After a friend and I got frustrated with Max/MSP I decided to follow his lead on looking into SuperCollider. As a programmer SuperCollider makes much more sense to me and the results so far have been completely satisfying. The syntax can be a bit odd, and honestly, the documentation at times seems out of date (or incorrect?) and is a bit lacking in places, but I'm already starting to think of the many (feasible!) possibilities I would like to try.
I've started hacking together a four-operator FM synth, which so far just generates random sounds, but I think it shouldn't be too long until I get the full idea implemented.
Reading up on feedback...
Interesting short article on feedback: http://valhalladsp.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/feedback-anti-feedback-and-complexity-in-time-varying-systems/
On The Edge: Improvisation In Music
Interesting television show on improvisation in music. Free to view online via http://www.ubu.com/film/bailey.html
A template for feedback fun
I thought it might be useful to create a template for working with feedback in Live. My first attempt includes two channels setup for feedback, each with final output processors outside of the feedback loop and a catalyst channel, i.e. noise burst via big button, to initiate feedback.
Here are some of the nicer sounds I got while messing around with this patch:
Fb playground showcase by moiré
Here are some of the nicer sounds I got while messing around with this patch:
Fb playground showcase by moiré
Experimenting with feedback in Live
I've said it somewhere before that I don't like piano rolls or writing patterns of notes. Maybe I'm lazy, or I'm afraid that what comes out of my musical intentions will always be the same. I guess what I find so attractive to working with sound this way is the continuous feedback process of sound influencing my decisions, and vice versa. I think I would be hypocritical in believing that the frequencies I hear were the result of random events—I do, after all, choose to intentionally accentuate different parts of the sounds I hear—but there is a large degree of unpredictability when it comes to which frequencies will be present in the first place. It's also a matter of timbre. Creating complex feedback loops is a great way to get some amazing textures. I love programming synths but I sometimes get tired of being limited by synth architecture.
Starting with Max/MSP
While I wait for the guy to come and read the numbers off of my water and heater counters (as usual, they don't make an appointment for a specific time so I may be waiting for three hours) I thought I would start to read the Max/MSP documentation. RTFM as they say is always good advice. Already I've discovered that spatial orientation of Max objects determines the order in which they are processed. Interesting...
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