The set from last Sunday is now available for download and listening on archive.org. The set took place at a compact sound art festival, which was held on an island. The soundscape of the island was turned into synthesizer control messages by using Plogue Bidule modular sound processing software. The software analyzed the spectrum of the soundscape and picked frequencies from it at a certain tempo. The frequencies were then turned into MIDI note information. The notes were replayed by software and hardware synthesizers. The performance was an application of spectral music technique.
I had no role in selecting the notes, and I’m glad I’ve found a way to further diminish my role in the process. I’m exploring the possibilities of working with the frequencies rather than just 12 note harmonic system. I’m planning to set up a system that would create the intervals automatically from the spectrum. The system would sample dominant frequencies of any material and create an octave using the sampled frequencies as the base. The number and logic of octave divisions could be separately determined.
The island is called Harakka (Magpie). Harakka is inhabitated by birds and most of the smallish island is preserved. The premises were originally build for Finnish army, and the place was used to design and study explosives and related chemistry. The buildings, tunnels and bunkers are now in the use of artists.
The set was performed in the tight wooden auditorium of the main building, which was built in 1929. It’s kind of a place where students and colleagues could have been witnessing the latest achievements of science. In this case a sound surgery took place.
Andra has been released.
It's available from