3am - reappear (a living composition)

[justin3am]

http://www.3amnoise.net/reappear.mp3 23 mins 320kbps
http://www.3amnoise.net/reappear_lofi.mp3 128kbps

This is a recording of a patch I made with this...


All of the sound is generated within the modular, which is being controlled by Max4Live (via an Arduino and Motu 828, no midi) and processed with Reaktor, Zebrify and Eos. It's kinda tough to describe what's going on here. It's a self generating patch based on a piezo pickup, a series of logic gates, and a number of chaotic control sources operating under a set of rules to drive some oscillators, envelope generators, filters and delays. Feedback is introduced to various parts of the audio/control path through a matrix mixer; the routing of which is determined by a series of VCAs. These VCAs are also controlled by semi-random voltage genrators and analog logic.

Simply speaking, there are two chaotic voices, they interact with each other based on the way I programmed the patch. Once the mic was fed into the synth, this sound came out of my speakers until I disconnected it again. It didn't need any additional help from me. I ran one of the voices though some crazy delays and shit and then bathed both voices in reverb (as I am wont to do).

Enjoy!

[xh3rv]

You are going to start SKYNET.

Pretty interesting how many sounds are coming out of this with no manual manipulations ... what kind of sounds would one voice make?

[justin3am]

Pretty interesting how many sounds are coming out of this with no manual manipulations ... what kind of sounds would one voice make?

Well, the principal sound generators are two PWM oscillators (voice 1) and a pair of sine waves (voice 2). It gets more complicated as feedback takes over and sidebands from FM and ringmodding start to become more dominant, the voices kinda cross pollinate too. The piezo mic just generates transients (via a comparator and an arbitrary value) to trigger envelopes, the envelopes can also trigger them selves or each other, depending on the state of a system of XOR gates. A number of sample and old circuits are also triggered by these logic gates to modify envelope parameters, oscillator pitches, comparator values, signal routing... almost every aspect of the patches. The control signals are processed by slew limiters and quantizers to constrain their output. I was pretty surprised by with what came out of this as well... and it's still running.

[TankEyes]

Hi justin. Can you put a 128 mp3 up for us? 54 megs is hooj!

[justin3am]

Hi justin. Can you put a 128 mp3 up for us? 54 megs is hooj!

Done! Sorry, I know it's a lot to digest.

[TankEyes]

Heh, It wasn't a comment on the length as such, it's just I'm using an wifi connection so downloads are at a premium.

The sheer complexity and novelty of these patches are amazing! I've listened to quite a bit of computer generated music of late, and this takes the cake in terms of that.

Can you tell us a bit more about what's going on here? So you're generating all the control data as CV via max? Is it completely "hands off"?

Are you going to adapt it into a more orthodox tune? some of those sounds would make amazing little loops and melodies to work with.

[justin3am]

The Max patch interfaces with the arduino and the contact mic. It receives events and process them into gates to trigger the envelopes. The logic gates determine which source triggers which envelope but prevents more than one source from triggering the same envelope simultaneously. Those gates also clock sample and hold circuits (both in the analog realm and in the max patch) which generate random voltages. Since the envelopes can be triggered by themselves, each other or from the contact mic (depending on the state of the logic) how they are triggered is directly related to what parameters change. The effect of this relationship is most evident in the the pitch of oscillators relative to envelope retrigger speed or slew rate relative to feedback/FM amount.

The recording was totally hands-off, I just let it do it's thing for half an hour. I've since messed around with the patch and it's totally lost the coolness it had.

This is just a way that I get used to new toys. I could easily adapt this to typical sequencing techniques, so I'll probably use what I've learned in a more structured song.

Thanks for listening!

[Jazzyspoon]

Tag for when I get home from work.

[polyslax]

This face jumped out at me from your picture above:



It looks something like I feel right now... anyhow, Justin, this is incredible, and seems to be having a somewhat therapeutic effect on what is certainly the worst hangover I've had in a long while. Absolutely stunning.

[Jazzyspoon]

You are going to start SKYNET.

at 3:16 am, Justin's machines became self aware...

Justin, I like the sounds in this so much, I want to possess them. Seriously cool design for such random wire madness. You may have captured a one of a kind, very artful session here. Your ideas and sounds continue to amaze me.
I look forward to what you manipulate from this recording in your sequenced sessions.
Hope this finds you well, brother.

[jopy]

i'm in a bit of awe right now. simply an amazing soundscape.

[Jbravo]

love it - amazingly rich and musical

[Laguna Rising]

Interesting (the music and the way you did it).
I enjoyed the way the 2 voices works together (counterparts) and the experimental vibe of it

Cheers

[fuadvonloop]

This is really nice.. lots of unexpected and different sounds... you could make a nice sample library just recording and chopping.

[Moe Shinola]

Forbidden Planet, man. I've got a 3-cd set called OHM+ The Early Gurus Of Electronic Music, and Reappear is actually more listenable than a lot of the stuff on there.