Zack. Settel
Feb. 2005
The following material
is intended to directly support this project, either as current documentation
(what’s already in place), or as closely related material, upon which artistic
or technical elements for the project will be drawn. You may also wish to see Bruits de L’Esprit and Espace-V in the
portfolio materials for examples of similar work, of which, certain aspects of
this work will be a continuation.
This material is
presented on CDROM and is intended to be browsed using any standard web browser
(assembled using Safari), and consists of items in standard formats, jpeg, pdf,
Quicktime etc.
Note that there is also
a version of this document on-line at: http://www.zeep.com/zack/projects/magic-strings/supportMaterial/index.htm
Certain areas, discussed
in the Project Description, are illustrated with support material (generated by
Settel), both to demonstrate how certain desired effects can be realized, and
to provide a “taste” of how some of the material will sound.
Using the technique of
FM synthesis, the sounds of several gamelan instruments can be synthesized to a
surprisingly realistic degree, particularly metallic ones such as the kenong,
kempul, saron, reyong, gender etc..
The recording was made
using a Yamaha TX802 FM synthesizer (the technique now is available using
software-based systems, such as Pure Data, the environment chosen for the project).
As mentioned in the
Project Description, the tehnique of
cross-synthesis, allows features of one sound to be projected on to
those of another. Singing and spoken voice lends particularly well to this
technique. Two examples are provided.
The recording features
sound 1 (the voice), then sound 2 (the woodblocks) then sound the morph of
1&2. Note that the text remains quite clear in the morph.
Using this technique, it
is possible to obtain results similar to the morphing technique mentioned
above, however, the result is a bit more “crisp”, i.e: the intersection of the
two sound sources is more responsive, and less detailed, allowing for example,
a voice to activate prerecorded sounds very tightly. This technique compliments the morphing technique, since it
allows for rhythmic interaction with prerecorded sounds (there is less delay or
hesitation).
This technique is
particularly effective when combined with physical modeling synthesis (see strang object). The voice-gated signal is used as an excitation
source for a resonator bank (e.g.:
a metal, skin or wood model), the
result allows the voice to deeply merge with the synthesized sounds.
Using ring modulation in
combination with other sounds, it is possible to obtain sounds that are similar
to gamelan type sounds.
The use of sensors for
movement and position detection, and a framework to support immersive
audio/music techniques is included in the project description. The following
support material (original) refers to the work I am currently developing in
this area, for which the techniques, and methods for the installation will be
drawn.
The following material
provides details concerning the framework. It is important to note that it does
really exist, and is in use (see example)
in installations.
Systems for detection of
audio events (user audio input: e.g. speech etc.) will be used.
note: as mentioned in
the Project Description, the area of sensing and position detection will be
handled by the host institution, however I am quite experienced in this area,
and am quite familiar with the underlying techniques and systems.