Friday, July 27, 2012

Impressions of Tachyon

As some may know, the musical wizard and I instrument maker Jordan Rudess has just added another musical offering (Bach reference intended) to his now impressive collection of I apps.

For a while now I have been collecting I apps for music. I find them hard to resist at such low prices. Tachyon is certainly well worth the $2 investment and also a lot of fun as Jordan's I instruments all are.

Tachyon offers the ability to cross fade some conventional and some unconventional music instruments by using the IPad as an XY pad with visual feedback. It also offers pitch bending with a few extra tools and the ability to sample different scales which is a trademark and plus of the wizards musical fair.

Now I am not a believer as some are that the next evolution in soft synth is going to be to the IPad. I don't think that is what it was designed for but rather an intermediary between an I Phone and laptop or so in the word of the fallen creator may he rest now in peace. I Pad musical apps to me are good musical fun but they also have a serious side not as full blown soft synths but as controllers. I believe that Camel Audio with Alchemy Mobile is stepping up to the plate here.

I was recently very impressed by Camel Audio's Alchemy Mobile with it's IPad based wireless control over Alchemy's performance section. I would personally love to see more apps like it.

But let's face it. Alchemy Mobile's interface and that of the new I offering of Lemur lack the visual feedback that Tachyon and other Jordan Rudess I musical apps have.

One complaint I have regarding Alchemy mobile is why they made the XY pads so small? All that had to be done is make them at least as large as the bottom half of the screen, put performance controls on top and then toggle between the two XY pads.

But what intrigues me about the Tachyon and for the matter the Rudess arsenal of apps is the visual and alternative scale aspects. While Jordan may not have had this in mind I think back to the two directions Moog and Buchla went. One favoring a traditional keyboard so that Moog would find it's way into the pop or at least progressive genres and Buchla never seeing a synthesizer in terms of more tried and true paradigms that harken back all the way to the harpsichord.

Another paradigm breaker with it's workbench is the Eigenharp. One is not limited to the 13 half step scale that heathens back all the way to Pythagorus.

Of course, one limitation remains like the smile of the famous cat of Carol's fame is that of the MIDI matrix that continues to dominate and limit vision and yes, I know that offends those whom MIDI has become a religion.

So why not make one axis in Alchemy a parameter and another pitch but flexible in a Rudess or Eigenharp sense. Or, to borrow from the Voyager (and I think there is a module out there that escapes memory) to use area of the finger. Unless of course some genius makes spongy Continuum/IPads or holographic. I can dream can't I?

And last but for the sinisthetics, to coin a word, the joining of things visual and sonic. Kudus to the Wizard Rudess for this. Well done! Iconic pixilated clapping hands. Not only for the pleasing visuals but the mind mapping like hierarchical menus that pop in and out of the I ether. Elegant indeed! Paradigm crushing! No longer cartesian grids for menus born of an early text age.

But Perhaps the most significant (winking icon in Camel Audio and soft synth makers direction), an I controller that provides visual feedback. Brilliant!

My point, however thinly veiled on the poetic (to much Poe does that to me) is that the Tachyon while fun, may not have the power of kitchen sink synth but it acts more like an instrument breaking away from the stayed paradigms of Greeks bearing scalar gifts and harpsichords of ivory fair now imprinted on I screens.

So, the question is do the soft synth makers have vision. Well do you? Perhaps some may read this and follow the white rabbit.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Dark Zebra - Pre Review

As of late, I have been pretty selective in buying synths or effects. One if my rules in buying a synth is to not overlap with what I have. Either in terms of sound or function I wan't it to provide new sonic territory.

I bought Zebra from almost it's inception but as I was moving synths from my desktop Zebra did not make it for a while. After a time I did manage to download it. Using the old license on a new computer could not have been easier and using a synth after an absence from it for some time was like rediscovering it.

Zebra covers a lot of ground both sonically and in terms of function. The GUI is minimal but the power is in the modular aspect of it's design that let's connections be made on a grid. It's not exactly a software version of a modular (U-He Ace covers that) but the modular aspect does lend itself to a whole lot of power for those who want to explore.

It also has multisegment envelopes which are lacking in many synths. This makes in perfect for soundscapes.

As for filters, that where I think the darker Zebra is going so shine. It's moving towards Zebra 3 and a an implementation of Diva like filters. Bottom line that means a very analogue sounding synth but with much more power and scope than standard VA soft synths.

Of course, Dark Zebra has a step sequencer and lest I forget a resonator. I'm partial to resonators. I find they add that most mysterious quality to sounds.

So, probably latter today I will get the darker Zebra and look forward to Zebra reborn. My review of what I find in Zebra with no lights to follow.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Overload

I just watched a DVD of Vincent Price telling Edgar Allan Poe stories last night. What shocked me is it held my attention more than most TV programs I see today. I have experienced the same in listening to Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. I even find myself wanted to get myself a rhubarb pie. I have also listened to old radio programs amazed at how engaging they are. The truth is that left to it's own devices the mind fills the empty visual space with images.

Sometimes, less is more. I know I may have covered this before in another blog but perhaps in the world of synthesis this also can be applied. A friend told me the other day that he was going to limit himself to using only a few presets from one synth so as to focus on being a musician and really learning to play them.

I love the concept of performance controllers in synths. What these do is separate sound design from performance. Most electronic musicians where these two hats but focussing on a limited set of controls allows the musician to emerge from a dizzying array of options.


Thursday, July 19, 2012

Fire Giver Notes - 7/19/12

Frankenstein Notes

MUSIC

Prelude - The Persistence of Time

Idea
Ticking clock
Steam engine
Cross fade into
S&H - Moog Voyager
Frequency Increases
Morphs into drone - Cluster Flux
Morphs into Blade or Razor drone - w electrical arcs


LETTERS FROM THE ARTIC OCEAN

http://jenmitlas.wordpress.com/ - An Arctic Passage
We find a common technique of the romantic period here called framing. We meet the captain of a ship, Robert Warren who is seeking a way to get from the Arctic Ocean to the North Pacific via the North Pole. Warren is aware of the challenges and warns his wife that if he fails he may return soon but perhaps not return at all. We also find Warren's letters at the end of the book after he has met both Victor and his monster.

2- The Lonely Journey
Warren is lonely on the ship and looking for companionship.
We find for the 1st time an allusion to "The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner" in 3 very Romantic ideas (seafaring, the mysterious, the quest for knowledge)

3 - A Letter to Home
Warren continues to express a heartfelt confidence that he will find his passage but not really backed up by knowledge which is a very romantic notion. He has the good fortune of passing a ship returning to England called "The Merchantman who will be able to get his letter to his sister before his return.

4 - Victor is Saved
Warren's ship 1st encounters a gigantic man (I.e. the monster, driving a dog sled) and then Victor trailing him on a block of ice. Warren is delighted to have someone to talk to. Here Victor begins as narrator in a sense and then fully in chapter 1


VICTOR'S STORY

1 - The Early Years
Victor tells us of the early years of his family, both hard times & good - the gift of Elizabeth - themes of hearth/home

2 - The Alchemists
Victor speaks of his interest in the alchemists Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus (not really an alchemist but more a natural scientist)
Victor witnesses a lightening storm that blows apart a tree
Idea for sound
A lightening strike morphing into a nuclear explosion, morphing into a vocal cluster (Symphony of Voices) morphing into ice effect or ice like sound)

MUSIC

Lightening Strikes 2

Orchestration
Reaktor Prism - SlowMotion
Kontakt
Cello -Solo
Novachord - 1939 - Pad - Unseen

Live Clips
3 clips - assigned to lowest notes on keyboard
Thunder
Tesla Coil
Nuclear Blast

MIDI

Buttons
Absynth
Live Reverb

Slider 1 - Volume Reaktor (Prism)
Slider 2 - Volume Kontakt (Cello and Hammond Novachord)
Slider 3 - Clip Volume
Slider 4 - Clip Transpose

Roland FC 300
Pedal 1 - Prism - Exciter Envelope B
Pedal 2 - Prism - Exciter Feedback


3 - Ingolatadt
Victor's mother Carolyn dies
Victor meets his teaches Krempe and Waldman
Waldmen encourages victor to learn every branch of natural science

4 - Grace Robber
Victor excels at Ingolstadt especially in chemistry but Victor would become reclusive seeking body parts in graveyards. Victor's withdrawal from the world gets worse. He let's letters go unanswered and his health is effected.
Shelley is intimating the romantic ideal that man must control technology not technology which controls man.

MUSIC

The Graveyard

Clips
Metal gate (of graveyard)
Human remains (grapefruit squish) + Live Grain Delay

Orchestration

Chromaphone
Bowed Gamelan (Live Instrument) - thru Absynth Resonator
Cylindrum (Kontakt)

MIDI

Slider 1 - Chromophone Volume
Slider 2 - Bowed Ugal Volume
Slider 3 - Cylindrum Volume
Slider 4 - Effects Volume
Slider 1 - Noise Frequency
Slider 2 - Mallet Color


5 - The Creation of the Monster
Henry Clerval - Romantic - Poet - Friend - Knight of the Round Table
Ingolstadt - The Iluminati - Science - The Enlightenment
The re-animation of a dead body - Galvanism - Ventalators
The monster is created. Victor is horrified and runs from his creation. He is found by Clerval who slowly brings him back to health.
The monster is created - need music to represent Victors horror
Perhaps sounds of footsteps running, heavy breathing, heartbeat, synthetic sound as the sound of Victors fears chasing him through the streets.
The dream of victors mother - worms from her head
Rhime of the ancient mariner quoted. Influential in the novel.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

Orchestration - Live Instrument rack

1. Blade - with Guitar Rig (Roland Space Echo) - Key mapped to lower register
2. Kontakt
String Ensemble (Factory)
Timpani (Factory) - On/off - Pedal 1
Contra Bassoon (Factory)
Bazantar (8Dio's sampled instrument made by Mark Deustch)
Flute (Factory)
3. Alchemy

Performance Controls
Blade Volume - Slider 1
Orchestra Volume - Slider 2
String Ensemble
Timpani
Contra Bassoon
Bazantar
Flute
BAlchemy Volume - Slider 3
Alchemy Mobile
Cutoff - Performance 3
Resonance - Performance 4


Second Thoughts

Clips
Lungs
Deep Breathing (Slot 1)
Hospital Ventilator (Slot 2)
Heart
Heartbeat

Orchestration
Blade (controlled by Live envelope follower)
Kontakt 4 - Strings
Cello (ensemble)
Viola (solo)
ElectraX

MIDI
Slider 1 - Blade Volume
Slider 2 - Strings volume
Slider 3 - ElectraX volume


6 - Visit with an Old Friend
Letters from home, family matters, Victor's recovery, language studies

7 - The Death of William
William (youngest brother) is strangled by the monster
Victor glimpses the monster in flashes of lightening
Victor suspects the monster is guilty but does not want to reveal it.

8 - The Trial and Hanging of Justine
Justine is accused of William's murder (the monster places a locket in her pocket)
Justine is hung unjustly for the crimes of Victor's monster. Victor looks on helplessly knowing the true guilty party.

9 - A Time for Healing
Victor's 2nd depression - Refuge at Lake Geneva - Suicide considered
The Chamounix valley - depression a theme of Romantic writers - Why?
The healing powers of nature - Mont Blanc - Percy Shelly
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist256/alps/mont_blanc.htm

10 - The Monster Confronts His Maker
Connection with Milton's "Paradise Lost" - name for the song of Frankenstein meeting his monster? - the creature as Victor's Adam before and after the fall - banished from paradise
The romantic view that people are born good but society corrupts them - much like the monster
The glaciers - snow, ice, rock - connection to the scene at the north pole
The storm signals the monitors approach - weather as signal

11 - The Monster and The De Lacey Family
the monster relates his early life experiences to victor - romantic vision of home and hearth - the monster does not dare approach.

12 - The Monster Learns to Speak
The monster learns French from the De Lacey family, he begins to gather wood from them, he sees his reflection

13 - Reflection on Good and Evil
A Turkish woman comes to the cottage and learns French, the monster learns more from this, Shelley goes more into the good and evil nature of man, language is seen as good, themes of Paradise Lost - is Shelley here wrestling with issues of science as good or evil?

14 - De Lacey family history
Felix, Safie's father is defended by the De Lacey family but in their battle to free her father from the Gallows their wealth is confiscated. The family was well to do but is brought to ruin.

15 - The Monster Learns to Read
Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Roman's", Milton's "Paradise Lost", Goethe's "Sorrows of Werter", and Victor's notes found in his jacket
The monster questions his place in the world, he sees his reflection
The monster decides that in spite of his looks the family might accept him. He waits till only the blind father remains who warmly welcomes him but on seeing him, Felix beats him severely and the monster leaves without any resistance.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

16 - The Monster Requests a Companion
As the monster tells his story, he catches up with Victor's in time
The De Lacey family leaves the cottage and it's burned down by the monster.
William (Victors brother) is murdered by the monster when he realizes who it is
The locket is placed in Justine's pocket sealing her fate
The monster requests that Victor create a mate for him

17 - The Ultimatum
The monster gives victor an ultimatum. Either make him a mate or he will destroy all that is good in Victor's life and make his heart desolate. In exchange, the monster tells him he will leave Europe for the wilderness of South America.
Victor has many doubts and goes into another depression.

18 - A Trip Down The Rhine and Return to Geneva
Victor returns to Geneva to fulfill his promise and make a mate for his monster
Victor recovers and tells his father he want's to catch up on science
Victor tells his father he will marry Elizabeth on his return and travel through Europe and eventually to London. He joins his friend Clerval.
They travel the Rhine - much Romantic imagery here

19 - A New Creation
Victor leaves Clerval who continues his tour of the Rhine
Victor reads the latest philosophers and wrestles with the implications of the plans for a new creation.
He goes to the Ornkey Islands so he can be isolates - his mental condition deteriorates

20 - The Refusal
Victor refuses to go any further fearing that his new creation might be a threat to the world. He destroys the new creation and the monster tells him he will be with him on his wedding night.
The monster disappears into the night.
Victor removes everything from the laboratory and cleans the remains planning to return to Clerval for a trip to India.
On his return from the Island Victor finds he is wanted for murder and is taken into custody.

21 - Clerval is Murdered and Victor Arested
The sight of his friends dead body causes Victor to become extremely I'll for 2 months. A nurse is provided who nurses him back to health in the prison.
His legal council is able to prove his innocence and presence on the island lab at the time of Clerval's murder.
Alphonse takes Victor home but he remains very ill. A brief visit is made to Paris.

22 - Victor marries Elizabeth
They go on their honeymoon and Victor plans on telling Elizabeth about the monster. He fears the threat of the monster expecting the monster to attack.

23 - The Death of Elizabeth
There is a storm (gothic symbol that something will happen). Victor wanders the halls looking for signs of the monster who finds his way to Elizabeth's room and kills her. Victor reaches her and the monster and even gets a shot off but the monster escapes unharmed.
Victor's father, Alphonse, overcome by shock over Elizabeth's death, dies
Victor goes to the local magistrate and tells him the story of his monster from it's creation and that it was the monster who killed his wife.
A few gothic elements here. 1st, there is communication of sorts between Victor and his creature who seems to always know where he is.
Victor vows to spend whatever time it takes to destroy the monster.

24 - The Final Chase
Victor is goaded by the monster's laugh as he visits the graves of his family. The monster's knowledge that Victor would be there is another gothic element. He pursues the monster and chases him out of Geneva and after boarding a ship on the Black Sea and then to Russia and the Arctic Circle
The monster finds a dog sled and Victor continues to pursue but the ice begins to crack.
The two are separated on two different pieces of ice which is where the letters at the beginning of the novel start. The monster want Victor to chase him. He keeps leaving notes. Without them Victor would not be able to pursue him. The arctic is a gothic element.

THE FINAL LETTERS
The end of the book is told from the perspective of Walton's letters. Victor also shows him letters of Felix and Safie to lend credence to his cautionary tale. The two enjoy much time together talking about literature and other things.
Victor is on the verge of death but Walton is also on his own quest to find a Northwest passage and that is failing.
Victor's health gets even worse and now the crew are almost ready to mutiny. Walton agrees to turn the ship around and return to England. Despite his condition, victor wants to continue to pursue the monster.
Victor dies but the monster makes his way on board looking for Victor. He tells Walton his side of the story but then leaves the ship continuing his now fruitless journey and disappears into the mist.
The monster in speaking to Walton alludes to Paradise lost and compares himself to a fallen angel.

MUSIC

Into The Mist

Orchestration
Ableton Operator (with Absynth 5 Aetherizer and Guitar Rig Effects)
Guitar Rig (Roland Space Echo, EH Flange, EH phaser and reflector using "Sprit Canyon Audio" impulse response

Moog Voyager - Soundscape shifter
Effects - Guitar Rig - Psychedelic Delay - Reflector
Impulse Response - Spirit Canyon Audio

MIDI
Slider 1 - Oscillator C (Frequency)
Slider 2 - Oscillator C (Level)
Slider 3 - Pitch Envelope (Level)
Slider 4 - Spread
Slider 5 - Tape Feedback
Slider 6 - Tape Speed

FC 300
Pedal 3 - Voyager Filter Cutoff
Pedal 4 - Voyager - OSC 3 - Waveform


The Ascent

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Performance Controls

I wanted to get off a quick blog today before I go to work. Lately, I have tried to focus on performance controls. That is, a collection of synth parameters that I can reasonably use in performance. This focuses my attention on the music rather than the technology. Just a quick thought. There will be more in future blogs.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Alchemy Mobile - The "Wave" of the Future

I guess we know we are not in Kansas any more when musical controller data travel over a wireless connection. Clearly the progression has gone from DIN to USB to nothing but air.

When I look at Alchemy Mobile I can see a lot of Native Instruments Kore. I always liked the idea of Kore but thought the dedicated controller was overkill. But building a direct wireless connection between a mirror image performance controller on a mobile device and the computer based VST is brilliant. I can only hope that other synth makers follow suit.

The "Performance" aspect of Alchemy Mobile is critical. One of the reasons I own a Moog Voyager is that in many ways it was one of the first performance controller. In interviews with Bob Moog he expressed how he saw the Mini Moog's knobs as part of the performance aspects of the instrument. This sounds a lot like a performance controller to me.

I think there has been a progression in synths (hard and soft) towards greater complexity at least in workstations. There is a bit of reversal of this with the small mini-synths but most general and multi purpose synths are complex. This sometimes means layered menus that make learning curves steeper and separate controls from the performance aspects of the synth.

There has been an effort in the soft synth market to simplify with more cleaver design (such as Absynth and Alchemy) but also, as is the case with these two synths, by providing performance controls incl. XY controls in both synths.

With the new Alchemy Mobile this is extended via a wireless connection to a mobile device. Suffice it to say that using an IPad as an XY controller is easier than the small pad on my MacBook pro and has mirror graphics to boot.

What I find interesting about this evolution and paradigm shift (and it is) is that performance and sound design are now separated. With so many parameters the thought of changing them during a performance is daunting. With Alchemy Mobile, part of programming is to actually create a performance instrument.

I personally love this paradigm. It fits with how I now compose music. I am hoping that more synth will have mobile /performance versions of their synths and I very much look forward to this paradigm shift.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Fire Giver Notes 7/9/12

Frankenstein Notes

MUSIC

Prelude - The Persistence of Time



LETTERS FROM THE ARTIC OCEAN

http://jenmitlas.wordpress.com/ - An Arctic Passage
We find a common technique of the romantic period here called framing. We meet the captain of a ship, Robert Warren who is seeking a way to get from the Arctic Ocean to the North Pacific via the North Pole. Warren is aware of the challenges and warns his wife that if he fails he may return soon but perhaps not return at all. We also find Warren's letters at the end of the book after he has met both Victor and his monster.

2- The Lonely Journey
Warren is lonely on the ship and looking for companionship.
We find for the 1st time an allusion to "The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner" in 3 very Romantic ideas (seafaring, the mysterious, the quest for knowledge)

3 - A Letter to Home
Warren continues to express a heartfelt confidence that he will find his passage but not really backed up by knowledge which is a very romantic notion. He has the good fortune of passing a ship returning to England called "The Merchantman who will be able to get his letter to his sister before his return.

4 - Victor is Saved
Warren's ship 1st encounters a gigantic man (I.e. the monster, driving a dog sled) and then Victor trailing him on a block of ice. Warren is delighted to have someone to talk to. Here Victor begins as narrator in a sense and then fully in chapter 1


VICTOR'S STORY

1 - The Early Years
Victor tells us of the early years of his family, both hard times & good - the gift of Elizabeth - themes of hearth/home

2 - The Alchemists
Victor speaks of his interest in the alchemists Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus (not really an alchemist but more a natural scientist)
Victor witnesses a lightening storm that blows apart a tree
Idea for sound
A lightening strike morphing into a nuclear explosion, morphing into a vocal cluster (Symphony of Voices) morphing into ice effect or ice like sound)

MUSIC

Lightening Strikes 2

Reaktor Prism - SlowMotion
Kontakt
Cello -Solo
Novachord - 1939 - Pad - Unseen

3 clips - assigned to lowest notes on keyboard
Thunder
Tesla Coil
Nuclear Blast

Buttons
Absynth
Live Reverb

Slider 1 - Volume Reaktor (Prism)
Slider 2 - Volume Kontakt (Cello and Novachord
Slider 3 - Clip Volume
Slider 4 - Clip Transpose
Slider 5 - Prism - Feedback
Slider 6 - Prism


3 - Ingolatadt
Victor's mother Carolyn dies
Victor meets his teaches Krempe and Waldman
Waldmen encourages victor to learn every branch of natural science

4 - Grace Robber
Victor excels at Ingolstadt especially in chemistry but Victor would become reclusive seeking body parts in graveyards. Victor's withdrawal from the world gets worse. He let's letters go unanswered and his health is effected.
Shelley is intimating the romantic ideal that man must control technology not technology which controls man.

MUSIC

The Graveyard

Clips
Metal gate (of graveyard)
Human remains (grapefruit squish) + Live Grain Delay

Orchestration

Chromaphone
Bowed Gamelan (Live Instrument) - thru Absynth Resonator
Cylindrum (Kontakt)

MIDI

Slider 1 - Chromophone Volume
Slider 2 - Bowed Ugal Volume
Slider 3 - Cylindrum Volume
Slider 4 - Effects Volume
Slider 1 - Noise Frequency
Slider 2 - Mallet Color


5 - The Creation of the Monster
Henry Clerval - Romantic - Poet - Friend - Knight of the Round Table
Ingolstadt - The Iluminati - Science - The Enlightenment
The re-animation of a dead body - Galvanism - Ventalators
The monster is created. Victor is horrified and runs from his creation. He is found by Clerval who slowly brings him back to health.
The monster is created - need music to represent Victors horror
Perhaps sounds of footsteps running, heavy breathing, heartbeat, synthetic sound as the sound of Victors fears chasing him through the streets.
The dream of victors mother - worms from her head
Rhime of the ancient mariner quoted. Influential in the novel.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

Orchestration - Live Instrument rack

1. Blade - with Guitar Rig (Roland Space Echo) - Key mapped to lower register
2. Kontakt
String Ensemble (Factory)
Timpani (Factory)
Contra Bassoon (Factory)
Bazantar (8Dio's sampled instrument made by Mark Deustch)
Flute (Factory)
3. Alchemy

Performance Controls
Blade Volume
Orchestra Volume
Alchemy Volume
Choir (Alchemy morph setting)
Alchemy Cutoff
Alchemy Resonance


Second Thoughts

Clips
Lungs
Deep Breathing (Slot 1)
Hospital Ventilator (Slot 2)
Heart
Heartbeat

Orchestration
Blade (controlled by Live envelope follower)
Kontakt 4 - Strings
Cello (ensemble)
Viola (solo)
ElectraX

MIDI
Slider 1 - Blade Volume
Slider 2 - Strings volume
Slider 3 - ElectraX volume



6 - Visit with an Old Friend
Letters from home, family matters, Victor's recovery, language studies

7 - The Death of William
William (youngest brother) is strangled by the monster
Victor glimpses the monster in flashes of lightening
Victor suspects the monster is guilty but does not want to reveal it.

8 - The Trial and Hanging of Justine
Justine is accused of William's murder (the monster places a locket in her pocket)
Justine is hung unjustly for the crimes of Victor's monster. Victor looks on helplessly knowing the true guilty party.

9 - A Time for Healing
Victor's 2nd depression - Refuge at Lake Geneva - Suicide considered
The Chamounix valley - depression a theme of Romantic writers - Why?
The healing powers of nature - Mont Blanc - Percy Shelly
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist256/alps/mont_blanc.htm

10 - The Monster Confronts His Maker
Connection with Milton's "Paradise Lost" - name for the song of Frankenstein meeting his monster? - the creature as Victor's Adam before and after the fall - banished from paradise
The romantic view that people are born good but society corrupts them - much like the monster
The glaciers - snow, ice, rock - connection to the scene at the north pole
The storm signals the monitors approach - weather as signal

11 - The Monster and The De Lacey Family
the monster relates his early life experiences to victor - romantic vision of home and hearth - the monster does not dare approach.

12 - The Monster Learns to Speak
The monster learns French from the De Lacey family, he begins to gather wood from them, he sees his reflection

13 - Reflection on Good and Evil
A Turkish woman comes to the cottage and learns French, the monster learns more from this, Shelley goes more into the good and evil nature of man, language is seen as good, themes of Paradise Lost - is Shelley here wrestling with issues of science as good or evil?

14 - De Lacey family history
Felix, Safie's father is defended by the De Lacey family but in their battle to free her father from the Gallows their wealth is confiscated. The family was well to do but is brought to ruin.

15 - The Monster Learns to Read
Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Roman's", Milton's "Paradise Lost", Goethe's "Sorrows of Werter", and Victor's notes found in his jacket
The monster questions his place in the world, he sees his reflection
The monster decides that in spite of his looks the family might accept him. He waits till only the blind father remains who warmly welcomes him but on seeing him, Felix beats him severely and the monster leaves without any resistance.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

16 - The Monster Requests a Companion
As the monster tells his story, he catches up with Victor's in time
The De Lacey family leaves the cottage and it's burned down by the monster.
William (Victors brother) is murdered by the monster when he realizes who it is
The locket is placed in Justine's pocket sealing her fate
The monster requests that Victor create a mate for him

17 - The Ultimatum
The monster gives victor an ultimatum. Either make him a mate or he will destroy all that is good in Victor's life and make his heart desolate. In exchange, the monster tells him he will leave Europe for the wilderness of South America.
Victor has many doubts and goes into another depression.

18 - A Trip Down The Rhine and Return to Geneva
Victor returns to Geneva to fulfill his promise and make a mate for his monster
Victor recovers and tells his father he want's to catch up on science
Victor tells his father he will marry Elizabeth on his return and travel through Europe and eventually to London. He joins his friend Clerval.
They travel the Rhine - much Romantic imagery here

19 - A New Creation
Victor leaves Clerval who continues his tour of the Rhine
Victor reads the latest philosophers and wrestles with the implications of the plans for a new creation.
He goes to the Ornkey Islands so he can be isolates - his mental condition deteriorates

20 - The Refusal
Victor refuses to go any further fearing that his new creation might be a threat to the world. He destroys the new creation and the monster tells him he will be with him on his wedding night.
The monster disappears into the night.
Victor removes everything from the laboratory and cleans the remains planning to return to Clerval for a trip to India.
On his return from the Island Victor finds he is wanted for murder and is taken into custody.

21 - Clerval is Murdered and Victor Arested
The sight of his friends dead body causes Victor to become extremely I'll for 2 months. A nurse is provided who nurses him back to health in the prison.
His legal council is able to prove his innocence and presence on the island lab at the time of Clerval's murder.
Alphonse takes Victor home but he remains very ill. A brief visit is made to Paris.

22 - Victor marries Elizabeth
They go on their honeymoon and Victor plans on telling Elizabeth about the monster. He fears the threat of the monster expecting the monster to attack.

23 - The Death of Elizabeth
There is a storm (gothic symbol that something will happen). Victor wanders the halls looking for signs of the monster who finds his way to Elizabeth's room and kills her. Victor reaches her and the monster and even gets a shot off but the monster escapes unharmed.
Victor's father, Alphonse, overcome by shock over Elizabeth's death, dies
Victor goes to the local magistrate and tells him the story of his monster from it's creation and that it was the monster who killed his wife.
A few gothic elements here. 1st, there is communication of sorts between Victor and his creature who seems to always know where he is.
Victor vows to spend whatever time it takes to destroy the monster.

24 - The Final Chase
Victor is goaded by the monster's laugh as he visits the graves of his family. The monster's knowledge that Victor would be there is another gothic element. He pursues the monster and chases him out of Geneva and after boarding a ship on the Black Sea and then to Russia and the Arctic Circle
The monster finds a dog sled and Victor continues to pursue but the ice begins to crack.
The two are separated on two different pieces of ice which is where the letters at the beginning of the novel start. The monster want Victor to chase him. He keeps leaving notes. Without them Victor would not be able to pursue him. The arctic is a gothic element.

THE FINAL LETTERS
The end of the book is told from the perspective of Walton's letters. Victor also shows him letters of Felix and Safie to lend credence to his cautionary tale. The two enjoy much time together talking about literature and other things.
Victor is on the verge of death but Walton is also on his own quest to find a Northwest passage and that is failing.
Victor's health gets even worse and now the crew are almost ready to mutiny. Walton agrees to turn the ship around and return to England. Despite his condition, victor wants to continue to pursue the monster.
Victor dies but the monster makes his way on board looking for Victor. He tells Walton his side of the story but then leaves the ship continuing his now fruitless journey and disappears into the mist.
The monster in speaking to Walton alludes to Paradise lost and compares himself to a fallen angel.

MUSIC

Into The Mist

Orchestration
Ableton Operator (with Absynth 5 Aetherizer and Guitar Rig Effects)
Guitar Rig (Roland Space Echo, EH Flange, EH phaser and reflector using "Sprit Canyon Audio" impulse response

MIDI
Slider 1 - Oscillator C (Frequency)
Slider 2 - Oscillator C (Level)
Slider 3 - Pitch Envelope (Level)
Slider 4 - Spread
Slider 5 - Tape Feedback
Slider 6 - Tape Speed


The Ascent

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Fire Giver Notes

Frankenstein Notes

MUSIC

Prelude



LETTERS FROM THE ARTIC OCEAN

http://jenmitlas.wordpress.com/ - An Arctic Passage
We find a common technique of the romantic period here called framing. We meet the captain of a ship, Robert Warren who is seeking a way to get from the Arctic Ocean to the North Pacific via the North Pole. Warren is aware of the challenges and warns his wife that if he fails he may return soon but perhaps not return at all. We also find Warren's letters at the end of the book after he has met both Victor and his monster.

2- The Lonely Journey
Warren is lonely on the ship and looking for companionship.
We find for the 1st time an allusion to "The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner" in 3 very Romantic ideas (seafaring, the mysterious, the quest for knowledge)

3 - A Letter to Home
Warren continues to express a heartfelt confidence that he will find his passage but not really backed up by knowledge which is a very romantic notion. He has the good fortune of passing a ship returning to England called "The Merchantman who will be able to get his letter to his sister before his return.

4 - Victor is Saved
Warren's ship 1st encounters a gigantic man (I.e. the monster, driving a dog sled) and then Victor trailing him on a block of ice. Warren is delighted to have someone to talk to. Here Victor begins as narrator in a sense and then fully in chapter 1


VICTOR'S STORY

1 - The Early Years
Victor tells us of the early years of his family, both hard times & good - the gift of Elizabeth - themes of hearth/home

2 - The Alchemists
Victor speaks of his interest in the alchemists Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus (not really an alchemist but more a natural scientist)
Victor witnesses a lightening storm that blows apart a tree
Idea for sound
A lightening strike morphing into a nuclear explosion, morphing into a vocal cluster (Symphony of Voices) morphing into ice effect or ice like sound)

MUSIC

Lightening Strike 2

Reaktor Prism - SlowMotion
Kontakt
Cello -Solo
Novachord - 1939 - Pad - Unseen

3 clips - assigned to lowest notes on keyboard
Thunder
Tesla Coil
Nuclear Blast

Buttons
Absynth
Live Reverb

Slider 1 - Volume Reaktor (Prism)
Slider 2 - Volume Kontakt (Cello and Novachord
Slider 3 - Clip Volume
Slider 4 - Clip Transpose
Slider 5 - Prism - Feedback
Slider 6 - Prism


3 - Ingolatadt
Victor's mother Carolyn dies
Victor meets his teaches Krempe and Waldman
Waldmen encourages victor to learn every branch of natural science

4 - Grace Robber
Victor excels at Ingolstadt especially in chemistry but Victor would become reclusive seeking body parts in graveyards. Victor's withdrawal from the world gets worse. He let's letters go unanswered and his health is effected.
Shelley is intimating the romantic ideal that man must control technology not technology which controls man.

MUSIC

The Graveyard

Clips
Metal gate (of graveyard)
Human remains (grapefruit squish)

Orchestration

Chromaphone
Bowed Gamelan
Cylindrum (Kontakt)


5 - The Creation of the Monster
Henry Clerval - Romantic - Poet - Friend - Knight of the Round Table
Ingolstadt - The Iluminati - Science - The Enlightenment
The re-animation of a dead body - Galvanism - Ventalators
The monster is created. Victor is horrified and runs from his creation. He is found by Clerval who slowly brings him back to health.
The monster is created - need music to represent Victors horror
Perhaps sounds of footsteps running, heavy breathing, heartbeat, synthetic sound as the sound of Victors fears chasing him through the streets.
The dream of victors mother - worms from her head
Rhime of the ancient mariner quoted. Influential in the novel.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost
Second Thoughts

Clips
Lungs
Deep Breathing (Slot 1)
Hospital Ventilator (Slot 2)
Heart
Heartbeat

Orchestration
Blade (controlled by Live envelope follower)
Kontakt 4 - Strings
Cello (ensemble)
Viola (solo)
ElectraX

MIDI
Slider 1 - Blade Volume
Slider 2 - Strings volume
Slider 3 - ElectraX volume



6 - Visit with an Old Friend
Letters from home, family matters, Victor's recovery, language studies

7 - The Death of William
William (youngest brother) is strangled by the monster
Victor glimpses the monster in flashes of lightening
Victor suspects the monster is guilty but does not want to reveal it.

8 - The Trial and Hanging of Justine
Justine is accused of William's murder (the monster places a locket in her pocket)
Justine is hung unjustly for the crimes of Victor's monster. Victor looks on helplessly knowing the true guilty party.

9 - A Time for Healing
Victor's 2nd depression - Refuge at Lake Geneva - Suicide considered
The Chamounix valley - depression a theme of Romantic writers - Why?
The healing powers of nature - Mont Blanc - Percy Shelly
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist256/alps/mont_blanc.htm

10 - The Monster Confronts His Maker
Connection with Milton's "Paradise Lost" - name for the song of Frankenstein meeting his monster? - the creature as Victor's Adam before and after the fall - banished from paradise
The romantic view that people are born good but society corrupts them - much like the monster
The glaciers - snow, ice, rock - connection to the scene at the north pole
The storm signals the monitors approach - weather as signal

11 - The Monster and The De Lacey Family
the monster relates his early life experiences to victor - romantic vision of home and hearth - the monster does not dare approach.

12 - The Monster Learns to Speak
The monster learns French from the De Lacey family, he begins to gather wood from them, he sees his reflection

13 - Reflection on Good and Evil
A Turkish woman comes to the cottage and learns French, the monster learns more from this, Shelley goes more into the good and evil nature of man, language is seen as good, themes of Paradise Lost - is Shelley here wrestling with issues of science as good or evil?

14 - De Lacey family history
Felix, Safie's father is defended by the De Lacey family but in their battle to free her father from the Gallows their wealth is confiscated. The family was well to do but is brought to ruin.

15 - The Monster Learns to Read
Plutarch's "Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Roman's", Milton's "Paradise Lost", Goethe's "Sorrows of Werter", and Victor's notes found in his jacket
The monster questions his place in the world, he sees his reflection
The monster decides that in spite of his looks the family might accept him. He waits till only the blind father remains who warmly welcomes him but on seeing him, Felix beats him severely and the monster leaves without any resistance.

MUSIC

Paradise Lost

16 - The Monster Requests a Companion
As the monster tells his story, he catches up with Victor's in time
The De Lacey family leaves the cottage and it's burned down by the monster.
William (Victors brother) is murdered by the monster when he realizes who it is
The locket is placed in Justine's pocket sealing her fate
The monster requests that Victor create a mate for him

17 - The Ultimatum
The monster gives victor an ultimatum. Either make him a mate or he will destroy all that is good in Victor's life and make his heart desolate. In exchange, the monster tells him he will leave Europe for the wilderness of South America.
Victor has many doubts and goes into another depression.

18 - A Trip Down The Rhine and Return to Geneva
Victor returns to Geneva to fulfill his promise and make a mate for his monster
Victor recovers and tells his father he want's to catch up on science
Victor tells his father he will marry Elizabeth on his return and travel through Europe and eventually to London. He joins his friend Clerval.
They travel the Rhine - much Romantic imagery here

19 - A New Creation
Victor leaves Clerval who continues his tour of the Rhine
Victor reads the latest philosophers and wrestles with the implications of the plans for a new creation.
He goes to the Ornkey Islands so he can be isolates - his mental condition deteriorates

20 - The Refusal
Victor refuses to go any further fearing that his new creation might be a threat to the world. He destroys the new creation and the monster tells him he will be with him on his wedding night.
The monster disappears into the night.
Victor removes everything from the laboratory and cleans the remains planning to return to Clerval for a trip to India.
On his return from the Island Victor finds he is wanted for murder and is taken into custody.

21 - Clerval is Murdered and Victor Arested
The sight of his friends dead body causes Victor to become extremely I'll for 2 months. A nurse is provided who nurses him back to health in the prison.
His legal council is able to prove his innocence and presence on the island lab at the time of Clerval's murder.
Alphonse takes Victor home but he remains very ill. A brief visit is made to Paris.

22 - Victor marries Elizabeth
They go on their honeymoon and Victor plans on telling Elizabeth about the monster. He fears the threat of the monster expecting the monster to attack.

23 - The Death of Elizabeth
There is a storm (gothic symbol that something will happen). Victor wanders the halls looking for signs of the monster who finds his way to Elizabeth's room and kills her. Victor reaches her and the monster and even gets a shot off but the monster escapes unharmed.
Victor's father, Alphonse, overcome by shock over Elizabeth's death, dies
Victor goes to the local magistrate and tells him the story of his monster from it's creation and that it was the monster who killed his wife.
A few gothic elements here. 1st, there is communication of sorts between Victor and his creature who seems to always know where he is.
Victor vows to spend whatever time it takes to destroy the monster.

24 - The Final Chase
Victor is goaded by the monster's laugh as he visits the graves of his family. The monster's knowledge that Victor would be there is another gothic element. He pursues the monster and chases him out of Geneva and after boarding a ship on the Black Sea and then to Russia and the Arctic Circle
The monster finds a dog sled and Victor continues to pursue but the ice begins to crack.
The two are separated on two different pieces of ice which is where the letters at the beginning of the novel start. The monster want Victor to chase him. He keeps leaving notes. Without them Victor would not be able to pursue him. The arctic is a gothic element.

THE FINAL LETTERS
The end of the book is told from the perspective of Walton's letters. Victor also shows him letters of Felix and Safie to lend credence to his cautionary tale. The two enjoy much time together talking about literature and other things.
Victor is on the verge of death but Walton is also on his own quest to find a Northwest passage and that is failing.
Victor's health gets even worse and now the crew are almost ready to mutiny. Walton agrees to turn the ship around and return to England. Despite his condition, victor wants to continue to pursue the monster.
Victor dies but the monster makes his way on board looking for Victor. He tells Walton his side of the story but then leaves the ship continuing his now fruitless journey and disappears into the mist.
The monster in speaking to Walton alludes to Paradise lost and compares himself to a fallen angel.

MUSIC

Into The Mist
The Ascent

Monday, July 2, 2012

The Persistence of Memory

In 1931, Salvador Dali finished a painting titled "The Persistence of Memory" which featured a dream like landscape of clocks hanging from trees. What strikes me about this painting and why I have always liked it is that we often see time as something rigid and mechanical from the pendulum clock owing it's regularity to the laws of motion and gravity to the atomic clock, the nearly perfect updated version owing it's regularity to laws of quantum mechanics.

So to our music has changed with the advent of computers. Madonna introduced the dance crowd to the computer controlled artificial orchestra of drum machines and perfectly syncopated bass lines.

It was not so different in the Baroque period with the Basso Continuo or even the rhythmic motion of Beethoven.

I however prefer a less rigid notion if time. It seems that the tail wages the dog with computers. We live life at times on a mechanized grid of clocks and rigid lines. Gothic architecture is replaced by functional cartesian boxes complete with all but grid lines like a Star Trek holodeck.

And so, as a prelude to "Fire Giver", my latest album, I am looking to make the musical version of the Persistence of Memory to remove the grid lines and suggest a more fluid sense if musical motion. I welcome any ideas from readers.