3m is providing the bass, everything else is K5m. ORIGINALLY RECORDED TWENTY YEARS AGO.

K3m K5m example by stretta samples

Tarrega Andalusian Dance

2011-02-08T13:02:00.000-05:00

I've been avoiding taking on a musical project - even a small one - because I'm consciously keeping my schedule and psyche clear for a couple important things that require my full attention. So, this piece is sort of an accident. I started it as a study of a compositional style I want to try.

Tarrega Andalusian Dance by stretta

Using a modular feels like the most natural, organic, hands-on approach to synthesis I've ever used. My first programmable synth was a Casio CZ-101. I was brought up on menus and inc/dec buttons. With the modular, I don't feel like there are any barriers between me and what I'm trying to achieve with sound. I'm not an analog purist and I have many 'digital' modules, but those modules still interface with knobs and patch cords.

There are obvious drawbacks to using a modular, like the lack of patch storage, but tearing down a patch doesn't bother me in the slightest. I create the patch for that moment, record it, and move on. Usually when I'm recording, I'm planning the next patch in my head. It doesn't take that long to patch up the voice I want to use. A patch doesn't have to be complicated, it just has to be appropriate.

There is a lot of FM synthesis in this piece. Some from the Hertz Donut, some from an AFG driving a Cwejman VCO6. Not much filtering. Mostly plan B low pass gate on some parts. Some bits from the Piston Honda. Not using stacked detuned oscillators, either - I didn't think the orchestration called for it. One reverb (eos).

Tarrega Andalusian Dance by Matthew Davidson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

serialosc

2011-02-01T10:39:00.000-05:00

"serialosc is designed to be invisible"

Beautiful.

I never met anyone as obsessed with burning away design impurities, as Brian Crabtree. People gape at the physical design of monome's products. Their simple beauty is almost universally acknowledged, even by their detractors. Fewer people appreciate how the PCBs themselves are beautiful. For example, the PCBs are modular, which mirrors the modularity of the devices themselves. A monome 256 has four button board PCBs, two of these same boards may be used to make a 128, or one may be used to make a 64. There is one logic board per unit, and the same board is used in all units. The same beauty extends to the deceptive simplicity of the adaptable and flexible protocol itself.

The near simultaneous arrival of variable brightness, support for the arc, the protocol, and serialosc (win/mac/linux - designed by brian and programmed by will light) are all obviously connected and I don't think people fully understand the consequences. This is the groundwork for a new class of device; laying down the literal language of musical interoperability.

Various Nagras Compared

2011-01-28T09:40:00.002-05:00

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the world's most precise open reel audio recorders are Swiss-designed, as they could be seen as a type of beautifully-engineered, mechanical clock. I've blah blah blah-ed about the beauty of Nagras before, but this video (via Peter Wilkie) shows just how impressive these machines are in action. Get your nerd on.

Yay! Random Stuff!

2011-01-25T09:39:00.000-05:00

It isn't often you'll find me post a 303 video to my blog, but this is awesome, (via Richard Devine).

Last night I was reminded of this Pictorial Websters Fine Press Edition video and tried to remember to make my brother, a dedicated craftsman, watch it. This video is inspirational for anyone who appreciates dedication, craftsmanship and effort. Produced by Quercus Press, close by in Waltham. For those that complain the monome arc is just a knob, this deluxe edition is just a book.

surachai posted this great video last night. cat+turntable+plague diagram

On a scale from 1 to 5 Barry Manilows, Plague Diagram is a solid 4. Suitable for new mothers breast feeding for the first time, or, perhaps, as a mild sedative for the elderly. Just kidding. FIVE Manilows.

The Initial Impressions Are In

2011-01-21T21:22:00.000-05:00

Now that pricing has had some time to sink in, people are expressing their feelings. Here are some real quotes:

"$500 is just too much for that for most people who also have to eat and pay rent."
- Richard Lawler

"this is pretty much a toy for the laptop warriors"
- Hungry Antelope

"Ridiculously expensive for such a simple device."
- poopoo

"Is it just me, or are these things ridiculously priced?"
- Anon

None of these quotes are about the arc. They're from four years ago. Which doesn't prove anything if you regard the 64 itself as overly expensive.

monome arc details

2011-01-21T14:09:00.009-05:00

Here it is, the first video of the monome arc in action:

arc two (two knobs) $500
arc four (four knobs) $800

Ordering February 18, and I predict a very quick sellout. Shipping in March.

More info here.

heh. 'arc two'

brian's response to a predictable question from cdm about what constitutes 'true open source hardware':

i’m slightly ambivalent about the label “open source hardware.” it’s come to mean more than simply having the sources available, which was my original goal. people should absolutely know how their equipment works and be able to modify it if desired. it’s turned into a different conversation, about freedom– the most anonymous free-market sort of freedom. and this is a good conversation to have, but it somehow left the realm of sharing and went somewhere else.

i wish more people were interested in discussing resource use, materials, and local economics– these are very real issues concerning physical goods. the open source hardware debate seems to have inherited too much from the open source software ideology.

Bravo.

As predicted, some are balking at the price. It is just a box with ~~buttons~~ encoders, right? Anyway, good. Please don't buy it. It isn't for everyone. If you like the functionality, but still find it too expensive, I urge you to fabricate your own better/cheaper thing.

I don't agree that larger quantities are necessarily better. Small is beautiful.

I also like the fact that people are having a difficult time imagining how they'd use it. Myself, I feel the same way about the arc as I did the original monome years ago. My first thought is "OH YEAH. I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'D DO WITH THAT.

Fender Factory Tour 1959

2011-01-19T14:02:00.000-05:00

vintage + music + craftsmanship = post

Fugue 6 WTC Book II BWV 875

2011-01-15T00:41:00.002-05:00

Fugue 6 WTC Book II BWV 875 by stretta

Making music with voltages

2011-01-15T00:39:00.002-05:00

I bet most people listen to my modular synth music and say to themselves, "WTF."

Here's the thing. I've been working with synths since the mid 80s. If you use the latest technology, it always sounds like that era shortly thereafter (although it sounds new and fresh at the time). It's a distraction. So, I find it interesting to break synthesis down to base principles. Voltage control, at its heart, is the act of making music through the manipulation of voltage. Our control of voltage is so fine and accurate that we can make art with it.

I say this not in a metaphorical sense, but in a very real, physical sense. Each parameter of sound you hear happens because a voltage told it what to do. The pitch of an oscillator, each note, is determined by generating a very precise voltage. Want to add vibrato? You need to wobble that voltage, but only a very small amount. How about loudness? Not only the dynamics of phrases, but the contour of each individual note. Some notes require different emphasis, so this must be accounted for, at the right time. And so on. All voltages.

Oh, and you can only work on a single monophonic line at a time, so you have to understand that sound's role in the context of a larger structure that you aren't able to hear yet, because you haven't recorded those parts.

This is my idea of a good time.

Monome Arc

2011-01-14T14:49:00.003-05:00

Yay! Photos! The monome arc!

In case you were wondering why I was using a powermate with my 512. I have a pretty nifty stutter application for the arc.

....AANNNNNNNND

I've been waiting to whip this out.

NAMM 2011

2011-01-13T15:10:00.018-05:00

I'm going to open this page as a repository of breaking NAMM things, so instead of lots of little posts, I'll update post.

Bobby Voso (noisesource on twitter) posted a couple photos of the TipTop table at the analogue haven booth. Check out these adorable folding anodized aluminum euro cases! The TR-909 looks absolutely hulking by comparison. You can see a folded one to the left.

Behold! The Tempest! The most interesting news is the LinnDrum II is still a thing. The pair just might be the real time live performance hardware for new decade. Those strips off to the side are sensitive to both position and pressure. Super crisp, high resolution OLED display. You'll begin to see more of these in shipping products.

Metasonix has an interesting new box, but I'm not going to post the picture, obviously the demented work of Dave Lovelace. I wouldn't be surprised if metasonix gets slapped with an iLawsuit.

The mysterious Korg Kronos revealed itself to be an affordable, portable Oasis. Starts at $2999 for 61 keys. 73 and 88 key versions also available.

More news from Korg: the Kaoss Pad Quad, which, as the name implies, provides four simultaneous effects.

@califaudio posted this picture of a Buchla 200e sporting a pair of the new spectral processors. Each one costs more than a single Kronos.

Also from califaudio, directly from the department of WTF is a moog lap steel. Wait. What? I'm holding out for a Moog banjo.

Epic The Harvestman setup posted by nickciontea at muffwiggler.

More good news. Livewire is back in action and promises to ship three new modules in February: The Chaos Computer, Voltage Mechanic and Voltage Distributor. Another most excellent photo from califaudio.

Brandon Daniel's NAMM picture dump.

Make Noise has some new offerings. Phonogene does sampling/grainular stuff. TimbreMixer is a 'DMMG' but filter only, and trigger only, which is cool because I usually turn gates into triggers when using a low pass gate anyway. (via Klopfgeist at muffwiggler)

Ken MacBeth's work is the epitome of 'no compromises'. (via Brandon Daniel) Beautiful and a little intimidating.

Mark Cuban Should Fund The Arts

2011-01-06T10:54:00.003-05:00

I'm in NAMM-prep mode right now, working from 8am to midnight. No, I won't actually be at the NAMM show. Sorry. I'd love to meet all ya'all. I've been sitting on this short piece I began on Dec 30th. I'm posting it to keep it from weighing on my mind while I focus on NAMM stuff.

The music is 100% modular, tracked one monophonic line at a time. The orchestration is fairly intense, but there isn't much DSP after the fact. I'm using one Eos reverb and some EQ here and there, but that is it. Just straight up synthesis.

Maybe you guys can help me with something. On the monome forums Raja brought up the issue of the audience ambivalence when one releases music, or, at least, the gear overwhelming any comment of the music. I think these are two separate issues.

Let's start with the gear. Historically, dating back to usenet days, I have noticed we tend to talk about the gear and not music. This is because we CAN talk about the gear. We can discuss specs, use scenarios, compare models, obsess about trivia, etc. Music is far more difficult to talk about. Appreciation of music is almost entirely subjective. Same goes for gear 'sound quality' Does a 12-bit DX1 sound better than FM8 though a nice 24-bit audio interface?

Here is another good example. I created two new blog posts. This one, featuring music made 100% on a modular synth, and the one just prior, the time lapse video of filling the monster case. Which one does matrixsynth link to? Right.

Ambivalence is another topic. Music today is surplus. It is free, available and everywhere.

Releasing music is like… well… I could continue with the land of chocolate metaphor, but it would get really gross quickly. But, that is just for a free track. Trying to sell chocolate (half price!) in the land of chocolate is as pointless and frustrating as you'd expect.

This brings up some fundamental artist/audience questions that I have yet to resolve. If the act of creation was enough in itself, I could just never release anything, and never expose myself to the pain of ambivalence. This is like a diet of eat anything you want, but never swallow.

The one thing musicians have in their favor is even the perfect album gets worn out. People need something new to listen to.

The record industry is a 20th century construct. Labels are more risk-adverse than ever and they're the primary source of artist funding. They're not exactly interested in developing artists or supporting experimental music. Yes, you can point out how the audience can directly fund artists, but I've been there, tried kickstarter, etc. At the same time, the gulf between the rich and the middle class widens to the greatest amount since 1929. I would like to see a return to private patronage of the arts. If you're sitting on a billon dollars maybe you can spare some money for the arts.

Monster Case Time-lapse

2011-01-06T10:11:00.000-05:00

Here is a video of me laying out modules in a monster case from 2007 that I never uploaded. I think I was planning to add some music and never got around to it. Possibly interesting. Maybe not. Recorded on an iSight so the quality is not so good.

Releases I enjoyed in 2010

2011-01-01T13:17:00.003-05:00

Autechre Oversteps
I like how Autechre grumbled about how Oversteps was described as more 'accessible' than previous works. HAHA PEOPLE LIKE YOUR ALBUM. I loved it. [LINK]

Sonoio
I wore this release out very quickly. If I bought on vinyl, I'd have to replace it by now. Wonderful music. [LINK]

Micronaut - Resistor/Capacitor
Eminently listenable electronic music. I look forward to the next release of the trilogy(?) set. Go forth and buy. [LINK]

Brian Eno - Small Craft on a Milk Sea
It has been a while since I really enjoyed a Brian Eno release, but this one is great. Lots of inspiration and forward-looking ideas. [LINK]

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network
I really wanted to like this album, but I think it works better on screen than it does as an album release. [edit: after writing this, I decided I needed to give this a few more listens and I think there is a lot to like) I'm mentioning it because I do like the fact that Trent gives high profile credit to Atticus Ross whereas the Tron Legacy soundtrack is solidly credited to Daft Punk and you have to REALLY look to find the orchestration and arrangement by Toby Chu and Joseph Trapanese credits.

Tehn's Quiet Releases
Something that hasn't received very much attention is the musical work tehn is releasing over at nnnnnnnn.org. Wonderful free stuff. No marketing. [LINK]

Basic monome primitives

2011-01-01T12:17:00.000-05:00

I received a request for advice on basic monome manipulation using Max, so I put together a quick set of examples.

download here

This kind of thing is the reason I started this blog to begin with.

Happy 2011

2011-01-01T11:53:00.003-05:00

1/1/11

‎2011 (a prime number) is a sum of 11 consecutive prime numbers: 2011=157+163+167+173+179+181+191+193+197+199+211

The blog is back, including the archives and comments.

More light, less heat.

pege4o1

2010-12-29T11:17:00.007-05:00

Final track for 2010. All modular except a bit of drums. Free lossless download (click the little down arrow in the widget below)

Burning Head Calculus Video

2010-11-03T11:48:00.000-04:00

Burning Head produced this amazing video of Calculus for Clear Notice Recordings.

Straw

2010-10-25T11:03:00.004-04:00

straw is a simple FM synthesizer adapted to the monome interface. It can be used with any size monome from the 64 to the 512.

The horizontal axis is pitch and a modal pitch map can be quickly generated on any base note, or you can edit the pitch map arbitrarily. The vertical axis is a modulation parameter that can be routed simultaneously to several destinations. Patch editing is very gratifying as everything is live all the time, so you don't have to re-trigger notes to hear the effect. This also opens the door to additional real time control. It is easily hackable. There are no polyphony/voice limitations. The downside is it isn't light on the processor. This patch consumes 20% of one core on my core i7. I'm using some hacked in support for the powermate knob to quickly make some parameter changes to broaden the range of timbres demonstrated.

I finished the patch on Saturday night and resolved to make a video on Sunday. I had in mind something more musical for a demonstration, but I was losing sunlight, so this will have to do for now. I added reverb after the fact (Valhalla Shimmer), otherwise, you're hearing the real-time output.

Straw can be downloaded at the monome wiki. 20 years ago, I wished for the ability to design a purpose-built synthesizer/instrument in a specific configuration, and use an adaptable, non-specific interface to control that synthesizer. Today this is possible. I wish I could spend every day making things like this.

A Funneled Stone is released

2010-10-06T11:19:00.003-04:00

When I see a photo of a modular synthesizer, I wonder, as I believe many others do, what the thing sounds like. What possibilities lurk within this strange hardware? I want to hear something orchestrated and controlled. I want to hear someone commanding the instrument with authority, not merely floating on waves of serendipity. I want to hear something composed for the instrument, leveraging its strengths, not a orchestration of an existing composition.

'A Funneled Stone' is a pure modular synth release, tracked in the old-shool, 1970's way: one monophonic line at a time. Every sound you hear was created, patched and recorded for that moment in time. When a new sound is needed, the patch is torn down and a new one is built. Polyphony is achieved by tracking each voice individually.

A modular album is, by definition, unapologetically synthetic. I also tried to take a more minimalist approach to orchestration, so the individual sounds can be more fully isolated and appreciated. I spent much of the final month of production taking elements out, and editing for length. Sometimes this results in the remaining elements merely hinting at the underlying harmonic movement.

As you can imagine, this process is very time-consuming, but fun. I hope you enjoy the results as much as I enjoyed creating it.

You can buy the album at amazon, iTunes or Bandcamp.

A cult of ourselves

2010-09-02T14:06:00.001-04:00

On the surface, it would seem Apple's event yesterday is about positioning product updates for the holiday season, but really it is about the implications of integrating iOS vertically though Apple/s various consumer products. This is smart for Apple to do, as it provides many benefits including cheaper development, and leveraging existing technology across many products. What this means is iOS is now providing the technical underpinnings to products like the new nano and Apple TV.

The evidence is this. The nano is clearly using iOS technology that would be absurd to develop just for that form factor, like two finger rotate. Yes, Apple says the nano doesn't run iOS, but I think this is a matter of semantics. Really, what they're saying is there is no A4 there and they want to distance the product from the expectation of running iPhone apps. The included apps obviously are nano-form adaptations of existing iPhone apps. There is obviously a huge amount of technology from existing products that they're leveraging.

The Apple TV lost its storage and became much smaller. I don't think consumers were asking for a smaller set top box. The existing Apple TV was already 1/8th the size of a tivo. The Apple TV is smaller because it is basically iOS hardware. Smaller hardware creates savings across the board for the manufacturer. Leveraging existing technology creates savings across the board for the manufacturer. The hard part is the presentation and spinning this into a benefit to the consumer. "Nobody wants purchases, so uh, no storage! Yeah!"

A lot of people are extrapolating iOS on the Apple TV into the ability to access iPhone apps. This isn't the point. It was never the point and you'll never see it because the iPhone apps rely on a multitouch interface on a display screen. You can't decouple the gesture from the screen. It just doesn't work, at least, it doesn't work well enough for a company like Apple. So stop. Really. It won't happen.

Technically, it is certainly possible to develop new apps or port iPhone apps to the Apple TV that use gestures from the Apple TV remote. I wouldn't hold your breath, though.

I thought the demos were well done and Steve masterfully navigated the presentation with no technical flub ups. He even went charmingly off script a couple times.

Ping is a launch disaster. When digg relaunched recently, you could import your contacts from other social networks. I can't find anyone on ping. I can't even find artists on ping. Nothing is there. It is a party in iTunes and no one is invited. Would it have been so difficult to create artist stubs from iTunes music store data? How do independents claim their pages? You have to have this stuff ready at launch otherwise people will sign up, look around, shrug and leave. Don't launch untested or poorly-conceived social networks or you've doomed yourself to a google buzz/wave fate.

Speaking of digg, I thought the relaunch/redesign was very bold. News aggregator social commenting sites have a tendency to become the community. The technology of the site doesn't matter, and the reason people stick around is because of the familiar friends they have there. In a lot of ways, digg was fark with a dose of slashdot up/down voting. Certain active personalities tend to take up disproportionate space, eventually becoming more important than the site itself. This is not a good long term strategy as evidenced by the long slow decay of something like fark.

Digg's redesign blew all this up, which democratized the site (a good thing) and pissed off a ton of self-important people who invested a lot of time increasing their footprint on the site. Digg isn't about these individuals anymore. Digg has reoriented itself from a monolithic personality site (with associated turf wars and political system gaming) to smaller individually-cultivated networks of people who share similar interests to your own.

Extrapolating this effect in the future could lead to surrounding ourselves with nobody to challenge our beliefs, and a false assumption that your views are more popular than they actually are. This is especially evident politically.

There may be something to be said for a widely shared cultural connection. That used to be television. Cable eroded this effect and the internet is killing it off completely. Say "ancient chinese secret, eh?" to any 40 year old around you. Stupid, but you get my point (if you're of a certain age).

Synthesis as Fashion

2010-08-31T13:37:00.001-04:00

"The producers didn't understand the capabilities of the instrument—and they still don't. It takes imagination to think of a sound no one has ever heard before." -Walter Sear

Again, found on Synthtopia:

These five pieces are derivative. I don't think this point is arguable. This is what happens when genres get overly specific. Any variation outside of the formula ejects the piece from classification.

To the people that say "I hate trance. It all sucks.", I say, sticking to ANY formula sucks. The more narrowly-defined a genre is, the less room for differentiation exists. If I can't hear the artist behind the formula, what is the point? Money, I guess.

The winds of fashion will soon sweep all this forgettable music away. Musical genres are a form of fashion, but synthesis technology itself is subject to fashion.

This is where it started.

"Moog was himself a witness to the power of his bass sound when he was invited to bring his synthesizer to a New York studio session where Simon and Garfunkel were recording their album, Bookends (1968). Mood set up the bass sound himself for the track "Save the Life of a Child." which opens with the sound: "One sound I remember distinctly was a plucked string, like a bass sound. Then it would slide down– it was something you could not do on an acoustic bass or an electric bass… a couple of session musicians came through. One guy was playing a bass and he stops and he listens, and listens. He turned white as a sheet." - Analog Days, Trevor Pinch

So then, someone with a Moog could find a lot of studio work thereafter. But the subtractive synthesis sound becomes dated and people wanted something new. So, if you could program FM, and knew your way around a DX7, you could find some studio work. Then sampling became popular. If you had a Fairlight or an Emulator, you could find some studio work. This process repeats itself over and over to this day. In some cases, the genres are actually defined by the technology used.

When I say the promise of synthesis has largely been squandered, this is one example. Instead of exploring potential, we spend a majority of our efforts reproducing the success of others. This comes with a danger, though. Fashion inherently dates itself and the highs are transient.

If your music is dominated by technology or genre, be prepared for the inevitable crash.

Laver's Law
Anything past the Dowdy point, the creator becomes irrelevant and the work in question is simply an example, whereas innovators, people ahead of their time are remembered.

Indecent - 10 years before its time
Shameless - 5 years before its time
Daring - 1 year before its time
Smart - current
Dowdy - 1 year after its time
Hideous - 10 years after its time
Ridiculous - 20 years after its time
Amusing - 30 years after its time
Quaint - 50 years after its time
Charming - 70 years after its time
Romantic - 100 years after its time
Beautiful - 150 years after its time

Abstraction and Interpretation

2010-08-31T12:15:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you've heard about the loudness wars. Synthtopia recently posted a video on the mastering engineer's perspective

As soon as the music leaves the mastering studio, the experience rapidly degrades. The signal to noise ratio of an iPod/iPhone is around 80dB and they're the predominant medium today.

Let's imagine a future world where this isn't the case, where routine everyday music quality is a fully-immersive experience and the entire dynamic and frequency range can be appreciated.

We're ultimately limited by the thermal noise of a electrical component, the sound of the atoms themselves moving around at around at room temperature: -127.5dB. A 24-bit word at 6dB per bit comes out to accommodating 144dB range. In theory, a 24-bit audio file can encompass the full dynamic range the physical world has to offer. Most audio interfaces come up far shorter, but something with a 120dB range would be considered excellent.

How we master music today, compressing the total dynamic range into a few bits, is going to sound comical and flat. This brings me to a side point about the historical significance of the 20th century recording industry and usage rights. This whole business model is a minor blip in the history of music. Since our lifetimes happen to fall during this blip, we are conditioned to believe that this is The Way, but it isn't. Not in the grand historical view. Rights encumbered media will rightly give way to other, more useful models such as Creative Commons. Culture is resampling. Yes, multitrack audio can be remixed and remastered, but most will not and our ancestors will see this period of music as both rights encumbered (due to copyright creep) and low resolution.

Where I'm going with this is the issue of abstraction and interpretation.

I've said in the past, the role of a composer is to get the sound out of their head into the head(s) of the audience. The composer could perform a piece directly, but more complicated orchestrations involved ensembles of musicians. In this case, an abstraction of the sound is required in the form of a written language we know as musical notation.

This language is very low bit rate. The data compresses to a very compact form. This requires interpretation on the part of the musician, and this itself is an art. The composed piece can be performed various ways, but the heart of the original piece beats within.

In the 1940s, composers began to be able to manipulate sound directly thanks to the invention of magnetic tape. The audio became the final product. Audio quality has since improved dramatically, and many examples of early musique concrète, sound old, which may or may not be an issue, depending on circumstance.

We hear Beethoven's music today, not because it was recorded when he was alive, but because we are able to interpret his musical abstraction and render it using the latest audio technology. This reinterpretation can happen over and over and re-rendered with the latest technology.

The dichotomy of written music and recorded music is expressed in our copyright laws. We have a SR form for sound recording copyright and PA for the written work. In the US, radio stations pay performance rights organizations which distribute money to publishers and songwriters for use, but not the artists who recorded the work. Satellite (and internet) radio stations play by a different set of rules where songwriters/publishers and artists are both paid.

I sometimes like to think of a hypothetical composer who wishes to control all aspects of a sound, unencumbered by the various limitations imposed by traditional instruments. Please don't misunderstand, I'm all for musicians, interpretation, ensembles, etc… but this process represents a relatively huge unexplored area. Sometimes trying to express a viewpoint is made more difficult by an urge to try to adopt an extremist standpoint and defend it from all edge cases. That is absurd. I just want to take you to the edge and have you think about the implications.

If you were such a composer, why wouldn't you want to work with a synthesizer? Why wouldn't you want to free yourself of every limitation of the past? I'm not saying a synthesizer answers all problems, nor am I saying a synthesizer is capable of fulfilling the "any sound imaginable" promise that was thrown around at the time of its introduction. However, I do it feel it is a powerful tool and its promise has largely been squandered.

I think the proper role of the synthesizer is to do things that can only be done on a synthesizer. This is one reason why I like working with Risset rhythms right now. It is something the brain can understand, but would be difficult or impossible for musicians to pull of convincingly. Therefore, it is something that has to be rendered synthetically.

Successfully leveraging the synthesizer as tool for the expression of music requires a perfect storm of abilities. You have to be a composer, know how to structure a composition, form, harmony and melody. You have to be an orchestrator; an art as difficult as composition, but appreciated to a lesser extent, and complicated by the amorphous and exceptionally wide gamut of possibility offered by the synthesizer. You have to be a musician; understand phrasing, dynamics and delivery. You have to be a synthesist, understand acoustics, recording technology, electronics, principles of synthesis. You also have to have a personality that can put all this together and have a drive to get something done. Oh, and you have to have access to the tools to make this all happen.

I'm not saying I'm successful at any of those things, but I have the desire to try.

I think people, in general, are fairly myopic, thinking only about what happens within their life. It is interesting to watch an organization like Harvard, with its thirst for real estate, and the related planning that transcends a human lifetime, a very real version of monopoly.

Here is the thing. If you're working in the field of rendered audio, there isn't an abstraction of your music. It will never be any better sounding than it already is. There is no way to (posthumously) re-render your work to be appreciated at a higher resolution.*

…unless you're working exclusively in an environment like csound. Here we have another example of the duality of music: a score of a performance and an orchestra definition that plays it. Assuming your piece doesn't use any recorded audio and is entirely synthetic, it has unlimited resolution.

Yeah, I think about this because we leave traces of our existence like never before. Before the internet and going digital, what we left behind was limited to our genes, written works like diaries and photos and various physical belongings. Now nothing really goes away and everything is indexed and searchable. I'm not saying what I'm doing will be of interest to anyone of the future, but if I were born in 2110, I'd probably at some point look up the history of my great-grandparents. (Hi, there.)

The process of making music varies from individual to individual. Some people can work artistically in csound, and many are building better tools to make it more and more approachable. I've been flailing away at synthesizers for 25 years now and have a good handle on what sort of process works for me musically, and csound never sang to me. Likewise, my process of using volta and a modular won't work for someone else.

Much of the effort we put into our music has a lot to do with the art of rendering the audio. Not all synthetic works can be disassembled to musical notation. I'm not assigning a value judgement either way. Some of my pieces could and some could not, but the ability to abstract and reinterpret the music could be considered a form of future proofing.

related posts
You are here
Transcribing the head
Reality check

* Could recorded audio be re-rendered at higher resolutions? Yeah, arguably you could see a process like this be developed, but it would ultimately be the same as running a stereo mix through a surround encoder for multichannel audio (surround repurposing). It isn't the same thing as real surround and is universally reviled. Another example is up-sampling DVD to HD video.

Creative Commons image by Leonrw

Radians Earphone Hack

2010-08-30T13:46:00.001-04:00

My first pair of earphones were a set of Etymotic ER-4s. At the time (mid 90s), ear phones were a curiosity, and Etymotic saw an opportunity to extend their hearing aid expertise to a wider market: people that can hear.

I found the Etymotics, although highly regarded, to be rather clinical and unflattering. Lots of high end detail, in fact, to this day, I still occasionally use the ER-4s to check for problems, but absolutely no low end.

I reported this to Etymotic, and they instructed me to try all the ear pieces to find the ones most compatible with my ear. While the various ear pieces changed the frequency response, none of them produced any low end whatsoever. I reported this to Etymotic and they suggested I get custom ear molds taken by an audiologist, and then I'd get low end.

So, I found a very friendly local audiologist who made house calls because virtually all of his clients are elderly and immobile. He seemed delighted at the prospect of shoving goop into the ears of someone who was not an octogenarian.

After a few weeks, I received my custom ear molds. I also had some Etymotic ear plugs made, with removable filters for various levels of attenuation. However, the ER-4 ear molds did not magically improve the low end of my ER-4s. The ear plugs were a different story altogether, allowing me to finally enjoy live concerts. Every other ear plug I tried produced a drastically uneven frequency response. The Etymotic ear plugs sounded great, just softer. I even started wearing them at trade shows which lowered my overall anxiety and allowed me to understand conversation better in the noisy environment.

Over the years, I continued to chase the earphone dragon, with usually disappointing results. My most recent set are a pair of Westone 3s, which I feel should be 'mind blowing' but are simply 'acceptable' I use the Westones for recording, live monitoring, traveling, occasional mix checking and any situation where I need to elevate myself out of the ambient noise floor, or need to dig down deep in the dynamic range.

Isolation ear phones are an ancestor of future augmented reality, as they are designed to minimize the real world in favor of a virtual aural reality. This is one reason why I like the idea of composing for listeners of the future, but that is a separate topic of discussion.

Ear phones aren't always comfortable. If they're to work properly, they need to seal the ear canal. I find them fatiguing after an hour or so. Etymotic was right about one thing, various ear pieces can change the frequency response. In the case of the Westone 3s, dramatically so. My favorites by far are the olive foamies. The problem with olive foamies is they're like any kind of ear plug - made of a material that you can't wash, so they have a limited lifespan. Silicone can be washed.

Last week, matrixsynth alerted me to the Radians two part silicone ear goop hack. You push this stuff in your ear, then jam your earphones in. My first reaction was the same as Chris Randalls, (why not do it right, and go to an audiologist?) Well, they're about 1/10 the cost of a set of ear molds (not including the appointment itself), and you can have them in 10 minutes instead of several weeks. They're about the same price as a set of olive foamies and these are washable, so, why not? Plus, they say you can get two sets of plugs out of one unit.

The Radians come in five colors. I chose the tan which could best be described as "generic white American' color. There are others including 'festive dildo', 'japanese schoolgirl' and 'please kick me in the nuts'

I followed the instructions based on the video and I have one thing to add: don't take your time. Once this stuff is mixed, you have to get it in your ear and jam the earphone in quickly. My first batch was a failure as I was able to get one earphone in, but not the other.

The second batch I acted much more quickly and was able to produce a working set of ear molds. You can hear this stuff cure in your ear. Pop. Zaaaaap.

The end result is something that sounds as good as olive foamies, is washable and more comfortable. I'll cautiously give this process a thumbs up.

Reality check

2010-08-26T12:06:00.000-04:00

Attention synthesizer nerds. Some (not all) of the well-regarded synthesizer pioneers were not very good musicians. They were the first to express a pedestrian musical idea using a new technology that made it sound fresh at the time. There was a huge barrier of entry in those days, as the associated synthesizer and recording technology cost tens of thousands of dollars. Today, that same technology is available to anyone with a computer. Technology can lift a musical cliche, but only for a limited time. Technology ages ungracefully, then what is left to admire? It is like picking a beautiful apple, only to find it is hollow after biting into it.

A lot of software technology created today is based on automating a laborious process that was made popular by a pioneer. Things that were groundbreaking 10 years ago are common and easy today.

Ask yourself, if [synth pioneer x] were an unknown, and put out an album today, would it get any further than a similar effort from one of the many well-intentioned amateurs on the internet? Be honest.

If you're the first to unearth a new technique, you might get lucky, but your music must be based on more than the application of technology if it is going to stand the test of time. Emulating the output of a technological pioneer whose underlying musical ideas were marginal to begin will get you nowhere.

Do something new. Cultivate greatness.

Image by syntopia Some rights reserved

Learning a new skill

2010-08-26T11:53:00.000-04:00

There are two phases to learning a new skill involving technology.

The first phase is driven from the pure joy of using the tool. This is aimless exploration, finding out what is possible, exploring technique.

The second phase is applying this knowledge to the expression of an idea.

Sometimes I see people that want to jump directly to step two. They have an idea they want to express, but don't know how to go about realizing it. They get the tools people tell them they need, but get frustrated quickly, because everything is complicated and getting in the way of what they want to achieve.

Sometimes I see people stuck in step one. They love their tools, but never make the transition to putting the tool in the service of an idea.

You have to have both phases, in the right order.

image by jef safi Some rights reserved

Where it rose, or whither it rushes

2010-08-20T10:07:00.003-04:00

:beep boop beep:

100% modular.

One comment I often get from people is "I admire your dedication." Perhaps this is damning with faint praise in some cases, but in others, they're serious. Dedication? That implies choice. I wish I could quit music. Life would be a lot simpler.

Last night, the urge struck me to turn off the reverbs. There was a reverb on a send and a reverb as an insert on a track. Killed both. Eureka. Aside from the summing of tracks, no DSP was used. No reverbs, delays, choruses, peak limiters or compressors. Not even an EQ. If anything, this enables you to appreciate and discern the synthesis a lot better. Reverb can hide a lot of defects. You can bet I'm going to revisit this issue in the final pass though all of 'A Funneled Stone' tracks.

where it rose, or whither it rushes by stretta

STS-124 Launch

2010-08-20T10:06:00.000-04:00

'past of plank and nail' married with video of a solid rocket booster on STS-124.

Super SATA Cables on Sale Soon

2010-08-19T12:19:00.002-04:00

Malcolm Steward, a technology 'journalist' has 'tested' some new SATA cables that he reports "dramatically improved audio quality."

Wait... WHAT?

He describes the product using tired terms found in detestable 'audiophile' magazines like 'detail', 'soundstage', and ‘air’, in fact, if I had a audiophile cliche bingo card, I would have definitely won with this gem:

My only guess is that the Super SATAs reject interference significantly better than the standard cables and in so doing lower the noise floor revealing greater low-level musical detail and presentational improvements in the soundstage and the ‘air’ around instruments.

The entire thing was so hilarious, I was pretty convinced it was satire. Except, if it was satire, why are comments disabled? See, that would be the fun part.

If you're a real journalist, Malcolm, do this test:

Transfer an audio file using normal SATA cables.
Transfer an audio file using these HI DEF audio cables.
Invert the phase of one.
Sum.

What is the difference, if anything? Anyway, he doesn't mention the manufacturer or provide a purchase URL, so we can't laugh about the absurd price these silly cables will obviously command.

(thanks to kernelslacker for the tip)

read crandall's more eloquent take

swapping projects

2010-08-17T12:34:00.001-04:00

I'm the father of two kids: a four year old and a seven year old. As such, the time I have available to work on music is usually when they're asleep. I think most people would agree that using a modular isn't exactly the speediest route to success. Now combine these factors and imagine getting anything done at all.

However, for the last four weeks, they've been in Malaysia with my wife visiting family. I've been at home, trying to keep the plants from dying and apologizing more or less continuously to the cat for the lack of people in the house. This greatly expanded the amount of time I was able to work on music and I devoured it. Two weekends were consumed by short trips to visit friends and family, but the other two weekends (and all weekday evenings), I worked on music.

I got a lot done. Downstairs, at the piano, I worked on 'could have the skies', my third piano ambient project. Upstairs, at the modular, I worked on 'a funneled stone'. This meant I could start a take upstairs, then run downstairs and work on the piano while the modular was recording. It was, like, quadruple productive.

The physical location of the piano and modular dictated the separation of the two spaces, but I could keep the current project up on each computer, and simply sit down to work. I noticed a strange thing, edit decisions were incredibly easy. If I swapped between projects, it became quite clear what to remove. "Oh, that isn't working. Delete." This also accelerated the production process, and the enforced swapping technique was so useful, I've noted it for future use. At the intersection of technique and technology, I'm aware of where my threshold is and I know if I had to close one project and open another, that would preclude me from adopting the technique on a single computer. At least on a regular basis. This also assumes you routinely work on multiple pieces of music at various stages of development at the same time.

If the working process of 'could have the skies' and 'a funneled stone' became entwined during this time period, I began to consider various ways to literally intertwine them as well. I've always liked the idea of spreading puzzles across multiple releases.

While I haven't finished either project, I can see the end of each. I intend to release a full length preview of a new funneled stone piece at the end of this week.

Enter Calico

2010-08-16T09:06:00.001-04:00

clearnotice
electronica
entercalico

Today clear notice releases its debut offering - a compilation of amazing electronica expertly curated by Kieron James and mastered by pure tone mastering. It's like discovering a new album by your favorite electronica artist, and every track is a knock out. If you read my blog, you need to buy this album.

iTunes
bandcamp
amazon

weekend

2010-08-09T11:21:00.002-04:00

If you are kind,
people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight;
build anyway.

- Mother Teresa

Junko Mizuno

2010-08-05T17:42:00.000-04:00

You should be aware of kawaii noir artist Junko Mizuno. That is all.

wikipedia
fan tumblr

Hacking at the root

2010-08-04T13:20:00.000-04:00

Lawrence Lessig nails it again. This one recorded July 29th 2010, in Boston.

Modulemodule

2010-08-02T10:00:00.000-04:00

My friend Dave Jones clued me into these interesting designs from eardrill for the Buchla system. This is a really fabulous idea for the format, which could use a way of inserting smaller functions without consuming an entire module panel. Creative! Also, check out the periodicity.

Sample Libraries Now on Soundcloud

2010-08-02T09:40:00.000-04:00

I've partnered with SoundCloud to deliver the complete creative commons 120bpm modular loop library and the Total Harmonic Distortion library. The neat thing about this is you don't have to download gigabytes of samples if you only use one or two. You can preview the samples directly on soundcloud, then download what you need.

as clean as fire

2010-07-27T22:37:00.013-04:00

A full resolution preview from 'a funneled stone'

This track I'm releasing under a creative commons license. You're free to download (24-bit!) and share, remix, repurpose, as much as you like, as long as attribution is given.

Thank you.

as clean as fire by stretta

as clean as fire by stretta is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at stretta.blogspot.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://stretta.blogspot.com/2010/07/as-clean-as-fire.html.

iDosing and Digital Drugs

2010-07-19T11:07:00.003-04:00

By now you've already seen that recent 'iDosing' video about the menace of 'Digital Drugs', audio files said to replicate the effects of acid, peyote, opium and marijuana.

The headlines online were alarming. "Many Teens Now Getting High Off Digital Drugs" It seemed official enough. After all, the the title of the video itself is "Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Warning Parents About I-Dosing" Wait. Did they? I tried to find the press release about iDosing from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics web site. It doesn't exist. It never existed. Everything I found leads back to the same news segment.

The only warning issued was a soundbite from the video itself by OBN spokesperson Mark Woodward "Kids are going to flock to these site to see what it's about and it could lead them other places." and "parental awareness is key to preventing future problems, since iDosing could indicate a willingness to experiment with drugs."

Whoa whoa whoa. Kids wanting to alter their consciousness? We should get rid of merry-go-rounds at playgrounds. In my observations, children as young as three years old would spin on this equipment to intentionally induce a disoriented mental state. After use, some children could not walk straight or even fall over. After they regained their composure, often they would go back and try it again to get their 'fix'. Alarmingly, adults in the area seemed unconcerned and some parents even assisted their children.

From what I can tell, the chain of events went something like this. Some kids at Mustang High School in Oklahoma told their friends they tried some digital drugs and it caused some 'physiological effects'. This somehow got to some school officials who understandably are not too found of cell phones and iPods on campus. Shannon Rigsby, Mustang Communication officer, issues a warning letter to parents. Oklahoma Channel 9 News gets wind of this and sends a reporter to bring back the gold. They interview clueless parents and students, (but no experts) and Mark Woodward gives them the gateway drug line and there is the official word.

Despite being debunked by actual experts, or recognized as a danger at the Federal level, Mark Woodward seems to enjoy being on camera. At least here they use the word 'allegedly', something conspicuously missing from the original segment.

We need to hold news organizations accountable for this kind of sensationalist nonsense in the pursuit of ratings. It marginalizes the credibility of official organizations. If the OBN is sensationalizing digital drugs, then how credible are they on the dangers of an actual drug like marijuana? What is their stance on caffeine? The physiological effects of sugar?

This is an issue we as audio professionals know something about, but the technique is applied to every conceivable newsworthy issue - especially politics, and that is something far more dangerous than an audio placebo.

Live music and recorded music

2010-07-14T15:29:00.004-04:00

In most people's minds, music is music. We don't distinguish between live music and recorded music as separate art forms, and why would we? After all, our favorite acts go into the studio to record, then support the record with a tour. That is how it is done.

The problem I have with this is the model is tied exclusively to a small subset of genres and performance venues, but used to described the entirety of the music industry, conveniently ignoring all other music that doesn't fit.

I'll use myself as an example, but my situation is not unique. The process I use for creating modular tracks is not real time. It takes about a month to produce 2-3 minutes of finished audio. It is a slow, painstaking process, much like hand-drawn animation. There is no live performance version of what I'm doing in the studio, and that assumes a critical mass of audience in one place, a venue that would support it, and the ability to make a profit (no, no and no). One of the benefits of distributing music on the internet is you can narrowcast your brand of expression to an audience that may total hundreds over the globe. An artist may actually be able to make money to a narrowcast global audience, if we didn't train ourselves to think recorded music is worthless.

There is an obvious element of self-interest to advancing the notion that recorded music should be free and true artist support involves attending the live show, because it makes us feel better about downloading music. At the same time, I'm told that if I don't like the recorded music of artist x, it is because I haven't seen the artist live. So, which is it? Is live music the same as recorded music or not? The justification seems to shift depending on the context.

If the music doesn't hold my interest on record, then I probably won't enjoy the live version, either. What is interesting is how people conflate the non-music aspects surrounding a concert experience and attribute these elements to the music. Brenda Laurel, as a researcher during the salad days at Atari, performed an experiment where subjects were given an opportunity to experience a game with high resolution and low resolution audio. Participants found the game with high resolution audio 'looked' better. What that says to me is this is a natural and understandable response.

I never liked the Grateful Dead. (all this means is I don't like their music. It doesn't mean they're a bad band, m'kay?) I tried to. I tried to understand what it was that enraptured so many other people. But listening to the Dead's MUSIC, I never found anything that impressed me enough to listen a second time. When I'd tell people this, the usual response was, "Oh, you have to go see their live show."

I'm naturally skeptical about this. The most awesome light show in the world doesn't improve the music, but it may improve the concert experience. Great dancers on stage don't improve the music, but it may improve the concert experience. There may be an amazing community around the act, but this doesn't have anything to do with the music. My feelings about the music; the harmony, the style, the melody, the repetitiveness, the structure, aren't going to magically change if I'm experiencing it live, unless I'm hearing a radically-different interpretation.

I'm extremely dubious about electronic acts live, especially solo acts. Why? Because the easiest and most-reliable path to success involves using pre-recorded material. This could range from improvising a complex arrangement from scratch using software, or simply playing back an entire mastered stereo mix. If the performer is working a laptop, you have zero idea how much 'performance' is actually happening. Un-muting the kick drum or theatrically twisting a low pass filter knob on stage doesn't impress me.

Even if the performer is a genius of real-time construction, there isn't anything about a performance of mouse clicks that the audience can relate to. Everyone understands how a guitar works. The audience can see a musician set a string in motion and finger the frets. There is a direct correlation between what is happening on stage and the sound that you hear. In the end, creating a compelling solo performance that doesn't involve heavy reliance on pre-recorded material, has interesting compositional movement, doesn't subject your audience to live-looped section-building, and doesn't glue your nose to a computer is exceptionally difficult.

This is why I feel the monome goes a long way to solving the performance problem inherent in electronic music (it doesn't have to be a monome, I'm just using it as an example) Daedalus gets this, he even positions his unit to face the audience so they understand how the physical gestures correlate to the music. This is a unique moment in time and THAT is why I go see live music. I want to hear a different interpretation. I want to see the performer engage the audience and have the audience press back on the music. I want to enjoy watching the performer execute musical ingenuity. For me, the point of seeing live music is the live music - a little element of danger. I don't want a perfect reproduction of what is on the record. Live music is a separate art form.

If nobody invests in music, we’re all the poorer for it

2010-07-09T17:01:00.000-04:00

It isn't easy for musicians to produce great art while also working a full-time job. Musicians are also expected to tour and this is obviously incompatible with full-time employment. It has traditionally been the role of record labels to develop artists, but from where I'm sitting, 'artist development' hasn't been the focus of the music industry in the last 30-40 years or so.

In this Wired article, Tom Silverman proposes 'a radically transparent music business' by creating a joint partnership between artists and music companies that give each a 50 percent stake in the artist’s businesses. Silverman notes the relationship between artists and labels has become adversarial in nature.

But then he goes on to say record labels are more risk-adverse than ever, so how does changing the relationship between artists and labels help this? I seriously doubt record labels believe the solution to their declining revenues is to give more of a cut to artists, and make their accounting more transparent. However, hearing these words from a board member of SoundExchange and the RIAA is encouraging.

Here is a sobering quote:

There were only 225 rookie artists in 2008, and less last year, that broke 10,000 albums for the first time — not that that’s the only arbiter of success, but it’s one of them. That year, there were only 10 new artists that broke through by doing it themselves.

Kooborcim 0.1

2010-07-06T16:33:00.005-04:00

I'm back to work on A Funneled Stone. This piece is kind of in the same state that the original 050110 was prior to the update. However, I think I need to let it rest while I work on another piece of music, so here is a peek.

Part of me would like to hear what a supremely talented rapper could do with the drums at the beginning. If dubstep can be a genre, I don't know why a risset rhythm couldn't spawn the same. (no, I'm not hating on dubstep, I'm hating on the unnecessary practice of creating overly-specific genres) This was a throwaway comment, (which subsequently got described as genre-busing hoopla) but after reading some of the hysterical reactions over the use of the term 'electro' at cdm, I'm kind of curious. How would you describe this piece of music? What genre does it sit in?

Aside from the drums, all modular synth.

One other minor thing. I think I'll release my piano ambient stuff under 'Escape Philosophy' as I have in the past, and electronic music as 'stretta'

As always, thanks for listening.

this mortal abolition by stretta

More than the sum of their parts

2010-07-06T11:44:00.002-04:00

Roland. Korg. Yamaha. Kurzweil. Ensoniq. Emu. Akai. Remember when the giant names of the musical instrument industry used to make synthesziers? That was awesome. Or, at least it seems in hindsight.

Major advances in synthesis would happen every NAMM show as manufacturers attempted to corner some unique area of the marketplace. Moog defined the performance instrument category with the minimoog, but it was a tough sell. Eventually retailers caught on and more players came to the market, notably ARP and Oberheim.

The next obvious milestone was polyphony. While multiple Oberheim SEMs could be ganged together for polyphony, the Prophet-5 stormed the market with the combination of patches and polyphony. The big names exchanged various salvos in the analog polysynth era until MIDI and the digital polysynth arrived in earnest with the Yamaha DX7.

It was at this time a cottage industry sprang up selling pre made patches for instruments. The D50 arrived in 1987, bringing with it the standard of including digital reverb and other digital effects on board. The Korg M1 quickly followed, ushering in the age of 'workstation' synths with multitimberality and built-in sequencing.

All of these products brought some new key feature or synthesis method to the market. The big names drove synthesis innovation. The market today isn't about synthesis innovation, it is about providing controllers and stage pianos. The people who bought synthesizers were never really interested in synthesis. They played in bands and needed a piano sound, an organ sound, a rhodes sound and whatever generic synth pad patch is required for that one cover song. The synthesizer market was subsidized by keyboard players.

What happened was synthesis innovation migrated to the realm of software where it is far cheaper to develop. This lowered the barrier of entry for the 'synthesizer curious.' No longer was it necessary to spend money on expensive hardware in order to explore. Roland is still under the illusion that they make synthesizers, which explains odd marketing thrusts like promoting synthesizers as a musical 'lifestyle' for bored suburban moms.

There are still people interested in synthesis, but with the proliferation of software and without the earlier keyboard-player-subsidization, the market has reveled itself to be far smaller.

If you look at the history and development of monosynths, you have a variety of manufacturers trying out different sets of features or technologies to distinguish their product. Ultimately, you can't be all things to all people, and if you could cram every conceivable feature into a single synth, it would be incomprehensible.

With a modular, you can take just the features that are important or relevant to you, and come up with an instrument that is entirely unique. Look around at everyone's system. No one has exactly the same thing. Why get an MS-20 when you can basically custom specify your own synth?

I lived though those old days as a synthesizer nerd and spent a lot of time hanging out at music stores spending as much time as possible auditioning the latest gadgets. Like many others, I engaged in elaborate thought experiments (IE: daydreaming) about the ultimate synthesizer. Seamlessly mix analog and digital oscillators. Recreate the voice structure of a Prophet VS. Swap out a vactrol filter with a transistor ladder. Layer four... no, SIX oscillators. Use multiple step sequencers to imply multiple overlapping rhythmic feels. OR, you could make a standard OSC>VCF>VCA bass patch to create a line that repeats over and over and over. The sky is the limit here.

In the 80's, before affordable DAWs and in the new gleam of MIDI, modulars and analog monosynths fell out of favor for obvious reasons: no patch storage, no polyphony, unreliable, tuning issues, etc... all things that matter in the context of performing musicians, but weigh less in the minds of synthesists. No one is purely one or the other, it is our priorities and interests that define the weighting. After a decade of cursor buttons and LCDs, we wanted our knobs back. Cables came a bit later.

Now modulars are booming, but the scale of manufacturing is better suited to a cottage industry. As a result, all the really interesting advances in hardware synthesis are coming from companies that are run out of a garage by one or two people, not the big names.

Now with affordable computers, a lot of those issues that mattered 20 years ago, are less important. Oscillators have better tuning and tracking. Everything is more reliable. Polyphonic patches are actually realistically attainable at some scales, multitracking is affordable and computers provide precision control over any CV input.

I've spoke in the past about why I use a modular, but I have some updated thoughts that I'll share in a future blog post as I continue work on 'A Funneled Stone'. Consider this a preamble.

Deadmau5 demonstrates his modular

2010-07-06T11:05:00.001-04:00

The first time I saw a pic of this monstercase setup, I said to myself, "That basically looks like every new module released in one box." In other words, like a analog haven subscription, then all shoved willy nilly into its own monstercase.

It is a tired, sad sport to make judgements about someone simply because they can afford such and such gear and seem so completely lost. I'm sure this impulse would be tempered if I respected what Joel does musically, which I attempted to do a while ago to see what the fuss was about. As I lack a hit on beatport, which, scientifically speaking, is the only true measure of artistic worthiness, I'm unqualified to comment.

The only conclusion I can come to after watching this video is I still have a lot to learn. If you have any information about what the hell he is doing, please note in the comments. Confused!

The Dark Ages

2010-06-28T09:38:00.000-04:00

TED and Lego seemed destined to meet at some point.

My Euro Shopping List

2010-06-25T14:24:00.001-04:00

Cwejman CTG-VC
I already have a nice variety of different envelopes in my system, including a Cwejman ADSR-VC2, but the Cwejman CTG-VC is tops on my 'to get' list. Adjustable decay slope, switchable linear/expo and attenu-verting output hold time, and a full complement of CV inputs all combine to make the CTG-VC impossible to resist.

Cwejman MMF-6
It is no secret the MMF-1 is my favorite filter. Build in an input saturation function along with an intriguing symmetry function and the tonal range is greatly expanded. This isn't a replacement for the MMF-1 as it still does things the MMF-6 can't.

4ms Rotating Clock Divider
Normal clock dividers like the Doepfer A-160 are simple circuits, but musically limited. The idea of clock rotation elevates the usefulness by an order of magnitude or so.

Kilpatrick Audio k4815 pattern generator
This is kind of a Muse Triadex for generating gate and CV patterns for your modular. I'm a sucker for this sort of thing.

addac 101 .wav player
Probabbly best to let this video describe this module. This is a good example of what can be done with an arduino stuffed behind a euro panel. I love the SD card idea, which neatly sidesteps both memory and transfer issues.

I realize some items I mentioned are not available yet, but others are and you may be reading this at some point in the future. If you have any of these and are interested in a trade involving a Cyndustries Sawtooth Animator, Cwejman VC-ADSR2, Lexicon PCM80 or Ensoniq DP/4+, please get in touch.

Dedicated Hardware

2010-06-21T10:11:00.000-04:00

Some people are amused I use a timer when brewing tea. I don't use a timer for precision, although that is a nice side benefit, I use a timer because I'm absent-minded. Most teas can be infused multiple times, and over-brewing an infusion ruins the current batch and all subsequent infusions. I have the greatest tea timer in the world. It's called an 'iPhone'.

In addition to functioning as a tea timer, it also browses the web, does email, plays music and makes phone calls. It really is an amazingly flexible device. As such, I can start timing my tea in seven simple steps:

step 1: press power button
step 2: swipe to unlock
step 3: press the home button
step 4: locate and launch clock application
step 5: select clock mode to timer
step 6: enter desired time with round wheel-thingies
step 7: hit start

Actually, by the time I hit start, my tea is pretty much done. That is why I don't use the greatest. most flexible tea timer in the world, I use a simple, dedicated hardware device - the same one I've been using for the past 15 years that I purchased form a scientific catalog. I use this device instead of a kitchen timer because it has a 10-key pad instead of H:M:S buttons. Pressing the 'S' button 30 times in a row on a Monday morning before you've had any caffeine can cause irritability and occasional stabbiness.

Sometimes a single, dedicated-use device is better. I use the tea timer every day, multiple times. In other words, I use it frequently enough to warrant having a dedicated hardware device. I don't have to fish around in my bag looking for my phone, or locate, launch, and set up a software application.

My tea timer may not be able to play games or send text messages, but, for its purpose, it totally kicks the iPhone's ass.

Solstice

2010-06-18T12:10:00.002-04:00

The school year has officially ended, for my daughter, at least, and with it, my available window to record piano in the mornings. I wasted my final four available mornings recording a work for hire project. I haven't looked at 'could have the skies' in a week but most of the projects are in a half-finished state that would require an additional overdub. As my brain is a squished grape, I'll need a day or two to recover before I can assess where I'm at with both 'could have the skies' and 'a funneled stone'

On the bright side, I have a new, old MIDI controller. I found a Kurzweil Midiboard at a reasonable price and now I have release velocity and polyphonic aftertouch. What I wasn't expecting was how much I'd love the feel of it. I'm not a big piano-action guy, but the Midiboard is not heavy and dead like a lot of piano actions I've tried. The Midiboard feels unlike any controller I've ever used and there is a little bounce to it. Trills practically fly off of it. That was a pleasant surprise. I like the extra range compared to a 76-note keyboard. That was also unexpected. Also, there are these dedicated front panel sliders that allow you to adjust the response of the keyboard on the fly. This is incredibly handy and useful as different sounds respond to the keyboard in different ways.

Basically, what you see here plus my modular is the extent of my current studio setup.

Chronopolis

2010-06-18T12:04:00.000-04:00

I came across Chronopolis (1982) on Vimeo and I thought "Yes! Some trippy animated movie I can write a new score to!" Then I listened to it and realized there is no way I top Luc Ferrari's existing score.

I'm not sure where I came across the complete film, but I found a segment on youtube.

Empathy

2010-06-17T16:59:00.000-04:00

Recently, I've had the opportunity to experience complete and total failure. This isn't a new or novel occurrence. As a coping mechanism, it can be tempting to deflect the cause of failure to an external force. Sometimes this may even be true, but, in most cases, if I'm honest with myself, I know who is responsible.

Honesty. If you can't be honest with yourself, how can you be honest with other people? It may actually be more difficult to be honest with yourself. The key is detachment. How adept are you at observing yourself from an impartial third person perspective? Stress and emotions can prevent detachment and overcome the ability to look at an issue rationally.

Sometimes it can be very difficult to listen objectively to your own work. There is familiarity to overcome - indeed, this is a sadness all composers must deal with - but there are other aspects like the perspective a particular person may bring. In essence, I'm modeling the personality of someone I know, to more fairly judge my own work. But, isn't this the core of empathy? To understand an issue from someone else's perspective? Is empathy a skill that can be practiced?

One of the ways the brain learns is through repetition. The human mind is a very elaborate pattern recognition and matching machine. Correctly predicting the future is pleasurable. We shoot the arrow not at the running prey, but where the prey WILL be. Repetition in music eases familiarity, but predicting the same thing over and over ceases to be pleasurable. Overly repetitive music is quick to enjoy and quick to deplete. Music devoid of repetition may not get a second chance with a listener.

Memories fade, but repetition reinforces. Feedback is a kind of synthetic repetition. Instead of repeated external exposure, feedback feeds itself. In this way, feedback is very powerful. Dark thoughts, obsessive-compulsive behavior, anxiety all become more potent through the application of feedback. This is one reason why bad habits are difficult to exonerate. Feedback isn't inherently good or bad any more than an amplifier is good or bad. Through an application of will, feedback can be applied to desirable habits.

The older I get, the longer the periods become of cycles I recognize. I detach myself, and look at my failure. Before me is a decision: how do I deal with this? Roughly two paths emerge, one of anger and one of humility. Both can be unpleasant. In one, I get to be 'right' and defiant. The other, wrong and repentant.

In one of the choirs I was a member of, if you flubbed something up in rehearsal, you raised your hand to indicate to the director that you knew you messed up. There were several nice things about this. Raising your hand didn't interrupt the piece. You were transmitting information to the director that, yes, you made a mistake, and you were aware of it. The alternative is the time consuming practice of subdividing the group into smaller and smaller sections to find the offending voice. In this way, admitting the mistake was less humiliating than hiding it, because you will eventually be exposed… in front of everyone. Admitting my mistakes became a habit.

The stigma of being wrong is something we learn in childhood and bring with us to adulthood. If you're wrong, we associate that with a penance. Admitting you're wrong and apologizing may be unpleasant, but afterwards, you're not carrying it anymore. Being right, even to just yourself may avoid the stigma, but carry a long term psychological weight.

saints with vanished slate

2010-06-09T15:39:00.001-04:00

Here is the first track preview from 'could have the skies', my solo piano ambient diversion in the style of the 'Brood XIV' and 'ATAOIB' releases.

In case you're not familiar, the project is defined largely by the limitations of available open mic recording time in my house. There is a small window in the morning after the kids are off to school around 8:20am. I quickly throw some mics up and record until 8:50am and then madly scramble to work. I don't have any preconceived idea what I'm going to play each day. I randomly select a tempo, key/mode and time signature and start improvising.

I have recorded a track per weekday since I started. Currently, there are 14 tracks, I'm not sure how many are keepers. Last week I was out of town, so nothing happened. I doubt I'll preview many tracks before the official release, but I've been silent long enough to warrant an update. After I wrap this up, I'll return to 'A Funneled Stone'.

If you liked my previous piano releases, you should probably enjoy this, but, regardless, it is always a pleasure to read your comments.

Open letter to those that make videos

2010-06-02T14:22:00.000-04:00

Dear videographers,

It is a golden age for those who wish to communicate with moving images. The tools for manipulating video are very powerful, and distributing your creations online is simple. Too often, though, it seems like the soundtrack your use is an afterthought. Why use the same, tired, usage-encumbered music everyone else is using when there is a surplus of free-to-use creative commons music that could use the exposure? Why soil your creative effort with a soundtrack cliche? Or, maybe there is an independent musician whose music you enjoy - have you considered contacting them to commission a score? All it takes is a few minutes of searching.

Using creative commons licensed music helps underexposed artists, keeps your work unique, and is legal.

z3kid3

2010-05-28T22:58:00.000-04:00

I posted a link to this earlier on twitter Z3000mk2 into discord 3

I received a Z3000mk2 yesterday. I plugged it in thinking I was going to explore the waveshaper, but I got distracted by using HSM sourced from an original Z3000 square wave. Modulating pulse width did some interesting things, but I really liked the aggressive texture it created. Mind you, you're hearing the audio output of only one oscillator. For much of the example, I'm using the Z2040 filter. Sometimes I'd switch to the cwejman mmf-1. Recorded in one take with a joystick and some knob stuff. It's like a distraction from 'could have the skies', which, itself, is a distraction from 'a funneled stone'

Same thing with Discord 3, I just got it at the same time and this is the only other ingredient. Because Volta was driving the modulations, and there are many synced presets with Discord, everything matches up in an expected way. It made for an interesting demo of the wide variety of effects that can be achieved by a nice-sounding pitch processor inside the feedback of a delay loop. The kind of stuff that made Eventide famous.

I listened to this again and figured someone out there might find it interesting or useful and attached an attribution only creative commons license.

z3kid3 by stretta

z3kid3 by Matthew Davidson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Another Example of the Reality of Touring

2010-05-25T16:45:00.000-04:00

I get irritated when people justify illegally downloading music with the "musicians make all their money touring" mantra that gets repeated and repeated until it is accepted as truth.

If you accept that recorded music and live music are separate art forms, and only a small subsection of music is suitable for touring, what remains is a tiny sliver of acts that have a chance at profitability. Surely, a major-profile act like Imogen Heap supporting a Grammy Award-winning album falls into this category! Well, think again.

Please support musicians and buy the music that you use.

So expensive to tour! Just had a rather depressing meeting with tour manager. Record sales low (across the industry) really impacting me.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhoneImogen Heap
imogenheap

Printable WTFLOL sign

2010-05-21T12:47:00.002-04:00

I thought this was pretty awesome, so I made a printable PDF version so you can help spread LOLs around the world.

This PDF file is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License

The Shift

2010-05-20T10:42:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you've all read Nicolas Chartier's response to a boycott letter expressing disapproval of their strategy to sue people who torrented The Hurt Locker. In the email, Chartier states "If you think it's normal they take my work for free, I'm sure you will give away all your furniture and possessions and your family will do the same… I'm glad you're a moron who believes stealing is right."

Here we go again. Content creators equate piracy to theft. Content consumers dismiss this on the grounds that making a copy isn't the same as theft. Both groups commit the fallacy of thinking about theft in terms of physical product. Both are wrong.

Theft has occurred, but it is the theft of use or utility as defined by the traditional models of media distribution. This is exactly like software piracy. Nothing physical has been removed, but someone is benefiting from the use of the software without compensating the creators. Media isn't any different. I fail to comprehend why this has to be explained to anyone.

It used to be content creators could dictate how their work would is consumed. They could sell their work, or choose to give it away. If they decide to sell it, they dictate the price. Consumers paid up front for the privilege of experience, and refunds aren't given because the content is 'bad'

Today, content consumers have the option of paying zero. Therefore, consumers now dictate the terms. Content consumers want to consume up front and have the option to reward the creator if they found the experience agreeable, and they set the price.

The only choice content creators have now is to share their work, or not. Once something is released, it will be consumed, despite the erection of artificial barriers to prevent such action. Compensation is now solely at the consumer's discretion. Fact.

Content consumers are the people who will be buying your product. Now, here is the part that will surprise you. They want to support creators, they want to be given that opportunity. Why? They want to feel some ownership. Don't underestimate the power of choice and free will.

Lawsuits and treating your customers as criminals is the last thing you want to do. Intentionally alienating your audience is something only misguided, habitually-litigious rock stars do.

Effeweam

2010-05-17T16:42:00.004-04:00

I gave myself until today to get this project to a point where I could publicly preview it. I still have a few concerns that may be addressed by re-orchestrating, mixing, or redoing a few parts. But, for now, I need to put this, and the rest of 'A Funneled Stone' aside (probably for the best) while I take the opportunity to record a new ambient piano project.

I pulled my minimoog out to test it prior to releasing it for a brief rental stint. I discovered a few things.

First, even though my kids are constantly surrounded by electronic music gear, they both loved the minimoog. I had thought it was the novelty of an unfamiliar device, but there seems to be something about it that really draws them in, especially my daughter.

Second, inserting a minimoog into this kind of composition instantly gives it 'that' moog modular character. You'll hear what I'm talking about. I don't have an S-trig cable (one is on order) so I'm controlling the minimoog with volta entirely though the three CV inputs: pitch, amp and filter. When I get the cable I'll be able to use the on-board envelopes, but what you're hearing here is the minimoog driven by cwejman envelopes.

Oh, one more thing about the mini that I found interesting was how all the knobs are in musically-useful ranges. Obviously, all instruments strive for this, but it turns into a major tradeoff between flexibility and resolution where it matters. Resonance, for example, had a huge tonal range in an area that I'm accustomed to a fairly small range. So, the mini is an exceptionally limited instrument, but the whole thing is one big sweet spot.

a little madness in the spring by stretta

The Secret to Motivation

2010-05-14T12:04:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure how universally true this is (the cited studies seem to indicate so), but the concepts discussed in this video confirms so much about what I know about myself and work habits.

050110-2

2010-05-05T08:45:00.001-04:00

This is a revised version of the music I posted a few days ago. Bass and other elements added. The bass is an Livewire AFG through several recorded filter variants and I have edited between them for structure and emphasis. The AFG is set to animated pulses and the four animation inputs are fed from a quadrature LFO generated by Volta. This is an area where I used a scope on the waveform to ensure the modulation stayed 'in bounds' - subtle, but not collapsing the waveform.

3.2

2010-05-05T08:39:00.001-04:00

This is a more full excerpt of the music found on my AHNE 2010 video. The full statement of the beginning is present, as is the long wind down at the end. The final polyphonic synth sound you hear is seven modules, total. Three TipTop Z3000 oscillators, three TipTop Z2040 filers/VCAs and a mixer to combine the voice outputs. Each oscillator /filter pair comprises one voice of polyphony. All the envelopes are provided by Volta. Reverb is, again, Eos.

A Funneled Stone

2010-05-04T19:30:00.001-04:00

Many of my musical project ideas come from the desire to listen to something that doesn't currently exist. Music made with a modular synthesizer tends to fall into some fairly well-traveled areas like interpretations of classical music, berlin school electronica or flowing ambient/environmental.

I wanted to hear something layered and multitracked like the classical interpretations, but based on original music, and not shackled to the Baroque. I also wanted the form of the piece to be extended - like, an album side. From experience, I can roughly estimate how long something like this would take. I can produce about one minute of finished multi-track modular synth audio a week. So, an 22-minute piece would take about half a year to complete. Uhhhgggghm.

In today's world, an unknown like myself can't really drop off the radar for that long without being completely forgotten, so I've been introducing little previews of the project here and there. My preferred method of distributing previews is soundclound, but I'm running into the limits of my free account. As I'm pondered alternatives, I was unexpectedly gifted a six month upgraded account. This generous act will enable anyone to listen to these previews. Thank you!

I've entered a very productive streak with my modular. I lost a chunk of time in April with personal events and building a new production computer, however, the new machine is really making a difference.

I received my Hertz Donut and Piston Honda right before the weekend and I spent much of Saturday enjoying them, and produced a nearly free standing section of music on that day alone, and I even had time to enjoy the beautiful weather outside.

There has been some mild interest in a vinyl release of this project, but given my personal resources, it isn't something I could do, even if there were enough interest to merit a pressing to begin with. I've recently closed my amazon vendor account because I'm sick of shipping physical product. Interestingly, prices of the now, out-of-print Archetribe releases quickly elevated. Anyway, this, more than any other factor, is quelling my interest on a vinyl release.

I'll be plorking away at this project for the next two weeks then, it'll aruptly go on hold.

Why?

My wife has scheduled a tuning of her piano, which means I'll shift my attention to a new ambient piano release for a few weeks.

Any exploration of the monome 512 is getting preempted by these projects. 'A Funneled Stone' was already underway, and the kids will be out of school soon, so I must take my open mic time when I have it.

Crazy Santa Cruz City Council Woman - JAZZ HANDS

2010-05-04T18:15:00.001-04:00

Hey, here is an excuse to embed a tweet. bortflancrest alerted me to a more concise, edited version of the crazy city council woman video.

I blame America. http://bit.ly/fq3nkless than a minute ago via TweetDeckBort Flancrest
bortflancrest

So, of course, I set it to music.

The Way Forward

2010-04-28T14:16:00.001-04:00

This all feels eerily familiar. Personal alarm bells starting ringing when I read Steve Jobs overheard saying the iPad "will be the most important thing I've ever done."

I remember when the Macintosh was the fresh new thing at Apple. At that time, the entire company was built on the back of the Apple //. The Macintosh was just getting off the ground and accounted for only a small part of the total revenue. Even so, it was clear the Mac was the future.

The iPhone and iPad represent huge chunks of Apple's revenue and this did not exist three years ago. In fact, they pretty much represent all of Apple's growth in that time. Apple knows mobile computing is the way forward. Do you know it too?

Here are some more clues. The Apple Design Awards? Mobile only. The WWDC? A curiously mobile-centric focus. Sensing a trend here?

The nature of computing is changing. It used to be we used computers to crunch numbers and make spreadsheets. This is Microsoft's turf. Now we use computers to do other things like manage photos, make movies, music, and communicate. Even before the advent of mobile computing, Apple understood this, and this is where iLife came from.

Facebook is an application that helps manage personal relationships. That sounds incredibly stupid. Why would you use a computer to help you deal with people? Except… it works. This is the reality of how normal people use computers today, and this kind of stuff is what iPhones and iPads are all about.

MacOS and Windows are in their twilight.

AHNE 2010 video

2010-04-26T17:33:00.001-04:00

AHNE (analog heaven northeast) is the annual gathering of analog synthesizer enthusiasts around the Boston area. The event is a unique opportunity to touch and hear many unique, rare and beautiful instruments.

This video was captured using a Canon 5DmkII with the 100mm f/2.8 macro and 50mm f/1.4 lenses. Edited using After Effects.

The music is a short section from my as-yet-unreleased long-form modular composition. This section of music has not yet been previewed before. Other bits of this project can be found here and here. This segment is 100% modular. No soft synths, no drums, nothing. Just modular.

I've heard some people, especially on youtube, complain that all they hear from modular synthesizer demos are BEEP BOOP BEEP or squarnly noise-type things. While these efforts are, IMO, perfectly valid uses of a modular (and something I myself do), it was my hope to create a single piece of music that would fill 'an album side'. While there is still a long way to go, I hope you enjoy this preview.

AHNE 2010 Flickr Set

2010-04-25T20:41:00.000-04:00

AHNE 2010 Flickr Set. Shown below is Randel Osborne's Enabler for the Arp Chroma, which was the highlight of the event for me. The Enabler unlocks the extremely powerful synthesizer lurking beyond the pinhole view provided by existing Chroma user interface.

Youtube's music attribution robot FAIL

2010-04-22T14:59:00.002-04:00

As a musician, I went though tons and tons of tape. In 1991, the Audio Home Recording Act enabled taxation of digital recording gear at 2% and blank media at 3%. The collected money got funneled back into the recording industry because, obviously you were pirating music. So, the simple act of recording my own music and honing my craft helped fund the big record companies, and, ultimately, the RIAA itself.

Today, I noticed youtube rolled out a new feature where the music you've used in your video is automatically attributed. Helpful links are also added to find and buy more of this artist's music. Unfortunately for me, in nearly all cases, the attribution is mistakenly assigned to someone else.

Some examples:

pareidolia falsely attributed to Foetus

feignroom falsely attributed to Just Live

where abundance lies falsely attributed to Johnny Trash

coalescence and luxation falsely attributed to T.I.M.E.

I'm understandably horked off about this. Most of my music I've licesned quite liberally with a creative commons 3.0 attribution license. Basically, I'm giving it away, including commercial use. The only thing you have to do, THE ONLY THING is get the damn attribution correct.

If you're a musician, you should check your videos, too. It seems to get music available for sale mostly correct, as reported by a number of people. This is because the algorhithm has something to match against. For example, they got Dissociative Fugue correct. However, if you're giving music away, bend over.

I'm sick of getting squeezed to death in the ongoing battle between big media conglomerates and piracy. Now, using RIAA tactics, what are the damages for such action? $80,000 per track, isn't it? Isn't the U.S. Government the intellectual property enforment arm of the entertainment industry? Where are my rights? Unleash the hounds!

Z8000 Overview

2010-04-20T08:46:00.000-04:00

The TipTop Audio Z8000 sequencer uses an open design, with tons of jacks exposing the clocking, direction and reset inputs for 10 different ways of addressing the bank of 16 knobs. If you're interested in a truly unique take in the analog step sequencer, give this beast a spin.

How much money do you make playing live?

2010-04-16T11:19:00.005-04:00

Man, I'm getting tired of this. If you haven't come across the entertainment industry's intellectual property enforcement joint strategic plan, it is some crazy shit. In a nutshell, they (the RIAA and MPAA) are looking for anti-infringement spyware for home computers, copyright filtering at ISPs and copyright enforcement on the nation's borders. The EFF breaks it down for you.

Navneet Alang's editorial response at Techi is equally interesting. He's basically saying that there has been a cultural shift for people to expect their media to be free, so the industry has to adapt to a model based on selling stuff for nothing. Wait, what?

Clearly, there is a gulf between these two positions.

Everyone likes to talk about scarcity as the core issue because we still think of music, books and movies as a physical asset. It isn't. It is about utility. It is about what you get out of experiencing that media. If you listen to a song on an iPod while you're exercising or in your car, you're using it. That is the value. It doesn't matter if you encoded a CD for a file, or downloaded it for free, or if there are a billion other copies of the song out there. The fact that you've chosen to experience it indicates there is some inherent value.

Clearly, musicians are not making a living selling recorded music, as illustrated at information is beautiful. Here is another source. If you're Lady Gaga, you earned $167 from spotify for a million streams. Woo?

Navneet is a realist, and that is really the point he's trying to make. But he doesn't have any answers beyond the 'artists should make money playing live' thing that everyone constantly spouts. So, I'm curious. How is that working out for you?

If you're a musician that plays mostly (51% or more) original music live, please take part in this poll, and let us know the extent of your success for the whole of last year. You just did your 2009 taxes, right?

How much money did you make playing live?customer surveys