Re: [microsound] How to... compose electroacoustic music

[David Powers <cyborgk@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/6/06, Bill Jarboe <billjarboe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi David,
>
>      I've thought about your dilemma a bit more in light of what you
> wrote concerning playing in an ensemble with acoustic instruments.
>
>    You might try out some hardware sound modules with a keyboard and
> possibly a controller with knobs or faders. I've found that when
> playing in the context of acoustic instruments  that dynamics and
> realtime control are often as crucial as the actual waveforms being
> produced . For various reasons it's often easier to get a convincing
> blend with analog and hardware modules than with software based
> instruments. Emu , Waldorf , Doepfer and even Roland might be good
> places to start. Another approach might be using a small keyboard and a
> nice mixer with your software programs in order to position the sounds
> and give them more depth. Try different converters or soundcards.
> Sometimes the older , least expensive units were engineered at great
> lengths to make them sound musically useful.

Probably a good idea ... unfortunately currently out of my price
range! In fact, I made the mistake of selling my keyboard amp when I
was going towards doing electronic stuff out of PA's, and now I need
one, so that's my next purchase.

Anyway, your ideas do have merit - I know of, for example, a guy who
does great stuff with an Arp2600, if I had one of these there'd be no
problems. But really, my reason for using software is basically that I
can't afford much else. I do have an old Yamaha DX21 and Roland XP50
that I can program fairly well. The second, though a Rompler, actually
makes some pretty interesting sounds now that I've had it for ten
years and spent some time programming it... For a new purchase, the
Novation Micro-Modular seems like an interesting choice.

But I guess I should be able to do the same stuff with software. I
think I just need to spend more time on thinking through the design,
just finding ways to get more of a CONTINUUM of timbres, from very
smooth to very harsh.

On another listmembers cue, I did buy a cheap webcam last night and
I'm going to play with how I might use it to detect motion and add a
gestural element to things... It was relatively easy to get some basic
motion tracking in PD, though it's somewhat noisy and I may need to
smooth the signal somehow.

~David

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