Touch is a piece for found objects, computer, and a synthesizer. The sound of various ways of touching is amplified and enhanced with a custom music program. This recording is a submission for NPR Tiny Desk Contest.
Touch is based on two of my old pieces: Toccata (2009) and 100 Strange Sounds 83 (2014). The title of the piece comes from a piece by Morton Subotnick, who is a big influence of my music.
DistMod is an audiovisual work for an original digital synthesizer and 18 knobs. The synthesizer was created in SuperCollider by manipulating the waveform shape of the frequency modulator. The synthesizer also has sample-and-hold feature so that the user can smoothly change from a glissando to arpeggio. The piece was written as a demonstration of my electronic music composition class project. The project is called One Sound, and the students are asked to define and create a “single” sound, gesture, or idea.
The patch for DistMod ( www.joowonpark.net/distmod ) can be downloaded at the following link: https://app.box.com/s/uo7z4d0zqpfmrsu5xm1byu9vkyd6ox8w
Instructions:
DistMod is a second synthesizer of the -Mod series. The first one, BiQMod can be found at www.joowonpark.net/biqmod
I’ll be teaching a course in algorithmic composition in Fall 2014. To prepare for this course and other projects, I decided to reread books on the subject during the summer. The first book I am revisiting is Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture by Reas, McWilliams, and LUST.
I learned about the aesthetics of generative and code-based art from this book. I enjoyed applying the ideas and concepts I have learned to my music. The book taught me how to think about composition in numbers and codes.
I am thinking about requiring students to read at least the first chapter of the book. The summary of the chapter includes some great sentences:
“Learning to program and to engage the computer more directly with code opens the possibility of not only creating tools, but also systems, environments, and entirely new modes of expression. It is here that the computer ceases to be a tool and instead becomes a medium.” (p25)
The chapter also mentions that using a computer in art reduces the production time, so the artists can use the extra time and energy to explore the procedure and structure. Coding in art also enables a person to customize and “hack” the tool. These ideas are easily applied to computer music.
I also like the chapter because it gives succinct definitions on algorithm and code. Algorithm is a specific instruction to do a task (p13). Code is an algorithm written in a programming language (p15). Thus, an algorithmic composition is a process of making music with specific instructions written for computer.
Here’s a simple example of such algorithmic compositions. Introvert has algorithmically generated computer accompaniment for live melodica player. The computer part generates same chord progression, but the timing, volume, and octave position of each notes are chosen by the computer. This makes the computer part somewhat unpredictable, and makes the part unique for each performance.