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Looper's Delight
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hi andrew!-
>Yeah, I meant to ask you on the max list when you posted this-
>how are you getting along with the pulse recognition ("rhythm detection")
>Tricky one that one.
I haven't started on that bit yet. As a reference, I have The Computer
Music
Tutorial. I imagine I will form a kind of pulse-time chart, which sorts the
distances between significant pulses and looks for integer harmonics as
clues to tempo. The output will be a sync ramp from 0-1 over 1 bar.
>How do you see it implemented in a solo looping environment?
>Does the app follow your time as you play?
I more see its utility when the looper is being slaved to some external
audio-- a drummer laying groove, a DJ, handclaps, whatever. In solo I would
probably just let the loops go at their own time and not force the computer
to do a messy task like tempo track.
>Is there a kind of "sample first aid" which stretches loops to fit neatly
>over the nearest "important" pulse point?
Something like this is already in place in the fripp~ object. Given any 0-1
ramp signal as a reference input, the loop records, plays, overdubs
syncronized to that signal. If the signal changes its rate, the loop speed
changes. There is currently a corresponding rate-pitch shift, but I hope to
use some fancy freq-domain methods to negate that.
Currently, this can be used to synchronize multiple fripp~ loops together.
And, if I were able to create a tempotrack object that spat out 0-1 ramps
synchronized to patterns in an incoming audio signal, I would then have me
a
synchronized looper.
>I'm not much of a looper, what sort of "dream functions" does the ultimate
>looping app have?
Who knows! Very individual, I think. For me, I'm interested in being able
to
build up a part and come back to it later-- in a session, or by cuing up
loop mixes from disk. I'm interested in being able to have the computer
help
me conduct the session-- puter, fade my bass loop out over 4 bars. Puter,
bring in that drumloop I recorded last time. Puter, we are switching all
melodic parts up 3 semitones. Puter, cue up these loops on just the monitor
mix so I can work with them before spitting them out. Puter, Jim just
played
in some amazing shit. Let's timestrech that into the current loop. Only,
unlike an 'arranger' like Cubase, its a sonic continuum, it never stops.
Its
created with that spirit.
For me its a way to bunk the traditional process of arranging music. I like
to work in the moment, and for me I've never really taken to assembling
pieces of my work and listening and relistening and tweaking. I'm
interested
in expanding the loop analogy to be flexible enough to work with more
elaborate pieces-- where things get so dynamic, you might be surprised that
looping was a central totem to the process. So I'm trying to expand the
notion of looping to the point where the performer's role is less one of
holding groove or holding space and more one of imagining and directing the
flow of the space, and being a physical channel into that space. yields;
Building a piece so that you give the computer enough information as you
build it that it understands how your piece is structured, and it can
project the piece forwards in time as you continue to manipulate it.
This conjures some scary notions of inhuman music mediated by monotone
robots, but, as I see it, this can only liberate the performers to expand
the flow, rather than hold it. But then, that has been said about
technology
in general== powerful tools definitely own their users as much as the
reverse is true. Oh, those inorganic beings!
All of this is somewhat rooted in a desire to dissolve the notion of a
'finished product' and to expose the whole process of creation as the
creation itself... and to empower the listener to become a creator by
making
that process visible and available. I grew up improvising on piano and
stuff
comes out, it needs to be channeled out, so I sit for hours and it just
bubbles up-- and in my visions I imagine communicating my intention for a
part and having the part build up by itself. Now my first reaction is that
seems a little ala Terrence McKenna machine elves, but then I stop and look
again and somehow 'bringing objects into existence by singing them into
existence' seems like a rational thing to shoot for.
>You got any beta patches yet?
Absolutely! They are messy, but if you can deal with that, I would love to
send you the whole thing, source & all. Then we could resonate together.
tee
hee.
-jan