"On this good soil, let our automatons play in peace..."

....a work for chaos-driven hocket of synthetic bells and percussive sound in
11-equal. The chaos is custom MIDI software written in Python TkInter, called
'pymidichaos'. The softsynth is ZynAddSubFX, using custom patches and the
'echo' (really digital delay) plugin effect. 5'59" in length. Enjoy.

for the noble and just members of society:
http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.ogg
for heretics:
http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.mp3

(notice the other really terrible feature of mp3s--the info fields cannot be
of arbitrary length, like a long title for instance)

Best,
Aaron.

That's cool, Aaron. I'm a sucker for hockets. :-) The 11-ET works very well with those timbres, IMO. I really need to try something soon with ZynAddSubFX, it's very nice.

- Dave

Aaron Krister Johnson wrote:
> ....a work for chaos-driven hocket of synthetic bells and percussive sound in > 11-equal. The chaos is custom MIDI software written in Python TkInter, called > 'pymidichaos'. The softsynth is ZynAddSubFX, using custom patches and the > 'echo' (really digital delay) plugin effect. 5'59" in length. Enjoy.
> > for the noble and just members of society:
> http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.ogg
> for heretics:
> http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.mp3
> > (notice the other really terrible feature of mp3s--the info fields cannot be > of arbitrary length, like a long title for instance)
> > Best,
> Aaron.

Aaron,

Very cool. I agree that the tuning fits well.

Any explanation of how you used pymidichaos would be interesting for
me, especially in the linear movement of form.

-Chris

On 7/18/06, Dave Seidel <dave@...> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> That's cool, Aaron. I'm a sucker for hockets. :-) The 11-ET works
> very well with those timbres, IMO. I really need to try something soon
> with ZynAddSubFX, it's very nice.
>
> - Dave
>
>
> Aaron Krister Johnson wrote:
> > ....a work for chaos-driven hocket of synthetic bells and percussive sound in
> > 11-equal. The chaos is custom MIDI software written in Python TkInter, called
> > 'pymidichaos'. The softsynth is ZynAddSubFX, using custom patches and the
> > 'echo' (really digital delay) plugin effect. 5'59" in length. Enjoy.
> >
> > for the noble and just members of society:
> > http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.ogg
> > for heretics:
> > http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.mp3
> >
> > (notice the other really terrible feature of mp3s--the info fields cannot be
> > of arbitrary length, like a long title for instance)
> >
> > Best,
> > Aaron.
>
>
>
>
> -- "... free speech is meaningless if the commercial cacophony has risen
to the point that no one can hear you." -Naomi Klein

On Wednesday 19 July 2006 5:01 am, c.m.bryan wrote:
> Aaron,
>
> Very cool. I agree that the tuning fits well.
>
> Any explanation of how you used pymidichaos would be interesting for
> me, especially in the linear movement of form.

Hi, Chris,

'Pymidichaos' is pretty much a mapping of note to chaotic equations. The
parameters are the chaos value, note range, note center, split point (for
hockets between two channels--this makes things interesting!), and tempo.

I could add some things to make it better--polyphony, volume chaos, rhtyhmic
humanization, etc. Right now it's just the above factors.

The 'form' as you said was humanly guided--since I can run in real time, I can
change parameters as it runs to keep things interesting. Unguided by human
hands, it can sound awfully dull and mechanical after a short time.

If you have Python with TkInter, I can send you the script and you could give
it a go! The file structure within the code opens Linux file devices, but one
could easily modify the code for cross-platform use, I'm sure.

Cheers,
Aaron.

> If you have Python with TkInter,

Thanks, but I was mainly interested in the general approach for my own
from-scratch algorithms. Right now I'm using a lot of gaussian
distributions, markov arrays and rule conditions, but I'd like to
explore chaotic systems in the future.

I'm using these systems to explore the hebdomekontany, a massive
70-note cps, with a small ensemble of virtual instruments. If
anyone's interested, an unfinished recording (9.5 megs, sorry) is
available:

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=BB716A423E4A113D

The result will be an installation, so it will be hard to represent
with a recording, but I may post several short samples as well as
package a cd-length "performance."

-Chris Bryan

At 09:51 AM 7/19/2006, you wrote:
>> If you have Python with TkInter,
>
>Thanks, but I was mainly interested in the general approach for my own
>from-scratch algorithms. Right now I'm using a lot of gaussian
>distributions, markov arrays and rule conditions, but I'd like to
>explore chaotic systems in the future.
>
>I'm using these systems to explore the hebdomekontany, a massive
>70-note cps, with a small ensemble of virtual instruments. If
>anyone's interested, an unfinished recording (9.5 megs, sorry) is
>available:
>
>http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=BB716A423E4A113D
>
>The result will be an installation, so it will be hard to represent
>with a recording, but I may post several short samples as well as
>package a cd-length "performance."
>
>-Chris Bryan

Cool, this is the first hebdomekontany music I've heard on this
list!

-Carl

>....a work for chaos-driven hocket of synthetic bells and percussive sound in
>11-equal. The chaos is custom MIDI software written in Python TkInter, called
>'pymidichaos'. The softsynth is ZynAddSubFX, using custom patches and the
>'echo' (really digital delay) plugin effect. 5'59" in length. Enjoy.
>
>for the noble and just members of society:
>http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.ogg
>for heretics:
>http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.mp3
>
>(notice the other really terrible feature of mp3s--the info fields cannot be
>of arbitrary length, like a long title for instance)
>
>Best,
>Aaron.

Are the levels supposed to be really low?

-Carl

>(notice the other really terrible feature of mp3s--the info fields cannot be
>of arbitrary length, like a long title for instance)

Your song title fits in the info fields with room to spare.

-Carl

On Wednesday 19 July 2006 1:02 pm, Carl Lumma wrote:
> >....a work for chaos-driven hocket of synthetic bells and percussive sound
> > in 11-equal. The chaos is custom MIDI software written in Python TkInter,
> > called 'pymidichaos'. The softsynth is ZynAddSubFX, using custom patches
> > and the 'echo' (really digital delay) plugin effect. 5'59" in length.
> > Enjoy.
> >
> >for the noble and just members of society:
> >http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.ogg
> >for heretics:
> >http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.mp3
> >
> >(notice the other really terrible feature of mp3s--the info fields cannot
> > be of arbitrary length, like a long title for instance)
> >
> >Best,
> >Aaron.
>
> Are the levels supposed to be really low?

Carl, if you download the same links again, the levels are higher. I forgot to
normalize them, but fixed it last night...

Thanks,
Aaron.

> Are the levels supposed to be really low?

Hm, I'm looking at the waveform in audacity right now, the peak is
around .8 or .9 (out of 1) with an average amplitude around .5. Is
that really low?

Chris

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Carl Lumma <ekin@...> wrote:
>
> >(notice the other really terrible feature of mp3s--the info
fields cannot be
> >of arbitrary length, like a long title for instance)
>
> Your song title fits in the info fields with room to spare.

Not in my xmms interface with the headers. I think there are also
two competing tag standards, right?

At 11:15 AM 7/19/2006, you wrote:
>On Wednesday 19 July 2006 1:02 pm, Carl Lumma wrote:
>> >....a work for chaos-driven hocket of synthetic bells and percussive sound
>> > in 11-equal. The chaos is custom MIDI software written in Python TkInter,
>> > called 'pymidichaos'. The softsynth is ZynAddSubFX, using custom patches
>> > and the 'echo' (really digital delay) plugin effect. 5'59" in length.
>> > Enjoy.
>> >
>> >for the noble and just members of society:
>> >http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.ogg
>> >for heretics:
>> >http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.mp3
>> >
>> >(notice the other really terrible feature of mp3s--the info fields cannot
>> > be of arbitrary length, like a long title for instance)
>> >
>> >Best,
>> >Aaron.
>>
>> Are the levels supposed to be really low?
>
>Carl, if you download the same links again, the levels are higher. I
>forgot to normalize them, but fixed it last night...

Thanks!

-Carl

>> >(notice the other really terrible feature of mp3s--the info
>> >fields cannot be of arbitrary length, like a long title for instance)
>>
>> Your song title fits in the info fields with room to spare.
>
>Not in my xmms interface with the headers. I think there are also
>two competing tag standards, right?

ID3v2 tags are pretty standard these days. I'm not aware of
any software/devices that don't support them (though they may exist).

-Carl

As the noble and just member of society I must say: nice.
Thanks
Milan
> http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.ogg
> for heretics:
> http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.mp3

--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.1/391 - Release Date: 18/07/06

>> >....a work for chaos-driven hocket of synthetic bells and percussive sound
>> > in 11-equal. The chaos is custom MIDI software written in Python TkInter,
>> > called 'pymidichaos'. The softsynth is ZynAddSubFX, using custom patches
>> > and the 'echo' (really digital delay) plugin effect. 5'59" in length.
>> > Enjoy.
>> >
>> >for the noble and just members of society:
>> >http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.ogg
>> >for heretics:
>> >http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.mp3
>> >
>> >(notice the other really terrible feature of mp3s--the info fields cannot
>> > be of arbitrary length, like a long title for instance)
>> >
>> >Best,
>> >Aaron.
>>
>> Are the levels supposed to be really low?
>
>Carl, if you download the same links again, the levels are higher. I forgot
>to normalize them, but fixed it last night...

The ogg still sounds flat. Downloaded the mp3, and according to
mp3gain the average level is 84dB. Compare to 89 (the suggested
standard), 94 (the average I see in files sold on the web), and
91 (what I use for all my stuff as a compromise).

It may be that since this is a sparse percussion piece, there are
peaks that would clip. In such a case, you may consider using a
compressor. Also, I'd boost the high-freq. content with an
equalizer of some kind.

But I like the music!

-Carl

>The ogg still sounds flat. Downloaded the mp3, and according to
>mp3gain the average level is 84dB. Compare to 89 (the suggested
>standard), 94 (the average I see in files sold on the web), and
>91 (what I use for all my stuff as a compromise).
>
>It may be that since this is a sparse percussion piece, there are
>peaks that would clip.

According to mp3gain it can go to 87 without clipping.

-Carl

On Wednesday 19 July 2006 10:54 pm, Carl Lumma wrote:

> It may be that since this is a sparse percussion piece, there are
> peaks that would clip. In such a case, you may consider using a
> compressor. Also, I'd boost the high-freq. content with an
> equalizer of some kind.

I'm going to implement these suggestions, which are very good ones.

> But I like the music!
>

Thanks!

-A.

I took Carl's suggestions, and compressed the volume spikes, particularly the
ones starting at 3'53", and this allow the files to boost and normailze a bit
better. I also EQ-ed up the high-mids and highs.

Let me know if this is noticably better.

http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.ogg
http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.mp3

-Aaron.

At 09:58 AM 7/20/2006, you wrote:
>I took Carl's suggestions, and compressed the volume spikes, particularly the
>ones starting at 3'53", and this allow the files to boost and normailze a bit
>better. I also EQ-ed up the high-mids and highs.
>
>Let me know if this is noticably better.
>
>http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.ogg
>http://www.akjmusic.com/audio/automatons.mp3
>
>-Aaron.

Improved, I'd say.

-Carl

Hi Aaron,

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Aaron Krister Johnson wrote:
>
> ....a work for chaos-driven hocket of synthetic bells and
percussive sound in 11-equal. The chaos is custom MIDI software
written in Python TkInter, called 'pymidichaos'. The softsynth is
ZynAddSubFX, using custom patches and the 'echo' (really digital
delay) plugin effect. 5'59" in length. Enjoy.

"Can automata take a random walk?" ;-)

I'm enjoying it right now, thank you.

Amazing how different processes tend towards similar products - this
piece reminds me quite strongly of gamelan music, and shares a few
features with it.

Regards,
Yahya