uRsA mIcRo

for anyone who might be interested, here's a bit of 20-edo
cyberfusion experimentation:

http://zebox.com/daniel_anthony_stearns/

delta librae

On Monday 21 February 2005 01:31 am, daniel_anthony_stearns wrote:
> for anyone who might be interested, here's a bit of 20-edo
> cyberfusion experimentation:
>
> http://zebox.com/daniel_anthony_stearns/
>
> delta librae

Dan,

My favorite of your recent stuff....liked it a lot: liked the grungey 'low-fi'
of it, and the distorted microtonal 'bleepy-ness' made me imagine listening
to a hard-rock band somewhere on an outpost on Neptune's moon, Triton,
drinking a moon-lava drink.

Nice work!

I would like to subversively point out your effective use of repetition
throughout, especially the establishment of a syntax of triplet rhythms ;)

We can explore that issue on the 'aesthetic isses' thread, but briefly, I
would even go so far as to posit that *most* music, as distinct from white
noise, is a pure impossibility without some kind of bare minimum of
repetition of some parameteric factor (rhythm, pitch, amplitude/accent)

Best,
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.dividebypi.com

aaron, yes "bleeping out",cool. thanks for the listen and taking the
time to comment..I really appreciate it! As far as your last point
goes I don't think I agree--check fellow microenthusiast C.Bailey's
dissertation for his piece Sand for some ideas on how this type of a
music separate from white noise might be achieved. Personally, I'm
looking for music that shakes me up in some way, be that
repetitionists like the late great Fela Kuti or arch-
antirepetitionists like Ives...whatever works works!

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron K. Johnson"
<akjmicro@c...> wrote:
> On Monday 21 February 2005 01:31 am, daniel_anthony_stearns wrote:
> > for anyone who might be interested, here's a bit of 20-edo
> > cyberfusion experimentation:
> >
> > http://zebox.com/daniel_anthony_stearns/
> >
> > delta librae
>
> Dan,
>
> My favorite of your recent stuff....liked it a lot: liked the
grungey 'low-fi'
> of it, and the distorted microtonal 'bleepy-ness' made me imagine
listening
> to a hard-rock band somewhere on an outpost on Neptune's moon,
Triton,
> drinking a moon-lava drink.
>
> Nice work!
>
> I would like to subversively point out your effective use of
repetition
> throughout, especially the establishment of a syntax of triplet
rhythms ;)
>
> We can explore that issue on the 'aesthetic isses' thread, but
briefly, I
> would even go so far as to posit that *most* music, as distinct
from white
> noise, is a pure impossibility without some kind of bare minimum of
> repetition of some parameteric factor (rhythm, pitch,
amplitude/accent)
>
> Best,
> Aaron Krister Johnson
> http://www.akjmusic.com
> http://www.dividebypi.com

Hey Dan, loved the piece! I definitely enjoyed the lo-fi; it's an
effect I often use myself, though rarely as successfully as your use
here. That sound, combined with your extreme high-speed rhythmical
precision/"arpeggiator-gone-haywire" phrasing, had me wondering if
that lead instrument was in fact a guitar! Very cool. I'm quite
curious as to how you approach the 20-edo guitar from a compositional
standpoint. Do you base your playing around specific modes/quasi-
tonal ideas, or do you just let go and have at it? A lot of it
sounded very free-form, but then again my natural interpretation of
complex solo passages is to assume that they were improvised (unless
I know differently).

I'd also like to throw my two cents into the aesthetics debate, since
this is something I spend a lot of time thinking about. I whole-
heartedly agree with you that there should be no rules except what
sounds good to the composer. The concept of repetition has taken on
new meanings these days, and I've certainly found that cohesiveness
is very possible without specifically repeating any phrases. Also,
where is the line drawn between a "variation on a theme" and a
completely new idea? It seems sometimes that completely and
simultaneously changing a phrase's key, mode, tempo, and meter is not
enough to avoid the feeling of repetition, and other times changing
but a single note can lead to the feel of a completely new idea.
Sometimes a simple re-occurring unique timbre can be enough to bring
cohesiveness to a piece. And yet sometimes even extreme repetition
does not bring a feeling of cohesiveness; if the listener cannot
discern one part from another, how can s/he tell when a part is
repeated? I often find this true of both exceedingly simple ambient
music and extremely technical metal, as well as many genres in
between. It all comes down to two things: where the music wants to
take you, and whether or not you want to be taken there. That's my
opinion of it, at any rate.

-Igs

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "daniel_anthony_stearns"
<daniel_anthony_stearns@y...> wrote:
>
> aaron, yes "bleeping out",cool. thanks for the listen and taking
the
> time to comment..I really appreciate it! As far as your last point
> goes I don't think I agree--check fellow microenthusiast
C.Bailey's
> dissertation for his piece Sand for some ideas on how this type of
a
> music separate from white noise might be achieved. Personally, I'm
> looking for music that shakes me up in some way, be that
> repetitionists like the late great Fela Kuti or arch-
> antirepetitionists like Ives...whatever works works!
>
>
> --- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron K. Johnson"
> <akjmicro@c...> wrote:
> > On Monday 21 February 2005 01:31 am, daniel_anthony_stearns wrote:
> > > for anyone who might be interested, here's a bit of 20-edo
> > > cyberfusion experimentation:
> > >
> > > http://zebox.com/daniel_anthony_stearns/
> > >
> > > delta librae
> >
> > Dan,
> >
> > My favorite of your recent stuff....liked it a lot: liked the
> grungey 'low-fi'
> > of it, and the distorted microtonal 'bleepy-ness' made me imagine
> listening
> > to a hard-rock band somewhere on an outpost on Neptune's moon,
> Triton,
> > drinking a moon-lava drink.
> >
> > Nice work!
> >
> > I would like to subversively point out your effective use of
> repetition
> > throughout, especially the establishment of a syntax of triplet
> rhythms ;)
> >
> > We can explore that issue on the 'aesthetic isses' thread, but
> briefly, I
> > would even go so far as to posit that *most* music, as distinct
> from white
> > noise, is a pure impossibility without some kind of bare minimum
of
> > repetition of some parameteric factor (rhythm, pitch,
> amplitude/accent)
> >
> > Best,
> > Aaron Krister Johnson
> > http://www.akjmusic.com
> > http://www.dividebypi.com

Very cool, Dan! How did you get the guitar sound -- going through a synth, or boxes, or both?

- Dave

daniel_anthony_stearns wrote:
> > for anyone who might be interested, here's a bit of 20-edo
> cyberfusion experimentation:
> > http://zebox.com/daniel_anthony_stearns/
> > delta librae
> > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links
> > > > > > > >

Thanks David.There's both synth guitar and non-synth guitar (as well
as keyboards),but their both pretty aggressively effected. One of the
signature sounds of this sort that I like is an old compander--a
compressor expander that sort of squinches every note AND gives every
note a hint of hemorrhaging,sort of a chaotic articulation I guess!

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Dave Seidel <dave@s...> wrote:
> Very cool, Dan! How did you get the guitar sound -- going through
a
> synth, or boxes, or both?
>
> - Dave
>
>
> daniel_anthony_stearns wrote:
> >
> > for anyone who might be interested, here's a bit of 20-edo
> > cyberfusion experimentation:
> >
> > http://zebox.com/daniel_anthony_stearns/
> >
> > delta librae
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >

ullo Igliashon.Thanks!I haven't had the chance to hear anything of
yours yet,so could you please point me to something you're happy
with,thanks. With this kind of stuff,err,composed rock I guess, I
seldom have much of anything freeform,but I kind of like everything
teetering on the brink of disaster so I Iike to let things come
unhinged a bit if I'm able.Anyway,I'm very interested in microtheory
and even micromath and hack away at it like a hobby.Sometimes it
effects my music directly and sometimes indirectly and sometimes not
at all. Like you seem to, I too favor a"whatever works works" kind of
approach.I trust my intuition,but I'm suspicious of the hard-governed
world

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Igliashon Jones"
<igliashon@s...> wrote:
>
> Hey Dan, loved the piece! I definitely enjoyed the lo-fi; it's an
> effect I often use myself, though rarely as successfully as your
use
> here. That sound, combined with your extreme high-speed rhythmical
> precision/"arpeggiator-gone-haywire" phrasing, had me wondering if
> that lead instrument was in fact a guitar! Very cool. I'm quite
> curious as to how you approach the 20-edo guitar from a
compositional
> standpoint. Do you base your playing around specific modes/quasi-
> tonal ideas, or do you just let go and have at it? A lot of it
> sounded very free-form, but then again my natural interpretation of
> complex solo passages is to assume that they were improvised
(unless
> I know differently).
>
> I'd also like to throw my two cents into the aesthetics debate,
since
> this is something I spend a lot of time thinking about. I whole-
> heartedly agree with you that there should be no rules except what
> sounds good to the composer. The concept of repetition has taken
on
> new meanings these days, and I've certainly found that cohesiveness
> is very possible without specifically repeating any phrases. Also,
> where is the line drawn between a "variation on a theme" and a
> completely new idea? It seems sometimes that completely and
> simultaneously changing a phrase's key, mode, tempo, and meter is
not
> enough to avoid the feeling of repetition, and other times changing
> but a single note can lead to the feel of a completely new idea.
> Sometimes a simple re-occurring unique timbre can be enough to
bring
> cohesiveness to a piece. And yet sometimes even extreme repetition
> does not bring a feeling of cohesiveness; if the listener cannot
> discern one part from another, how can s/he tell when a part is
> repeated? I often find this true of both exceedingly simple
ambient
> music and extremely technical metal, as well as many genres in
> between. It all comes down to two things: where the music wants to
> take you, and whether or not you want to be taken there. That's my
> opinion of it, at any rate.
>
> -Igs
>
> --- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "daniel_anthony_stearns"
> <daniel_anthony_stearns@y...> wrote:
> >
> > aaron, yes "bleeping out",cool. thanks for the listen and taking
> the
> > time to comment..I really appreciate it! As far as your last
point
> > goes I don't think I agree--check fellow microenthusiast
> C.Bailey's
> > dissertation for his piece Sand for some ideas on how this type
of
> a
> > music separate from white noise might be achieved. Personally,
I'm
> > looking for music that shakes me up in some way, be that
> > repetitionists like the late great Fela Kuti or arch-
> > antirepetitionists like Ives...whatever works works!
> >
> >
> > --- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "Aaron K. Johnson"
> > <akjmicro@c...> wrote:
> > > On Monday 21 February 2005 01:31 am, daniel_anthony_stearns
wrote:
> > > > for anyone who might be interested, here's a bit of 20-edo
> > > > cyberfusion experimentation:
> > > >
> > > > http://zebox.com/daniel_anthony_stearns/
> > > >
> > > > delta librae
> > >
> > > Dan,
> > >
> > > My favorite of your recent stuff....liked it a lot: liked the
> > grungey 'low-fi'
> > > of it, and the distorted microtonal 'bleepy-ness' made me
imagine
> > listening
> > > to a hard-rock band somewhere on an outpost on Neptune's moon,
> > Triton,
> > > drinking a moon-lava drink.
> > >
> > > Nice work!
> > >
> > > I would like to subversively point out your effective use of
> > repetition
> > > throughout, especially the establishment of a syntax of triplet
> > rhythms ;)
> > >
> > > We can explore that issue on the 'aesthetic isses' thread, but
> > briefly, I
> > > would even go so far as to posit that *most* music, as distinct
> > from white
> > > noise, is a pure impossibility without some kind of bare
minimum
> of
> > > repetition of some parameteric factor (rhythm, pitch,
> > amplitude/accent)
> > >
> > > Best,
> > > Aaron Krister Johnson
> > > http://www.akjmusic.com
> > > http://www.dividebypi.com

Dan,

{you wrote...}
>I trust my intuition, but I'm suspicious of the hard-governed world

Having gotten to know you through your words and music, I bet you meant that "but" to actually be "and".

Best,
Jon