New Objectives/Considerations/Necessities
As I drifted away from my original idea of the machine learning project and I’m now creating a M4L device instead, I have to rethink some of my objectives of the project. I know I really want to create my own custom granular synthesiser and max devices, but why? It might sound pretty odd but at this point I have no idea why I want to do this. I’ve been wanting for a while now to start producing my own digital instruments, and M4L is a great medium to do them in. I guess my passion for music technology demanded me to produce something of my own. But then the following question’s would be: why do I want custom music technology? Is it relevant in my practice? Do I want to start a enterprise/organisation? In this blog I’ll try answering some of these questions, that could help me pin down the concept/metaphor for my project.
My practice is deeply affected by the technology I use in it. Sometimes I even think that I care more about the technology and the technical process of creation, that the final form of my pieces. I have a natural curiosity to find out how technology works, specifically regarding sound, and my research practice focuses more in satisfying that curiosity that on producing something with the knowledge I gained. I guess this approach of mine comes with objective of making my sound more distinctive than the rest, by creating something sonically different by altering the technology it produces it.
My practice lately revolves around producing and performing electronic music with my modular synthesiser. I spend a lot of time patching in the modular to produce a single sound object of a composition. It is a sort of conversation with technology, fine tuning knobs and finding what the instrument is capable. It is certain to say that working with a modular synth is an algorithm, the patch creates a system that the instrument follows, exploring the sonic capabilities of the parameter manipulation. This interaction is very rewarding in my practice, being able to produce novel sounds that I’m proud of. But after consolidating a sound, I feel exhausted from the effort I put into this conversation with the synth. This problem limits my capability of finishing a composition, as I no longer have energy to structure and edit the piece. This gave me idea of creating a device that functions completely opposite from this. A max device that with a random generative algorithm that creates an interesting sound with no fine tuning effort. A dream device that with a click of a button generates an interesting sound to be used in any medium, granting me time an energy to work more in the overall structure of the composition.
Granular synthesis is very capable of creating the sounds that I described from this dream device, and max is a great tool for generative practice. For my idea I imagine that the user just has to do three things with this device. First, input an audio file. Second, twitch a fader that goes from drone to percussion, this changes the length variable of the sound. Third, click a button, that will randomise the algorithm in which the granular synthesis is applied to the audio file.
Maybe for my final submission I could add more max devices, that complement the granular synthesiser. For example a generative sequencer that creates interesting musical melodies and rhythms that complement well with the grain manipulation. I’m currently very inspired in the practice of Mark Fell, he is known for exploring a lot with generative practices. In his album Infoldings/Diffractions with Will Guthrie, he uses a lot of generative sequence to create alien like rhythms and progression that sound incredible. I would like the sequencer to have similar capabilities to the one’s used in this album. I’ll have another blog post dedicated to Mark Fell, where I’ll go deeper in his practice.
Now that I have this idea for the module, let’s see how capable I am of creating it. Both from my skills in Max and if it’s technologically possible to create what I imagine.