Me and my instrument ‘backstage’ at Utmarksmusiken 2024. Photo by Johan Berthling.
When it comes to interplay of technology and artistic expression Laurie Spiegels explained it in a way that resonates with me:
There is a kind of synergistic oscillation between the degree that the technology that you work with suggests possibilities to you and the degree to which you come to a particular technology because you already have envisioned something that you want to express and it is the right terminology. This is not any different with computers or any electronic instruments as say the way you might be involved traditionally with writing for a violin versus a harp or a percussion battery. Now these are totally different characteristics of expression and the more you work with one the more it suggests things to you that you might not have thought of had you not worked with it that extensively. (Spiegel 1984)
I’ve had a wish throughout this project to describe my process and techniques in a rather instrument agnostic way. So that they can be adopted by anyone with a flexible enough electronic instrument, be it software or hardware.
At the same time the specific affordances of my instrument matters.
«How do we listen, and what do we listen for during play? An important concept in this work is affordance, a concept connected to American ecological psychologist James J. Gibson, and American psychologist and designer Donald A. Norman. In the theory ecological listening British musicologist Erik F. Clarke applies Gibson’s ideas on sound and listening. In the world, we experience meaning according to what a perceptual object affords us, a chair affords sitting, and a glass of water affords drinking. In music, different musical instruments afford a certain playing behavior, a.k.a. instrument idiomatic.» (Nilsson 2011)
From Per Anders Nilssons: 'a field of possibilities: designing and playing digital musical instruments'
So here comes an introduction to mine. A eurorack modular synthesizer. Its configuration of modules has not remained constant throughout the period. Especially when performing live I’ve changed things up quite a bit, since it would be too heavy to bring my whole system.Furthermore it’s an esthetic consideration, I find that it looks more impressive to do more with less .
Apart from the usual variations of common synthesizer building blocks such as, voltage controlled amplifiers, oscillators, filters, function generators, envelope followers and mixers. I do have some special modules that deserves some explanation as they possess capabilities which have been essential for me to facilitate playingwithout using an external computer. If I did not have these tools, I would have worked with a computer running software that would provide similar flexibility such as super collider or Max/MSP.
uTune
Is a tool for arbitrary quantization of control voltage to any tuning. You can define tuning in ratios (which I use) or you can use cents, or millivolts. As it does not impose any limitations on the number of steps in a tuned scale orwhat key corresponds to which pitch, I have, for the sake of convenience, most commonly used C on the keyboard as my fundamental. These definitions and tunings are then stored and recalled in the module.
Teletype
Is a small programmable computer for generating and processing control voltage signals. It has its own scripting language where one can write code to implement algorithms, with the built in limitation that they can be no longer than what can fit on its 8x16x character screen. Even with this limitation its a very flexible tool. For examples of how I’ve used it see (bad imitators link). This module is made for generating control voltage signals and can not be used for generating or processing signals at audio rate.
ER-301 Sound Computer
Is a small computer running a virtual modular environment for processing and generating sound. It has 4 outputs for (sound only, it can not output control signals)and 16 inputs (which respond to both control voltage and audio signals). Aside from the standard synthesizer building blocks mentioned earlier in this text it also has several ‘modules’ for audio-buffer based effects, such as delays, granulation, loopers, sample playback, pitch shifting etc. These audio-buffer capabilities has been my main use of it.An example can be seen here (an example being the time lag accumulator described later in this text)
ER-101/102 Indexed Quad Sequencer
Is a sequencer of control voltage signals. This module has been particularly useful for me because it can record, and play back control voltages, with enough precision in timing and enough datapoints that it can be used as a looper of control voltage signals. This has allowed me to for instance, record the melody of a tune and then play a counter melody on top the second go around. And because it is control signals that are recorded and not audio, the timbre, envelopes and so on of the first voice can still be modulated. (en example of this in use is the tune blågeten as I played at dokkhuset)