[linux-audio-user] Re: Track made with puredata (on a Linux desktop)

[Chris McCormick]

On Thu, Apr 06, 2006 at 12:22:01PM -0400, linux-audio-user-request at music.columbia.edu wrote:
> Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2006 10:20:15 -0500
> From: Brian Dunn <job17and9 at sbcglobal.net>
> 
> Chris McCormick wrote:
> ><http://www.sciencegirlrecords.com/chr15m/music/CD004/search_and_rescue.mp3>
> >
> >There is some other music made on a Linux desktop at similar URLs at
> >that same host.

Hi Brian,

> Chris that track is genious. i haven't liked any lau stuff this much 
> since f4.  it's got that autechre like computer-made-it-up feel.  how 
> did you do the sequencing? also within pd?  I'm starting to play with pd 

If it has a computer-made-it-up feel to it then that is logical because
some elements of the song are randomly or algorithmically generated. With
regards to sequencing; in the past I have used custom built sequencer
patches (see below) but this was the first track on which I used a
TR-505's <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TR-505> midi capabilities to
sequence the track. The TR-505 specifies the order in which pieces of
the breakbeat and other drum sounds are played, and specifies on which
beats in a bar to play melodic notes. The computer randomly picks the
melodies from a set of notes which I choose that 'go together'. All of
the effects are controlled using a u33 midi controller, and a small midi
controller looping patch is used to make sure i don't have to move all
the knobs all of the time - they move themselves in a repeating fashion
if i turn the knob to 127. To make beats more interesting I often employ
an algorithm that randomly shuffles back and forwards the position that
a loop is playing at, at the end of a bar or set of bars. In this case I
assigned that shuffler to a knob on the uc33 so I had control over when
the beat went wobbly.

> myself and this track has really got me inspired to dig on in.  could 
> you maybe share some of the patches you used?

For sure. I am working on a new modular synthesis system which is very
specific to my midi setup (uc33 and TR-505) but I haven't put this in
CVS yet. However, the building blocks and effects from which much of my
music is created can be found in the cvs repository here:

http://mccormick.cx/viewcvs/s-abstractions/

There is currently no license specified on these patches, but you can
assume that they are public domain. I'll probably stick an LGPL license
or similar in there shortly.

If you want to write stuff using Pd without too much hassle, probably
a good place to look is Frank's collection of RRADical abstractions,
which are of a much higher quality than mine, though I think they often
have dependencies outside of Miller's puredata:

http://footils.org/cms/show/1

If you look up Han's Extended Installer then that should satisfy any
dependencies of the RRADical abstractions.

> once again, thanks for sharing such an awesome work.

Thank you very much for your interest and your compliments! An inflated
ego is a great inspiration to write more music.

Best,

Chris.

-------------------
chris at mccormick.cx
http://mccormick.cx