#12

This! It’s too easy today to have surface-level interactions with something and decide you’re ready to move onto the next.

Sometimes there’s an immediate connection with a device / instrument / technique, but I think the only reliable way these connections develop is through hours of attention, consideration, and practice.

#13

Yes. It gave me rug burn on my fingers.

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#14

As, I’m sad to hear that. It’s one of the reasons the Seaboard didn’t work for me. The Continuum’s Hall effect sensors seem like a very sensitive approach to detecting expression, and I’ve rarely heard negative feedback about the controller. Usually the ire is reserved for Eigenmatrix lack of usability (though I believe Haken has work in progress to address that).

#16

A memorable experience for me was interacting with a collection of Harry Bertoia’s sound sculptures at an exhibit of his Sonambient work They don’t lend themselves to controlling tempo or melody because of the chaotic collisions between the vertical metal rods but with practice you could play with swells, crashes, and gradual decay of the sounds. The scale of the sculptures and the lack of control that you would find in a traditional musical instrument made interacting with them feel visceral.

10 Likes
#17

Warwick basses really are something else. The materials are part of that, but I also wonder if their scale makes notes easier to fret?

One of the most rewarding musical instruments for me is the ukulele. I love the way they make it easy to play expressive chords. The difference between trying to play ‘Creep’ on a guitar or a ukulele is really stark.

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#18

one of the coolest musical instruments…
monome grid and monolase

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#19

ye olde crackle box by michel waisvisz

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#20

IMG_20200809_133032
IMG_20200809_1330323024×4032 3.22 MB

yeah, my 2yo reaches for it before anything else

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#21

i’m a synthesist in much of my thought/musical approach (melodic rhythmic side) and i have a deep long love relationship with sh101, moog the source and dx7 instruments. each has a completely different interface/feel and sound but are ceasingly profound to me. couple those with a guitar (g+l asat custom)… i couldn’t ask for a better palette of tools, flexibility. but they are old and only network is tactile by me, some midi or cv communication. i’m old fashioned regarding frets and piano style key for data entry. the permutation changes appear in malleable software (via ableton live 9.6 w/push v1 2012mac ), this feel is limitless but in such an inviting way. just like home.

#22
  1. The human voice is arguably the most expressive instrument. You have complete control of intonation, and huge timbral variation.
  2. It’s the most personal instrument. Once you activate your voice, you have a unique instrument that sounds like no one else’s.
  3. One you develop your voice to the point where you can enjoy listening to yourself, then singing becomes an intoxicating, addictive experience.
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#24

Having multiple samplers and be able to process sample material over and over is real bliss for me. Even resamplings songs that are “finished”

my current setup consists of a octatrack/asr10/morphagene/blackbox and I got a Norns shield otw.

It can easily turn into a mushy drone but I find the octatrack can turn a lot of the craziness into something musical.

With the asr I can even get it to serve as sort of a granular sampler and make synth patches from pretty much any sound.

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#25

Not sure if this off-topic here but can you please expand a little more especially on the second point. Or maybe overall on your voice journey if it is possible of course, thanks a lot:)

#26

I had a pretty transformative experience at La Monte Young’s Dream House, as I’m sure many of us have. Walking, turning my head, moving slowly or quickly affected the sound and beats around me, which felt sort of like swimming in some kind of thick substance.

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#27

I recently bought a prophet 6, which is my first experience with an aftertouch controller, and the aftertouch is pretty magical to me. Its so rewarding to really dig into the keys and get extra response in modulation. A similar feeling to the expressiveness of an acoustic instrument (such as bending a guitar string), but in the form of a synthesizer. Setting the aftertouch modulation very lightly to pitch makes it feel more organic as it slightly will go out of tune if I push too hard, and makes it feel more human to me.

Another rewarding discovery has been using samplers/granlators on incoming audio, with randomness involved. Three of my favorites:

  • Using Norns/MLR with random patterns and live recording the buffers.
  • Sending stepped random CV to the freeze input of clouds when sending live audio through it.
  • Using Norns/Cheat Codes with random patterns and live recording the buffers.

Put both halves together and you’re in for some expressive/exciting results. As a side note, i remember watching the reveal video for Norns when a xylophone was being live sampled with MLR and then manipulated by touch… Opened up a whole new world for me.

3 Likes
#28

So much to look into here! Thank you for sharing.

You may be interested in checking out this Max patch I made recently: https://github.com/sgoldburg/Meta-Controller

It allows you to store sets of parameter values, interpolate between these states, and loop the interpolation paths. I borrowed a lot of ideas here from the Octatrack, Polyend Preset, and the Ribn iOS app. My goal was to create a sort of “meta” interface that could map to multiple devices in a setup and enable system-level movement and automation.

Currently the patch interface is built around MIRA objects, but it will accept arbitrary control data input.

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#29

Ouch! I suppose that must be the equivalent of calluses in the Continuum world …

#30

Could you speak to what it is about the Crackle Box that you find rewarding / engaging?

#31

I would be very interested to hear more as well! I’m a singer myself. I haven’t thought about singing enough to put the experience into words as you have, but your points make intuitive sense.

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#32

I’ve always been fascinated by the results people elicit when they start using a sampler as an instrument in itself.

When you resample on the OT, do you find yourself resampling phrases? Layering effects? Something else?

#33

Thank you for bringing this up! I have to admit, I’m totally ignorant when it comes to the world of sound installations, but I know there’s a lot of fascinating work going on in that space. Off to YouTube!

Is there anyone else in the field whose work you’d recommend I look into?