Another update on the work in progress that is Chain Of Ponds, a sequence of pieces I’ve been making using digital feedback. As discussed last time, the work is getting more refined. The underlying patchwork of circuits remains unchanged, but I keep modifying the script I’ve written which “composes” each performance. The script uses chance to determine which circuits are in use at any given moment, how they are tuned and configured, and how they may combine and interact with each other. Here’s a take of the script doing its thing.
There’s no editing, remixing or post-production in that recording. There is a potential maximum of 32 channels of sound in the circuit layout, but the audio output from the computer is stereo. This means that equalisation, levels and balance between speakers are all determined by the generating script. At the moment, I have no way to modify it. The conceptual purity of this situation is appealing, but aesthetic judgements of some sort are inevitable: I find myself either keeping or rejecting various takes.
It would be better to make these aesthetic decisions part of the performance process, so my next challenge is to find a way to interact – to some small but essential extent – with the myriad of potential sonic developments, in real time.
[…] been a while since I posted any new music. The Chain Of Ponds project is in its final stages and I hope will be released soon, in some form or other. In the […]