Accelerationist artists are passive aggressive rats. #ॐ
To jam a home pregnancy test into random stuff until it shows positive.
20170719
My Bastl microGranny 2.5 kit arrived. The assembly looks very challenging.
I succeeded in installing Pure Data (Pd) on my RasPi 3 and I’ve been playing with Automatonism 1.1. It works great and even got my Novation Circuit to work with it! Automatonism is a virtual modular audio system. It’s the successor of XODULAR (both systems have been written by Johan Eriksson). Automatonism is a great way to learn both Pd and audio synthesis.
While fiddling with Pd I figured our that I can use it to write a midi CC modulator/translator which will change the CCs Novation Circuit sends over midi into CCs which the microGranny understands. The Circuit synths CC values can be automated using the inbuilt sequencer. The combination should make for very interesting results. Much like some Elektron sequencers with parameter locks. I guess I could run a Raspberry Pi Nano which only works as a Pd midi CC modulator/translator: ctlin (isolate CC) -> values -> ctlout (to desired CC). Or something.
I’ll try to learn Pd by making a midi clock input for Automatonism. Also discovered the Piz MIDI plugin collection which seems very useful. The plugins have been updated earlier this year. By the looks of it midiForceToKey can be used to make microtonal stuff.
20170715
The Taste of Rendering
There are movies and there is video art. I’ve waisted years figuring out when a piece qualifies as video art and when it’s deemed a movie. The distinction doesn’t come from the type of camera the artist uses or the size of her/his crew. Video art can be made in teams and movies can be shot with mobile phones.
I think the difference comes from the way artists approach technology.
Movies are prepared using advanced organizing technologies. With advanced organizing technologies a movie maker can mold an idea into a production, divide a production in to segments and assing social and technical self-sustaining entities to complete them. These entities try to complete tasks which have been assigned autonomously.
Movies are not about narratives, cameras, visuality or teamwork – They are about planning. Movie makers often talk about their desire to tell stories but I think they only emphasize narratives because narratives serve as a convenient tools for organizing productions. Every movie is an appeal for “organizational skills as the foundation of culture”.
Video artists are more concentrated on the tools we use and how specific properties of organizational technologies effect our understanding of the world. A camera is an organizational tool. It’s lens is used to organize environments into sites which are seen or unseen. Early video art was concerned with the power of the lens.
Digital technologies make the lens less important (objects can be created in 3D and indistinguishable effects applied on raw material), which is why artist have recently focused more on the computer then the camera.
The computer is often used like a paint brush. Artists are experimenting with their softwares presents, similarly as previous generations experimented on how the lens effect us. The filter is the new lens. Adobe is Life (From the Creative Cloud we can enlighten the world with our art).
Newest models of computers enable artists to work fluidly. Effects are pulled to the timeline intuitively and tested on the fly. The end results are crafted through a maticulous trial and error process. Thanks to capable computers we see more stunning video art then before.
The sovereignty of many artists is the result rendering power. Rendering causes a warm, tinny smell and makes the air hard to breath. It divides the desktop into hot, cold and moist spots and mixes well with the stench of sweat. The taste of rendering should be bottled and sold to workers who want to make bosses think that they’ve been working hard.
20170713
A great resource for learning about granular synthesis.
- J.a.g.s by limulo.net is a pd patch I could test with my RasPi
- Logic X has an inbuilt granular synthesizer (good tutorial)
- Clouds by Rajmil Fischman is also very complex (and free)
Also found Automatonism by Johan Eriksson a modular audio environment which works inside pd. Wonder if it can run on RasPi?
Judging from Erikssons example it appears that nowadays electronic artist have make their own soft-/ hardware to market/facilitate/fund their creative careers. Mark Verbos in another excellent example (see his interview for details). Artists build their income by creating and sharing tools/instruments they use to make their art. This means that tools are currently more significant then artworks.
20170712
I hope Synsonique Drum by DSP Synthesizers will we a hit.
Tatsuya Takahashi interviewed by Richard D. James. The chat is a tad too inter-nerdy but they link to some interesting software and tools.
On route to Saarijärvi -> Kaustinen Folk music festival. I’ll try to get a free entry ticket by claiming to be a musician and playing a gig with using some synths I’m bringing from Helsinki (Street musicians get free entry). Got a fever and skipped the festival.
“Is philosophy itself digital?” The Digital and the Analog (MCC-GE 3150) graduate seminar at NYU by Alexander R. Galloway. Sounds interesting.