[microsound] re: no input mixing board

[ndk <ndkent@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In terms of ancestry I'm noticing 2 somewhat but not completely
overlapping areas being discussed. 

One is using the mixer as a musical instrument/sound source.

The second would be music created through shaping electronic feedback. I
agree with Richard Zvonar that the Barrons were the the pioneers in this
area. One needs at minimum some means of attenuation to adjust the
process and a mixer or more precisely a mixer channel does that. 

> David Tudor built all of his electronic devices into small modular boxes -
> some of which were designed to mix signals (hence a 'mixer')...so it is very
> likely that Tudor was one of the originators of this technique since much of
> his work dealt with feedback systems (precursor to his neural nets)...

If one isn't making a a predominatly minimalist statement or building a
discrete instrument the process usually relates to modular synthesis.
The complex signal chain is the algorithm shaping the sonic content and
performance parameters of the piece.


Sawako brought up Behringer again. I'm still curious about the
comparison between most other mixers and Behringer mixers. Someone
privately mentioned another brand as presumably being good, and I would
think it might very well be a better sounding mixer as a mixer and add
it's own character to a "no-input" process. But as far as I know the
current Behringer line is one of the few or only "regular" mixers (i.e.
not some sort of peripheral for digital recording) that does it's mixing
in the digital domain. I'm presuming this has to have quite a big impact
on the results of no-input mixing because the circuitry will pass a
narrower range of signals, especially stuff beyond the range of never
gets to the DSP. Anyway that's my theory, so I'm curious if the more
experienced agree.

nick kent
http://www.artskool.biz/jem/ndkent/

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