Reverb

Fragment 1 display my version of the beginning of the first movement, Andare Moderato. Fragment 2 display the version of Caroline Lizotte. I had the opportunity to make a studio recording of this first movement while I was in Montréal. This is the only movement I have made a studio recording of so far, because at the time the effects of the other movements were not ready yet. For the sound quality purposes, I decided to compare these two studio recordings. 

The sound of the Reverb is almost indifferentiable from the sound of the Reverb in the original set-up. Any differences come down to the recording techniques. Apart from this, the effect has the same characteristics in tone, therefore we can say that the results of this effect are succesful. 

Flanger 

In the first video, I'm using one of the Flanger that is a standard effect from Ableton Live, which I shaped as much as possible to match the original effect. As we can hear, the periodic speed of the effect is the same as the original, but the sound could use quite some improvement still. It has too much of an icey undertone and it bends some of the notes too quickly and suddenly. The composer said about this version of the Flanger: 

We could see this as an interpretation of a sort for this effect. However, I decided to search a bit further for plug-ins outside of Ableton Live in the hopes of achieving better results. 

In this second video, I used the A/DA Flanger Plug-in from Plug-in Alliance. With the Settings for 'Jet Flanger' on this plug-in, the sound is actually very similar. After adjusting the period speed to match the original, these are the results, which I think comes quite close to the original Flanger effect. There are still some differences in the behaviour of the effect, but I personally like this interpretation a lot and feels much better to play with that the standard flanger from Ableton Live.

Also the composer agreed that this plug-in is much better than the one in Ableton Live.

Distortion

The recreated Distortion effect can be heard in this next fragment. When we compare the recreation with the original, we can hear a very similar type of sound, that appears only on the basses as the composer intended, while leaving the middle and high register clean with only reverb. The most noticeable difference between the two is the feedback of the Distortion. The effect of Caroline Lizotte is a more continuous sound whereas mine is slightly more percussively tight to each attack of a note. Apart from that, the sound is very similar and the splitting of registers is successful in this recreation for an acoustic harp. 

Ping Pong Delay

In this fragment, we can listen to the very end of the piece. The very end of the fragment displays the Ping Pong Delay.

The delay time is the same as in the original, 66 BPM. Also, the sound is close, with a bit of attack to the delay but still carries enough. It fades out over approximately the same amount of time as the original, which is around 30 seconds. 

What one cannot hear in this particular recording is the Stereo image, because it was recorded on an iPhone and not in a studio. However, it is activated in the effect, so when played on a proper sound system, the audience can perceive the stereo image live.

Since the most important requirements for this effect are present, I would call it relatively successful as well. 

Space Echo

This fragment demonstrates the Space Echo effect, in which bar 1 till 31 of the third movement are played. If we compare it with the original, the sound comes quite close. When one tries out a single note gives a slight staccato, like the composer is looking for. In the original Space Echo effect, there is a certain metallic character to the sound, especially on the basses. This I think is missing a little bit from my reproduction and could use further improvement still.

Analog Delay

First attempt
In the video I demonstrate a first version of the Analog Delay. I play bars 30 till 49 of the 3rd movement of the Sonata. The audio file is the same fragment but recorded by Caroline Lizotte. I did not have a Pedalboard to my availability yet at the time of these recordings, which is why I sometimes need to take more time to activate an effect with my hands, underlining the importance of the pedalboard. Besides this, if we compare the two interpretations, one can hear that for the most part it's quite similar. The composer herself even said that it is very close indeed. The most differentiating part is the end of the delay/loop, where the delay time is tweaked to create a certain amount of feedback, like a spaceship zooming by. This does not sound the same as the original. About this the composer said:

"[It] sounds super cool but it is like a mustang horse jumping everywhere, we need to tame it!"1 

Furthermore, she commented on the need for more rising feedback throughout the whole of the loop.

I continued to experiment a bit more on the ending of the Delay/Loop, with the feedback that Lizotte gave me.

Second attempt

After some more experimentation, I figured out how to have a closer representation of the original. I increased the Drive of the Delay, as well as a little bit more Feedback, which resulted in a more ringing sound earlier in the Loop. Furthermore, I managed to control better the ending of the Loop, by finding a spot in the Delay Time where the sound starts to feedback, creating this ringing noise that the composer is looking for. The downside is only that this takes a bit more time than when the Line 6 is used, which comes down to the algorithm of this plugin.

In relations to this, I asked the composer about her intentions for the last bars of the loop, m. 46 and 47. How important is it that the feedbacking only takes two beats and the tweaking again two beats, or can these bars be approached also as a cadenza of a sort? Was it the equipment that she used that made her compose the bars in this way or was it really as she had envisioned it? 

She said that for her it was a combination of the equipment and the vision of her composition. The Line 6 was very reactive for this specific feedbacking part, which allowed her to write what she wanted to write. About how important it is that it takes the exact same amount of time as her original compositions she said the following: 

"Of course, if you want to take more time, you can take more time. However, the idea of the tweaking effect of the Analog Delay here is the appearance of the ghost of Ariadne. I've never seen a ghost, but I can't imagine the appearance of it would be very long when you do see it. It's just 2 seconds and then, poof, it's over. So, of course, [the Analog Delay], like a ghost, doesn't stay very long."2 

Besides the timing of the effects, she liked the sound of it and said that this really came very close to the original idea she had in mind for this section. 

I continued my experimentation to search for a solution of the timing of the tweaking of the Analog Delay. 

Final version

In this third video for this effect, I changed the algorithm of the Delay from the Preset 'Past' to 'Present'. Besides needing to make some adjustments to the sound itself, this adjustment shortened the time for the feedbacking to start at the end of the loop. There are still differences between this last version and the original, for example in my recreation we can actively hear the Delay time going up which still takes more time than in the original and makes a noise that is not otherwise there. This is hard to control partly due to the plug-in and partly due to the MIDI controller used, and could still use further improvement through experimentation, by for example trying different MIDI controllers. Despite this, we could call this the most successful reproduction. 

The composer approved this final version of the Analog Delay.

Reflection Comparison

In general, we can say that the recreation of the effects has been quite successful. The ideas of the composer for each of the effects have been taken into consideration and reproduced, with the results being the ability to play the whole sonata with all the different effects of my own interpretation. 

There are of course, details in which some of the effects could further improve. For example, The metallic character on the basses for the Space Echo, and details for the end of the Analog Delay. I hope to keep on improving my set-up further and further as I'm in the learning process of this continuous artistic research.

Some choices for the effects I also think come down to artistic interpretation. There are cases where the effects are not a 100% the same as the original, but I do really like how it sounds. Each interpretation of a performer will be slightly different from when the composer is performing it, as with any piece of music, whether there are electronics included in the piece or not. That it also the beauty of the art of interpretation for me.