Two More Tunes

Posted this at Kontrollrummet and electro-music.com: Invulnerable and this at Kontrollrummet: Talon.

"Invulnerable" is an experimental thing that I enjoy listening to myself but I'm not sure if it really works outside my brain. The reception at Kontrollrummet was varied - some like it and some didn't like the quirky percussion.

"Talon" was writted yesterday while walking to work. I take a long route to and from work everyday that includes a 40 minute walk, during which first the chorus words and then the main bassline crept into my head in the morning. Having bad experiences in the past with great ideas in the morning that evaporate during the work day, I kept humming the tune to myself and did an attempt at score notes when I got to the office (I got the note pitches wrong but the timing was right). I managed to keep it in my brain until today, and recorded most of it before lunch. It's a simple pop tune.

The Modern Sport

Posted a new tune at Kontrollrummet.com (swedish forum for musicians) a while ago, called The Modern Sport. The responses were varied. I am starting to think that a lot of people don't enjoy monotony as much as I do. Though my reckless attitude towards recording techniques and polishing takes may have something to do with it.

The monome

When I saw the monome 40h (8x8 grid of buttons that light up) on a YouTube vid, I thought that it looked like a really cool thing, but didn't think much more about it. Then, when I noticed that they were making a 256 button version, my mind started racing so hard, that the only way to stop it (besides being constantly drugged or jumping off a cliff) was to get it. So I did. And i don't regret it. The obvious comparision is Yamaha's Tenori-On, but from what I gather that isn't as configurable as I'd like, and it doesn't have that gorgeous OSC support that makes programming the monome such a pleasure.

I've made a couple of ChucK apps for it since I got it:

A simple usage of LiSa in combination with the monome makes a great fun samper/sequencing experience.

Two programs here:

The accordeome is a kind of MIDI keyboard with a layout that facilitates playing chords.

The note sequencer is one of those sequencer apps that you instinctively make on the monome - though I made a piano roll like thingy instead of sample grains or parts. I think it works fairly ok.

I made a digital Clock, that displays on the monome's buttons.

Software - ChucK and stuff

I enjoy programming, both professionally and as a hobby. Here are some small applications and utilizations I've made:

I've been enjoying a fairly new programming language called ChucK for a while now. ChucK uses a thread-like thing called shreds (non-preemptive, locking) and makes the clock behave in a deterministic way, aiming at being useful for making sound. I think it does a very good job at that! 

The Command Line Sequencer is an attempt at making a sequencer that you control in real time with typing on a computer keyboard rather than a point-and-click interface or some MIDI controller. If you doubt the usage of something like this, find an old Unix system administrator and ask her or him for a demonstration of the "vi" text editor. You'll be suprised at the speed at which you can control something via a keyboard. Also, the way you type is somewhat akin to the way you learn playing a piano keyboard (logical, really), meaning that practice makes perfect. I've managed to pull some tricks from this, and I'm thinking of adding some new improvements.

Mouse Harmony is a little application that takes the input from several mice, each controlling its own sound generator. Not very useful in itself, but I am pretty entusiastic about the prospect of hooking up a load of trackballs to a computer to make music.

Keyboard Trainer is a little game that plays notes and then checks if you play it right on a MIDI keyboard. The linked thread quickly diverges into a lot of advanced stuff - I only posted stuff at the start.

Sample Composer is a larger project that uses Java to display a GUI where you can freely place samples in sequence or parallell, pitch shift them and change their start and length. The GUI communicates (using OSC) with a ChucK program that makes up the sound generating back-end.

SoftMusic is a Java app I made on my hotel room while being on a dull job in Stockholm for half a year. It uses a set of homespun algorithms to generate MIDI music, depending on a large set of configuration parameters. I don't think it works properly, I have been meaning to check it out to fix bugs for a time.

Music

Here are some links to music stuff that I've done:

bakelitturbine on MySpace

A load of mp3s

Stuff I've posted at www.electro-music.com - this site is great for anyone remotely interesting in electronic music, incredibly friendly and knowledgable people from all parts of the spectrum. I can't begin describing the impact this site and the people who make it up have had on my view on life and music.

I like do dabble with music things - I trained classical guitar until my teacher threw me out for not practicing around the age of ten. I wrote a song while biking back from a biology excursion at the age of 13. A friend gave me a copy of Soundtracker for my Amiga when I was 16 - enlightenment! Then I played the electric organ for a year or two - cheerful oompha music but at least I got to train my fingers. Around when I went to study at the university I got my old nylon string back, and started occasionally plucking it at random. A bought an old DX7. I made a song by hooking two tape decks together and overdubbing a borrowed Roland MU32, guitar and high-pitched singing about a porno nightmare. I bought a Washburn acoustic with steel strings too cheap from a friend who needed the money. I got a Fostex fourtrack and recorded 20 minutes of original stuff a month for several years. I bought an Ibanez roadstar something from a friend who didn't play it. I got an Amiga CDTV, which along with a CD of tracker samples made a great drum machine. I got my first PC, and a copy of Cubase. I compiled a CD of my own material and gave it to a girl. I made several more, pestering my friends with them. I got more instruments. I started using Ableton Live. I wrote this blog entry.

First notice

I have done various throwaway things that I have thrown out on the web. I thought I'd collect info about them here. Some might be of interest to myself or someone else someday.