IDM Mailing Archive

Any well known IDM musicians known for limiting themselves to working with Csound and other programmatic methods of creating music? Thanks - David

There are plenty of musicians, not many of which fall neatly into the IDM category, that exclusively use tools like Csound, ChucK, Supercollider, Max, etc. to make their music. I'd say they're more on the academically experimental side of things, like Florian Hecker or Iannis Xenakis. Probably lots of professors and students of music technology and related fields. I'm sure a lot of dedicated electronic musicians who may fall into the sound you're describing have a working knowledge of one or more of the aforementioned systems. For example, Richard Devine knows Dr. Richard Boulanger (the guy who wrote The Csound Book and runs the Csound website<http://www.csounds.com>) personally. So he obviously has used Csound but doesn't limit himself by any means. In short, "programmatic" methods are tools more often used to further sound design and composition abilities. Along with anything else. Except maybe the Casio Rapman. On 10/17/07, David Seruyange <g3scom@gmail.com> wrote:

quoted 8 lines Any well known IDM musicians known for limiting themselves to working with

> > Any well known IDM musicians known for limiting themselves to working with > Csound and other programmatic methods of creating music? > > Thanks - > > David >

-- Joshua D. Clayton Georgia Institute of Technology Alumni . Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering The Mobius . WREK Atlanta 91.1FM

2007/10/18, Josh Clayton <claytonster@gmail.com>:

quoted 8 lines There are plenty of musicians, not many of which fall neatly into the IDM

> > There are plenty of musicians, not many of which fall neatly into the IDM > category, that exclusively use tools like Csound, ChucK, Supercollider, > Max, > etc. to make their music. I'd say they're more on the academically > experimental side of things, like Florian Hecker or Iannis Xenakis. > Probably lots of professors and students of music technology and related > fields.

I read that Autechre uses Max/DSP with homemade patches, but that's about it. I wouldn't call it "limiting" either using stuff like this. There are hardly any limits when you get down to programming your own patches or software, but the learning curve is pretty steep. I started trying out Chuck and PureData at some point, but I found it too much work to come up with anything sounding good enough. It's not about writing music anymore with these kind of tools. It's more about programming your own sound. Which is cool, but something completely different. -- "progress doesn't come from early risers progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things" http://n3wjack.net http://www.jungletrain.net - 24/7 dnb radio station

i agree with the statement below. those programs give you the ultimate in flexibility and designing your own totally unique concept but its easy to get lost in that world and focus too much about the technical aspect of creating music. autechre is really the tops when it comes to designing your musical world from the ground up but also retaining some soul (at least on some recordings). im guessing that the person originally asking this question is interested in other musicians because they are interested in different sonic worlds then they currently live in and want to use an artist as a reference as to where a program can take them. i dont think this is a productive way to go about expanding your sonic territory. only other producers will like your music and everyone else will just think it sounds cold and too academic. i think we should all remember that people have made amazing music with the most basic of tools. maybe im way off base here but i thought the end point below needed to be driven home a little more. justin yellow then blue On 10/18/07, n3wjack <n3wjack@n3wjack.net> wrote:

quoted 16 lines 2007/10/18, Josh Clayton <claytonster@gmail.com>:

> > 2007/10/18, Josh Clayton <claytonster@gmail.com>: > > I read that Autechre uses Max/DSP with homemade patches, but that's about > it. > > I wouldn't call it "limiting" either using stuff like this. There are > hardly > any limits when you get down to programming your own patches or software, > but the learning curve is pretty steep. > I started trying out Chuck and PureData at some point, but I found it too > much work to come up with anything sounding good enough. > > It's not about writing music anymore with these kind of tools. It's more > about programming your own sound. > Which is cool, but something completely different.

quoted 8 lines There are plenty of musicians, not many of which fall neatly into the IDM

> > There are plenty of musicians, not many of which fall neatly into the IDM > category, that exclusively use tools like Csound, ChucK, Supercollider, > Max, > etc. to make their music. I'd say they're more on the academically > experimental side of things, like Florian Hecker or Iannis Xenakis. > Probably lots of professors and students of music technology and related > fields.

-- "progress doesn't come from early risers progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things" http://n3wjack.net http://www.jungletrain.net - 24/7 dnb radio station

I'm not famous, but I do all my stuff in SuperCollider, so maybe I can add something here. I don't think there's anything inherently less emotional or expressive about writing code versus adjusting some parameter on a synthesizer. Once you get into electronic music at any level deeper than just turning on a keyboard and playing the presets, you're already committed to using the analytical side of your brain, and trying to put it in the service of moving your listeners. For me, using SuperCollider allows for more direct expression, not less, because instead of the tool shaping me, I'm shaping it. With commercial software (even e.g. Reaktor) I always seem to run into situations where I'm going "why won't it let me do X or Y or Z?" That doesn't happen with SuperCollider. As a result, using SC means that my music sounds more like _me_, for better or worse. Of course, I sometimes want to just play, without screwing around with code, but I have acoustic instruments for that. -- Tim Walters | The Doubtful Palace | http://doubtfulpalace.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org