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The Canadian Shield is a semi-aleatoric composition created by transforming two takes of me performing on my DIY electric cello and converting the audio to midi. Once midi I then edited the data into something of near coherence assigning pitch regions to bass, baritone sax, the complete mix an octave up to electric piano (all using the harmonic series starting on C1) and the complete mix to a sampled jazz drum kit.
Thanks for the listen and comment Jake! I have to admit a certain fascination with molding these unpredictable outputs from a computer program trying to make sense of something it wasn’t designed for. I found a new method by accident. If I drag audio to a midi track in Sonar it will automatically try to convert the audio to midi. But…. it only understands monophonic audio and when handed polyphonic audio it has to make choices using parameters and settings I have no knowledge of. Then I take the resulting line and manipulate it vertically and horizontally. I guess in a way it is not too far afield from John Cage using the I-Ching to compose.
Chris, this is nutty, in a good sort of way. That’s a heck of a compositional process, too. A fun way to start Friday night.
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