Creative Computing - Major Project

The inspiration for my Creative Computing major project came primarily from two
places; a vocal Spectral Freeze bidule that I created in Plogue about 3 months ago
(posted on this blog) and an interest in live computer controlled synthesised
accompaniment. I found several CDs in Elder Library which attempted this,
particularly Richard Teitelbaum’s Concerto Grosso, in which a pianist plays a piano
that is connected to a computer, which then controls two other pianos for
accompaniment. The result was quite, uhh, objectionable, but the idea was solid.

I decided to use a grand piano as the sound source for my Bidule creations, as I had
an idea to place microphones in such a way that each mic would pick up different
frequency bands (low notes, mid notes, high notes) and my bidules could be customised
for each mic signal. The OmniGraffle plan helped me to realise the physical
limitations of the Recording Space, and I deduced that I needed to use Studio 1 in
conjunction with the Space for the performance due to the number of microphones I was
using.

Bidule creation consumed my life for 2 weeks, and I was quite pleased with the final
6. Detailed descriptions of each bidule and sub-bidule have been entered into the
“***** Explanation…” boxes scattered throughout my Plogue session file. I created the
score for my piece after creating my bidules, as the score would be used for the
performance rather than the aesthetic design, plus I wanted to discuss it with the
performer. My original performer dropped out, but thankfully Jake Morris was
interested in being the guinea pig. My score has three parts; the main form, the
piano score and the computer score. The main form was chosen by Jake and I to be
ternary form, best described as |A|BA| (similar to sonata form). We kept our opinions
on how we should proceed from each other, knowing that the overall form would allow
our interpretations to coincide in the performance. Jake’s score consisted of a piece
of paper with a theme progression, namely “autumn leaves > nightwalker > autumn
leaves2 “, (which I jazzed up in Photoshop afterwards of course). My score consisted
of an effect group order, in which the ternary form controls the change between
direct sound manipulation and sound synthesis/Live. Effect nuances like Decimation
were improvised.













I believe the performance was a success. I connected the K5000 MIDI controller to
gain controls plus some of the effects controls for each of my bidules. This allowed
me to affect the piano sound as I saw fit, adhering to my score. I really did not
want to use Live, however the loops I built on-the-fly in the mix came out quite
nice, and right when they stopped Jake changed his playing style in a twist of
improvisation (there‘s that word again). Rather than audition the spliced sounds for
Live through headphones I patched them straight into the rear speakers in Studio 1
for some ‘surround DJing’. The only issue I had regarded the 'synthesised
accompaniment' going schitzo instead of actually accompanying, but that seems to be
related to the instrument I chose. Oh, and lets not forget that a G5 Mac runs my
bidule at 50%+ dsp, yet my very cheap laptop pulls off 20% max.


If you have some time, pilfer through my Plogue patch, there’s plenty of instructions
and explanations inside each bidule which may be of interest. If you want to try them
out, most of them work best with a microphone. At least check out the Delay Time Proportionate Attenuator in the Devine Delay GUI.


CC Major MP3 7.13MB

Bidule File