Am trying to better understand wavetable synthesis, granular synthesis, sampling and the relationship of these three.
The musical possibilities of these overlapping techniques can be heard in this Doepfer A-112 Demo on soundcloud. Some beguiling sounds coming out of this voltage-controlled lo-fi hardware sampler.
Trying to work with a wavetable that is literally a graph of data inside the module that you can't actually see but can only know the properties of (e.g, which voltages trigger which compartment within a table to produce sound) seems like a recipe for frustration. Yet having the data embedded in hardware adds an undeniable presence and character to the sound.
Contrast an instrument such as Reaktor's Grainstates, explained by Jim Aikin. Here the mechanics of the sound--where the grains are coming from inside a sample--are revealed with perfect graphic clarity. Yet the instrument is somewhat dry; it's possible to make fascinating atonal textures with it but next-to-impossible to do anything musical (just from experimenting with one a little--will keep trying).
October 2011
space cadet II
"Ryder, Ryder, you're needed back at dump HQ, over."
This painting and Space Cadet were loosely inspired by Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires, one of the most exquisitely art-directed films ever made. Perfectly framed shots combine high opera poses with the clarity of Steranko panels. The camera makes effortless, angular glides past elegant instrument banks and down the vaults and corridors of Bava's soundstage spaceship. The leather S&M catsuits with extravagant wing collars and asymmetrical zippers worn by the male model spacemen and zaftig spacewomen occupy a dimension beyond pulp. As ludicrous as the dialogue gets you can't take your eyes off those costumes.
crash chair flip
originally a GIF posted to dump.fm of a chair for auto crash test dummies.
The chair appears to launch the dummy and then recoils.
All the frames with the dummy were removed, then the keyframe right before the recoil was removed, leaving a fading mass of unidentified machinery. The GIF was then flipped and paired with the original to make the arrangement above.
change from within
Middle Eastern affairs blogger Juan Cole has a litany of complaints against Facebook but still feels he needs to be part of it. He tells a commenter:
I don’t think the right response is to refuse to take advantage of something that connects 600 million people. It is to pressure corporations when they do the wrong thing.
As for "taking advantage" of Facebook, there has been no noticeable change in Prof. Cole's blogging pre- and post-joining. The 600 million figure (wasn't it 500 million a month or two ago?) comes straight from the company's PR department.
