New Piece, Impromptu, Now Online Here

mosc · Last edited by mosc on Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:33 pm; edited 3 times in total

I'm just about to leave for London where I'll be attending the Modular 2003 conference, and performing at the concert there. I'll be performing an improvised piece called Impromptu. At the end of this message, I'm including a link to an mp3 file of a rehearsal I did last night. This will be very similar to what I'll play in London, and later at a lecture/concert in Trondheim, Norway. I hope you like it.

**Impromptu, the patch**

This is very basic synthesizer music. This recording was made in real time. The instrumentation is simple, one Clavia Nord Modular synthesizer. With this piece, I take on the challenge of using the most simple instrumentation. Throughout the performance, I play only one patch. This consists of just two oscillators, a bandpass filter and an envelope generator. There are no delays, reverbs - not even an LFO. (There is a compressor to keep the volume levels under control and a phase shifter network to add spacialization to what would otherwise be a monophonic signal.)

The two oscillators are hooked up in a scheme called "cross modulation" that was first shown to me by David Berry in the last century. Each oscillator has frequency modulation inputs from itself and from its partner oscillator. There is a tuning knob and keyboard control as well. This "cross modulation" system creates very rich and complex modulation products which are very difficult to control. It is certainly impossible to predict. This makes the challenge of performance quite exciting. This extremely simple electronic voice is surprisingly expressive.

Click on the following link (128 Kbs streaming MP3) for Impromptu9-6-03, named in honor of the date it was performed.

I'd be grateful for any comments you might care to post as replies to this message.

Impromptu-9-6-03.mp3

Description:

Impromptu 9-6-2003

This is something I worked up for the Modular 2003 Conference in London. It was a great festival, and I met a bunch of people from the old Nord Modular mailing list that are now active contributors to electro-music.com.

Filesize:

9.74 MB

Viewed:

7112 Time(s)

jack · Joined: Feb 06, 2003 Posts: 23 Location: East Coast USA

Break a leg Howard

elektro80 · Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 3:50 pm Post subject:

I liked this one!

BTW:

WELCOME TO NORWAY!

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seraph · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 3:07 pm Post subject:

I like this minimalistic approach of a piece based on a single patch.
I have problems calling this experiment "Music".
I would prefer "Soundscape" or "The single patch sonic experiment".
When I think about music I think of something more rewarding for my ears than an intellectual game like this one.
Do you want an example of inspiring experimental music I love?
"Beauty in the beast" by Wendy Carlos
(http://www.wendycarlos.com/+bitb.html)
Howard, I do not mean to disrespect you Very Happy

elektro80 · Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 3:40 pm Post subject:

I guess I am more in favour of this one than you are, Carlo. To me soundscapes are music, but I guess you already have guessed Very Happy

. The synth can be an expressive solo instrument and pieces like these are quite important in the big picture. On the other hand.. there are lotsa pieces written for acoustical instruments that musically resembles this one.

BTW: That music by Brian Williams and Hecate.. used for that flash animation .. you know.. what do you think about that one?

( Hmm.. strikes me as slightly funny that I am in fact a great fan of music like this.. even pretty more abstract stuff.. and still have that label as being a tonal romantic.. sigh.. Shocked

)

seraph · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 10:43 am Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 11:08 am Post subject:

Hmmm..

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 1:51 pm Post subject:

The missing patch pix:

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The link to this pix was broken. With a little ....XXXXXX... and luck I managed to find the right path and here it is.

I am sorry, but I do not have any admin privs .. so I cannot edit the original front oage story and correct the image url there.

dlf · Joined: Sep 10, 2003 Posts: 2 Location: .nl

Any chance of downloading this patch somewhere ?
Would save some time in rebuilding it from the picture Laughing

thanks,

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 4:18 am Post subject:

Hey Gideon! Nice to have you here! Great!

I will speak with Howard when he gets here on monday ( Trondheim, Norway ). Then we will know more about the patch.

dlf · Joined: Sep 10, 2003 Posts: 2 Location: .nl

cheers !

feeling right at home here Wink

any word on the new nord g2 btw ?

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 4:43 am Post subject:

There are a lot of Nord Modular fans here! i suppose I will go Nord too.. soon.. Very Happy

nah.. but maybe EGW or some other member here has the latest update?

seraph · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 7:30 am Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 7:50 am Post subject:

I bet you could be my shrink. Basking in red Ferraris, as we know you italians always are, qualifies for some high quality mental health. Hmm.. matter is.. do I really need a shrink? -Or do I need a red Ferrari? Both?

I might need both. BTW: I just hit this website because I mistyped www.ferrari.com - well.. anyway.. I hit by redirect this one: http://www.musicplus.com/ which exploded via godlike redirects into this one.. http://www.iwantgod.com/

A very curious place.

And then for a Ferrari: ( but with my usual luck .. this is not a red one.. sigh )

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Ahh.. right... here is a typical example of what you Italians have all over the place...

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Now this is what I call mental health Cool

seraph · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 1:17 pm Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 1:38 pm Post subject:

Great! Have I won a big prize? Cool

The misspelling was like.. http://www.ferari.com

Just my keyboard forgetting an r

Very Happy

seraph · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 1:49 pm Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 1:55 pm Post subject:

OK.. this italian guy I know defines scary on a + - scale with rush hour in Rome as the mid point on the scale.. So .. in your opinion.. this is more scary.. or less scary than being a pedestrian during rush hour in Rome?

I found the demon redirects more scary than being out of gas in the middle of Finland.. with 80 kilometers to the next gas station.. at the middle of the night. I am not sure how that computes on the "rush hour in Rome " scale though.

But! Scary it is!

seraph · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:14 pm Post subject:

I think Howard is going to get mad because from his Improptu piece we have strayed from the point. Sorry Howard, anyway.....

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:21 pm Post subject:

AHA!

Hmm.. so that would be like a "+9" on the scary scale? Exclamation

Hmm.. did I ever send you that crazy little mpeg of that dude being mugged by elks? Now that is a "+10" Sad

seraph · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:32 pm Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2003 4:29 pm Post subject:

Hmm... I have kinda lost that elk-attck mpeg.. sorry.. I hope I will find it. Elks are mean SOBs.

Right! Today Howard held his little lecture.. a very interesting one. Then he performed the Impromtu. This one was awesome. -And the audience loved it. Later .. at 20.00 Howard performed again.. no lecture this time.. the concert was a big hit. Then Kim Cascone performed.. and after a short break some local young musicians came with some weird gear and did a lenghty jam session with Howard. Great fun. I took some pictures.. but... you know me.. I use an old rusty 35 mm SLR.. and BW film.. so.. first I have to get this one developed.. then scanned.. etc etc.. but.. the pictures willl get here.. eventually.. Smile

Someone borrowed Howard´s digital camera and I guess the digital pix will get here within a few days.. Smile

I am amazed by the analog feel of the sounds made by the Nord Modular. One obvious difference is that the range of operation seems to be pretty larger in the Nord Modular compared with a typical analog modular. Due to what such a crossmodulation patch actually does to traditional semiconductor circuitry.. it would break up into more feedback and distortion than what the nord Modular does.. which is just great.. But... the Nord has the same glitchy spluttering and freaky fluttering etc etc as an analog synth would have. Hmm.. at the end of the performance Howard managed to create some Tim Blake like analog synth noises,.. remember those bass riff scratches from the Crystal Machine album? These noises suddenly appeared from the Nord.. Awesome.

Kim Cascone performed using an Apple iBook and a piece of MAX software. The software used a library of prerecorded soundfiles.. and played these in a random sequence. The rest of the MAX patch was basically a basic synth and Kim Cascone used filters and modulation for soundshaping. The performance was quite enjoyable and he matched what Howard did .. so this whole concert ended up like a very consistent experience. Perhaps the obvious comparison to Kim Cascone would be Xenakis.. this sounded like Xenakis playing Lustmord using a foodprocessor. Great fun. And all this amazing noise from a white cute little Apple iBook... ?!!! Someone tell Steve Jobs!

seraph · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2003 2:17 pm Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2003 3:20 pm Post subject:

You know, the same could be said about the use of any instrument.. "a clever use of" whatever... This patch is an instrument in itself and it has its own logic. Sure, this was music and Howard did a great performance.
Very Happy

seraph · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 12:05 am Post subject: