TableThing

This is a reworking of something called TableThing, that I wrote for the first commercial release of Max, too long ago to remember a specific year. TableThing is a scanning sequencer. and I put an updated version of it, renamed ScanSeq, into the Gyre program I'm working on (see Gyre page for a short description of Gyre.) By scanning sequencer, I mean that it scans a Window of notes, some number of times. It then bumps the window by some Step Size. When TableThing starts out you can hear this best. It starts with a seven note window that gets repeated four times, then it bumps forward by a step size of one, and continues this pattern. After a minute or so, a second ScanSeq instance comes in. It's scanning over the same notes, but with a window size of four and a repeat of seven. This one is also fairly long, not that it really needs to be, I'm just too lazy to edit it down.

"An interesting blend of technology and sadness. The feeling of Sobbing Droids." - Johan Boberg

Link to file.

GestureLong

This is a long (25 minute) improv on the 200e with a piece of software I'm writing in Max, called Gyre. This one is quite long, and fairly tedious in places, but I wanted to put it up intact to show some of the real-time changes possible with the 200e driven with Gyre. It's unedited, with no external processing used, other than a light dusting of compression. Given how long this one is, perhaps the best way to listen to it is to download it and skip around in it, as opposed to listening straight through.

Link to file

Blackbird

There was a recent thread on Matrixsynth which started out being about a NAMM video of Yasi Perera showing some of the new Buchla 200e modules, but it quickly devolved into what is starting to be a common series of rants about the 200e demos. There were a few postings talking about how the 200e demos were un-musical. I asked what musical/unmusical meant in this context, and discovered it's much like porn, people know it when they see/hear it. I've since done some research, and discovered there was once a "pop combo", called "The Beatles", who were widely regarded as being "musical". This lead me to do a search on the "internet" to find a MIDI file of one of "The Bealtles" "hits": a little number called "Blackbird." The original MIDI file, which by the way, doesn't seem exceptionally accurate, can be found on many web sites. I didn't touch the MIDI file, I just played it back, one track at a time, twisting a few knobs while I recorded the results.

Link to file

VictoryGarden

This is my entry into the 2006 BugMusic contest. VictoryGarden consists of four "passes" of Buchla 200e: two drone passes, a noisy/growly pass, and a plucky pass in 5/4. Each pass was recorded in quad, but is presented here in stereo. ShapePlayer, a custom Max/MSP patch was used as the note generator. There was editing involved to bring it in under the three minute barrier. Apparently, I can't even tie my shoes in three minutes. The name VictoryGarden was chosen to reflect this year's theme of War and Peas (sorry).

Link to file

Penta_e_again

I switch back and forth between a couple of almost-the-same presets. I also prove that I'm a crappy keyboard player with the lead voice.

Link to file

BattleDrone

Naming drones can be hard.

Link to file

Spinnish

The 249e and 266e get workouts on this one. No human note-generation.

Link to file