Re: [tuning] Re: Joseph's new piece--Blect

Hi Joe,

I've taken your advice and flown this over to Jon's MMM.

Mostly I was just trying to put my finger on why I liked your music
rather than trying to offer any sort of a critical analysis. What's
important I think is that *you* won me over... not the tuning and not
the recording. In the end, the music won and TX81Z was just as it
should be, you made it work. Keep up the good work!

(I like the sudden ending by the way, the build to it was just long
enough inject some vigor while not wearing out its welcome, and the
overall effect was dramatic and interesting... it's effective, I like
it.)

take care,

--Dan Stearns

----- Original Message -----
From: "jpehrson2" <jpehrson@...>
To: <tuning@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 7:47 PM
Subject: [tuning] Re: Joseph's new piece

> --- In tuning@y..., "D.Stearns" <STEARNS@C...> wrote:
>
> /tuning/topicId_34315.html#34315
>
> > Hi Joe,
> >
> > Finally got around to checking out your new piece Blect. At first
> the super dry, and not terribly gripping--dare I even say cheesy--
> timbres (excluding the organ) were somewhat annoying me, but, as is
> the case with all your pieces that I've heard, there's a very
> recognizable voice at work, and that's nothing to sneeze at!
> >
> > Your music often strikes me as equal parts playful and
respectable,
> > but deliberate, that's always the first thing that comes to my
mind
> > when I'm trying to describe it... deliberate. It's music about
> working very finite materials into a piece, and it doesn't often
seem
> to reach for too much more than that. But, if it were only
> workmanship I probably wouldn't be too terribly interested,
> fortunately there's an x-factor.
> >
> > I won't try to put too fine a point on it, but it's there, and
it's
> > you... all those little droll and sometimes almost carnivalesque
> > chromatic bits, the measured pacing... the composerly development
> and sudden dashes of vivacity and vigor that remind you that all
that
> > stunted deliberateness wasn't the extent of what's to be said...
> it's all stuff that could potentially describe a lot of people's
> music, but I recognize you and yours straightaway... so, once I
> reached the end I was no longer annoyed by the dry and cheesy
> patches, in fact, they were now just what they should be and had
> acquired a certain charm... in fact, they'd earned it!
> >
> > Nice job, as always.
> >
> >
> > take care,
> >
> > --Dan Stearns
>
>
> ***Thanks, Dan! I appreciate your candid "take" on what I'm doing
> and, in fact, especially appreciate the "critical" analysis... which
> is valuable for me.
>
> Well, composers should be able to take about *anything* they're
given
> and make something of it, if they know what they're doing and have
> ability. Surely, I'm restricted by the TX81Z patches, but since
it's
> such a *tunable* synth it still has quite a bit of utility and
> my "appetite" for acquiring debt through gear purchasing is limited
> (unlike, I realize, many MIDI musicians... :) ).
>
> Over on MakeMicroMusic where, incidentally, this discussion probably
> should be taking place, since the "big" Tuning List has become more
> of a forum for "tuning theory" of late, I've been working to
> add "reverb" to my pieces. I was rather "shy" of it, since it
seemed
> to add an element that capriciously distorted the tuning, which I
> wanted to emphasize.
>
> However, I've been learning that perhaps just a *little* reverb,
> applied in the right way, may do a lot for my pieces without doing
> too much *damage* to the audible tuning. I'm also learning to add
> more *dynamic* elements, something that I "messed up" just by
> confusion as to how to properly "draw" dynamic curves in the
> sequencer.
>
> _Blect_, and all my Blackjack pieces are, I suppose, more
> *deliberate* than some of my earlier xenharmonic pieces, since I was
> working with lattices in front of me and knew what all the
sonorities
> were and what I was trying to do with them. In fact, it is true
that
> many of the concepts and sounds in the piece resulted from various
> theoretical ideas and discussions we've had on this Tuning List so,
> in a sense, it became a practical "working out" in sound of some of
> the concepts that appeared only in *text* on this forum...
>
>
> So, in a sense, it probably is as "calculated" as a "serial" piece
> might be...although I hope doesn't sound like it! :) Again, I
think
> any decent composer should, and does, transcend whatever "working
> methods" provide the basic materials for the composition.
>
> In any case, thanks for your "angle" on all this...
>
> JP
>
>
>
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--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., "D.Stearns" <STEARNS@C...> wrote:

/makemicromusic/topicId_2109.html#2109

> Hi Joe,
>
> I've taken your advice and flown this over to Jon's MMM.
>
> Mostly I was just trying to put my finger on why I liked your music
> rather than trying to offer any sort of a critical analysis. What's
> important I think is that *you* won me over... not the tuning and
not
> the recording. In the end, the music won and TX81Z was just as it
> should be, you made it work. Keep up the good work!
>
> (I like the sudden ending by the way, the build to it was just long
> enough inject some vigor while not wearing out its welcome, and the
> overall effect was dramatic and interesting... it's effective, I
like
> it.)
>
>
> take care,
>
> --Dan Stearns
>

****Thanks, Dan, and I appreciate the commentary, and took it,
generally speaking, as a compliment, anyway.

Most probably such discussions should be over here on MakeMicroMusic,
where we do lots of aesthetic discussions and discussions
of "technique" with electronic instruments.

However, naturally I'm interested in doing something about "cheesy"
timbres, if possible, and have been exploring the possibility of at
least improving them a bit by *reverb* on *this* list.

I'm not too sure what else can be done short of buying new gear. I
guess altering the patches some in the patch editor might improve
some "generally" but I don't know how much.

And, frankly, I wouldn't even be too sure which "new gear" to buy,
since lots of it nowadays doesn't seem as "retunable" as the 'Zs...

In any case, hopefully the presence of live instruments with some of
this stuff will take a bit of the focus off some of the timbres...

Thanks, anyway, for the comments!

best,

Joe