Thoughts on Generative Music

Rolf Sa., 04.06.2022 - 05:28

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Thoughts on Generative Music - Part 14

Ultimate generative “Krell” music? In VCV and Voltage Modular?

This is the last excerpt from my ebook about making generative music with modular synths (volume 1), that I publish in this series of articles

generative music

And it´s also the last article in this series here at my website. Please buy the book to get “the whole stuff” (323 pages, 108 embedded videos, 118 patches, 202 graphics) here: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/331 . And if you just want to buy me a coffee to support my work, please make use of the “PayPal” button on top of this page – thank you very much indeed.

To dive deep into the praxis of setting up generative patches just follow my new series of articles about “Krell” music and about J. Daniel Cramer´s “Krellberg Variations” -and if you want to get really good at the matter, then do both: follow the new “Krell” series AND buy my book to get the deepes possible understanding about it all.

generative music

Of course you know it: The idea behind generative music is setting the conditions, the “incomplete rules”, and then let the system do what it “wants”. The compositional part ends after thinking out this set of (starting) conditions. It´s an adventure, it is interesting to watch and listen what will happen, which musical outcomes the system – e.g. a modular setup – will produce. Generative music has got kind of popular to an amount that it may well be called a “genre”. And as it happens to all art (not only music) that has developed to a genre, the basic ideas and intentions got “raped”, “conditions” became “any conditions”, “thinking out” (= composing) became “do what you want” (and if you don´t know what you want, well, then do anything). “Generative music” has become a marketing term. Older but not less popular terms (e.g. “ambient”) are added, are mixed together until the label “generative” is ready for being (mis)used for everything.

Well, the situation is not that bad – not yet.

Anyway. It should be clear by now what the basic question is when it comes to generative music: How big is the share that a compositional will, intention and human creativity have (and how are these implemented?), and how big is the share of chance and randomness?

“Krell” music gives us an answer to this question. There are some notes about what “Krell” music is, and about its history etc. in the article at my website, so I won´t repeat it here. Can you imagine to work on a single patch for endless months? Can you imagine to make the patch that huge, that the weight of the needed patch cables equals the weight of motorbike? Can you imagine that the musical outcome of your gigantic patch gives enough to record a couple of albums? And can you imagine, that all of this makes an artful mixtures of compositional human creativity and generative chance, that human intention and random events live together in perfect harmony as flatmates?

Well, if you cannot yet, you will be able soon. The compositional technique of Krell patches has reached a level of quality that must be called a “point of culmination” in J. Daniel Cramer´s “Krellberg Variations” - and you, yes YOU, will be able to follow his steps and create your own great generative Krell patch – in VCV Rack and in Voltage Modular. Step by step. Just follow my articles, the first of which is here: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/426

I´m very happy, that the artist himself, that J. Daniel Cramer has agreed to look my articles over, and may well give advice here and there. There are shorter or longer video clips, which show every single step described and explained in the articles. You can watch these clips directly from the website (they are embedded in each article) – and ONLY from there. These videos are not available otherwise.

Enjoy it!

And here is the link to the first article about transfering the whole Krellberg Variations to VCV rack again: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/426

Please spread the word – if not for me, then at least for the sake of good generative music. Thank you!

Your Rolf Kasten

to part 1: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/335

to part 2: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/343

to part 3: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/344

to part 4: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/358

to part 5: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/365

to part 6: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/374

to part 7: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/381

to part 8: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/386

to part 9: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/391

to part 10: https://www.dev.rofilm-media.net/node/404