RE: [microsound] digital sound / digital aesthetics.

[Ian Andrews <i.andrews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>A digital aesthetic could probably be best described as an aesthetic
>which can only exist in light of digital technology. You could describe
>most of the work on the 12k label (to use an obvious example) as having
>a digital aesthetic, both because it would be difficult to produce using
>analog equipment and because it implicitly investigates the ways in
>which our perception relates to "hyper-digital" timbres (how do we
>hear/perceive what Deupree calls "microscopic sound?").
>It seems that the only reason that "digital aesthetic" is meaningful at
>all is because "analog aesthetic" is so meaningless. (What would that
>be? Tape hiss?).

I don't think its a question of "*a* digital aesthetic." Its perhaps more a
question of multiple digital, and perhaps post-digital aesthetics.  Think
back to the analogue retro synth fetishisation of the early late 80s/ early
90s.  This was in response to certain digital technologies such as digital
synths like the Yamaha DX7.  This reaction based on two problems associated
with the digital gear of the time: 1. the poor sound quality of these "new"
instruments (they didn't have that "fat" analogue sound) and 2. (more
importantly) the lack of live control over these instruments (they had
menus intead of knobs).  It was also, to some extent, a reaction against
the technology of 8 bit mod files & tracker programs (8 bit sound is great
in its own way but if its all you have it gets hard to bear).  This
analogue reaction took on its own aesthetic which was a consequence of the
renewed novelty of tweakability.  So an audio aesthetic emerged which was
largely based on resonant filters,  portamento sweeps, round sounding
envelopes, etc. I  would say that the digital (or post-digital) aesthetic
of late is very much a reaction to this analogue aesthetic (and also its
slightly hippy connotations).  So smooth flowing echoey soundscapes are
replaced in the mid 90s by glitches, stutters and crackles.  Also bear in
mind that the analogue retro fetish aesthetic became very much a part of
computer/digital music in the form of soft synths, nord modular synths,
retro style plugin effects, etc. so that the current range of digital
aesthetics are as much based on analogue aesthetics as they are a reaction
to them.