Csounds
One of the best discoveries I’ve made in Linux Audio is actually older than Linux itself — and isn’t restricted to one platform. It’s Csound.
The more I explore it, the more I find.
For the past few months, most of my free time has gone to home projects. My wife and I are moving to Virginia in less than two months. We had to get our house ready for sale (in one of the worst markets to come along in years). We’ve put a lot of effort into getting this place perfect.
But at last, most of the hard labor is done. I’ve actually got time to work on music projects again. And there are plenty.
ccMixter
I’ve been uploading the original, individual instrument tracks to each of the songs on Points of Departure to ccMixter. Although I’ve been a member there since February 4, the tracks I’ve uploaded have gone mostly unnoticed.
However, I’m not uploading them for immediate gratification. After all, I have the finished product. The tracks are available for the long term. My hope is, someday, someone who gets interested in my music will find them and be able to build something, learn something, or create something based on my work.
Well, I signed up with a new collaborative project on ccMixter called Random Ambient. Since I’m dedicating a lot of time to creating new Csound instruments, I decided I could make a positive contribution. Moreover, the project will give me incentive to be creative in my designs.
I uploaded a set of samples I called Superterrains (you can read the technical details on my Csound blog). Amazingly, within a few hours, I already had my first review [!] and 3 recommendations.
I seem to be on to something.
Microtonal Music
At the other end of the universe, away from the mechanics of sound production, there is the theoretical side. If you’ve been reading this blog, you know I got into atonal composition methods (adapted to jazz improvisation, believe it or not) and pitch class sets.
Now I’m going beyond the 12-tone scale.
I have found two new scales that have interested me the most:
- 19-TET, or 19 Tone Equal Temperament. Imagine the octave divided into 19 equal steps: a world in which C# and Db are separate notes. Already interesting! But still familiar enough that we can use familiar terms. On the other hand, there is
- The Bohlen-Pierce Scale. A completely different concept. Abandon the octave, and focus on the tritave, in which notes a tritave apart have a frequency ratio of 3:1. Now divide the tritave into 13 steps to get the BP chromatic scale.
Csound makes exploring this region possible. I do not have a 19-TET guitar or a BP Hammond Organ. On the other hand, if I want to try out ideas in 19-TET or the BP scale, I can do so easily through Csound. (And in fact I have — follow the links in the previous sentence).
The Woodshed II
About a year ago, I quit recording music for about 3 months, and worked on developing new musical skills. I’m about to do the same thing — for different reasons.
When we cleaned up our house, I packed away all my recording equipment. Honestly my room looked a bit like Darth Vader’s Bathroom, or maybe a studio apartment furnished by The Borg. All those cables, panels of blinking lights, and mysterious boxes with wires coming out — not exactly presentable.
During the move, I’m going to — literally — be without a musical home for a while. I will carry such instruments as I can pack / unpack easily (and fit into the car). The rest will remain locked away. I will focus on bass, guitar, and keyboard.
Starting tomorrow. And continuing until my world comes back together.
The Long Goodbye
I have a laptop, so I can keep working with Csound. What I may not have is a reliable internet connection. So, really, I need to finish everything I’m doing online by the end of May.
Leaving home is not easy. Finding a new place, less so. I haven’t had to do that in 16 years.
But leave behind music? Never.
