Roy and I performed our AlgoComp composition at Diapason on Thursday night. I was pleased with the final outcome and the show was a big success. We figured most people would algorithmically compose a piece and just play it for the show, so we decided to compose music ourselves and then let an algorithm determine elements of the live perfromance. I composed the music and score, we both arranged it, and then Roy remixed it. For the performance, Roy used Chuck to randomly go through a scale when he sent Midi data in from his guitar, and I used a max/msp patch that would randomly trigger samples when midi data was recieved from my v-drum pads. Chuck had issues with midi on my computer, so I had to throw the max patch together at the last minute .

We made sweet Chuck t-shirts though. Mine was pink!

Roy is hosting the composition. Go to the “Academic Phase” and select “English was Spoken (Un-Chuck Mix)”.

The plan is to keep working on the piece so that our live performance algorithms are more solid and interesting. I especially want to build up a max patch to process my v-drums for future performances.

I’m exhausted. AND DONE WITH MY FIRST SEMESTER!!!!

For my last medititation Roy Vanegas and I choose to work with the Lorenz Attractor chaotic equation. We were supposed to take the Lorenz equations, compute them, and then map the data to something of our choice. I chose to take the data and use it to control the Lorenz Instrument in CSound.

Here’ s the final result, about 6 mins long: =>

Reginald Bain is a qualified individual creating interesting and beautiful sounds with these equations.

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Roy A. Vanegas and I are going to colloborate for our Algorithmic Composition project. Since all I listen to lately is Arthur Russell, I decided I wanted to try to create something influenced by him. I wrote some cello pieces and a little beat on ableton, and Roy is writing some violin parts. I was influenced by Betsey Biggs, who spoke to our class, specificially a piece she wrote that was comprised of a single sheet of segmented and disparate measures that the musician’s performed in some improvisational manner that I can’t remember right now. But I think if I do the same thing, then run the parts through and algorithm that will randomly shuffle them into a new arrangement each time it is enacted then that might be a good way to compose this thing using maths and computers like everyone will in the future.

We’ve been in talk with some string players here at ITP and they’be agreed to asist us. I’m thinking were gonna do a live performance like Steve Reich’s counterpoint works, where the musician plays in dialogue over prerecorded music. I just saw Electric Counterpoint performed by Pat Methany live at the Steve Riech 70th birthday bash extravaganza at Carnegie, Music for 18 Musicians was performed too. I liquified. So steady beat with fuzzed or reverbed and droning strings is what is on the menu. I love drones. All goes back to Heavenly Music Corp. Oh, I might play electronic drums if they ever arrive, otherwise I’ll just be on laptop. But everything is up in there air. That’s where I like it.

so it’s just a bunch of different ideas. some may stay. some may go. and the last chord in the “chords” section is an 1/8th note too early. i’ve fixed, but takes too long to repost.

–>here

My first meditation for Algorithmic Composition required running English text into the Babelfish language translation algorithm of our choice, then running that translation through another algorithm and repeating the process until we see fit, in order to see what sort of strange permutations occur in the process and how far the final permutation strays from the original.

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For Meditation #2, which asked us to sonify space filling curves, I choose a Peano Curve and a Peano-Gosper Curve. This is the site I got my starting axiom and production rules from:
http://mathforum.org/advanced/robertd/lsys2d.html

Here you can see specific space filling curves unfold a generation at a time:
http://ejad.best.vwh.net/java/fractals/lsystems.shtml

Here they are:

http://www.itp.nyu.edu/~jnh251/algo_comp/Meditation2/Peano_Curve_Vibes.aif

http://www.itp.nyu.edu/~jnh251/algo_comp/Meditation2/Peano_Gosper_Curve_vibes.aif

I used Processing to compute the data and determine my the parameters for CSound, which generated the sounds.

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