"yearning for the algorithmic"

DLaurent

Well-known member
Eno's a great thinker in my book ..


I came to this when researching how to use the Scripter plugin for random MIDI effects in Logic, but I'm also into hisi concept of scenius, kind of a collective unconscious thing, maybe related to the continuum, how things rarely come out of the blue, there's always an zeitgeist or influence.
 

muser

Well-known member
so what? what's the significance for listeners/artists of chaos always being present? (if you think there is any)

I dont know if I do. I'm kind of arguing with myself to be honest. My theory I guess is music is more enjoyable with some degree of chaos in it and that chaos works at many different levels. I wasn't really thinking about it this way but with regards to this thread, perhaps at the higher functioning level of decision making, chaos being a desirable quality could be a reason why purely algorithmic music will never be as good as human made, its more random than chaotic.
 

jorge

Well-known member
I would say Chaos is desirable because reality/nature is extremely chaotic, billions upon billions of things bouncing off each other reacting and moving around on every level, extremely complex but conforming to laws and somewhat understandable. Its chaos in the mathematical sense and I think music that can reflect that is exciting.

I think algorhythmic music has more potential for this chaos precisely because it is not (necessarily) random. Everything is happening for a reason which has been determined by the laws programmed in and the input given. Some (perhaps all) of the musical decisions have been farmed out to computer processes much as sequencers farmed out the actual playing of an instrument to circuit boards.
 

mvuent

Void Dweller
I think algorhythmic music has more potential for this chaos precisely because it is not (necessarily) random. Everything is happening for a reason which has been determined by the laws programmed in and the input given. Some (perhaps all) of the musical decisions have been farmed out to computer processes much as sequencers farmed out the actual playing of an instrument to circuit boards.
there's an autechre interview where they talk about how they think of their algorithmic processes / sequencers as extensions of their personalities, since these make the same aesthetic 'decisions' that they would make, or at least approve of. maybe it's sort of like working on a track with a bunch of clones of yourself lol. anyways the idea of chaos that's shaped by our preferences is any interesting one.
 

mvuent

Void Dweller
still very interested in these questions if anyone has ideas.

do people who are less sensitive to groove hit a perceptual limit sooner than people who are more into dance music? hence Greil Marcus’ point about how “country time” sounds clumsy to the uninitiated, and also how uninitiated audiences who lack the right background might not know what to make of nuum music.

or, from the opposite side of things, is the limit hit when nerds who don’t understand dance music don't recognize that they’re going too far and losing the groove in all the complexity? hence algorave, IDM, etc.

or is it just a matter of what context you're hearing the music in? maybe practically anything with a steady tempo and 'events' can be dance music if you hear it the right way

tl;dr:
how does one bring more rave into their music?
 

DLaurent

Well-known member
The classical conductor is Autechre's sequencer. Elvin Jones said the greatest contribution of Jazz was replacing a conductor waving his arms with a drummer.


Dance music has the innate physicality, the minature grooves. Jaco Pastorius said "Women and children and the rhythym section first". Was always told women don't dig the rhythym section. Maybe some evolutional in that.
 
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polystyle

Well-known member
Eno's a great thinker in my book ..


I came to this when researching how to use the Scripter plugin for random MIDI effects in Logic, but I'm also into hisi concept of scenius, kind of a collective unconscious thing, maybe related to the continuum, how things rarely come out of the blue, there's always an zeitgeist or influence.

* Not exactly B's 'scenius', but the collective unconscious , zeitgeist elements
have something to do with what i just mention in the Dissensus Raw Thread.
As B found out when Judy Nylon hipped him to the NY no wave ( after she set the record player to play Pachelbel Canon a bit slowwwwww ) !

Now somewhere between your original question here muvent and today's
improv post from Woops = sorry but i cannot seem to resist giving example of a group i know well ...
Here at least 3 out of 4 members are improvising oh about 40 -50 % i'd say,
same time there is some kind of funk ( Kenneth's bass )
and def 'tech' - here the Korg Controller linked 3 members' Korgs , Arp and drum machine up.
Fred Szymanski, synth meister was also improvising the arrangement and drum patterns plus processing live as we went.
We played like this exactly one time, thankfully finished in time on Tony Wilson's scant budget as we watched that clock on wall.

 
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