BlueCube
Sep 20, 2004 audioBlogShare/Save
So I’ve been talking about CSound a lot recently. A sound synthesis programming environment, allowing you to do basically anything from the ground up. From FM synthesis to sampling to filters, panning, effects, etc – all completely controllable in long lines of obfuscated code.
Sounds great, huh? Well, to make it clearer why a person would want do such a thing to himself, I will bring Kim Cascone into the picture.
Kim Cascone is a self-described “ambient music composer” whom I happened to stumble across on the Internet the other day. He is also the author of “Recontextualizing Ambient Music with CSound,” chapter 32 of the famed CSound Book, and has a piece on the accompanying CD-ROM entitled “Blue Cube.”
Right at the top of the chapter, there is a link to the Csound score and orchestra files that make up the piece. I’ve taken the liberty of compiling them for you.
Think about the sounds you generally hear in modern music – think about how they’re made. It’s a process of choosing from patches or instruments, like choosing a meal from a menu. And think about the process – the sheer number of cables, patchbays, inputs and outputs, plugins, DAC converters, ADC converters these sounds might go through before they reach your ears.
And when you listen to Blue Cube, think about the process of sound here. Cooked to exact specification from raw ingredients, the sound is above all things pure. Purer than perhaps any sound I can think of. Clean, beautiful, architectural music.
September 20th, 2004 at 11:39 pm
Funny. I was just listening to From Moog to Mark II to MIDI to MAX, a part of the very interesting Music Mavericks radio series about 20th century composers, and whose piece should come up but Kim Cascone? Quelle coincidence….
September 24th, 2004 at 10:03 am
Genius! You were AWESOME last night. My friends and I went to see the show for the second time (went to the one a few months ago) and had no idea you could sing like that…We were the table that was sitting with Caroline.
My friend googled FLS and found your blog. I’m blog obsessed. Check mine out if the spirit moves you.
-FK
September 25th, 2004 at 10:32 am
Hey, cool! Thanks for coming out! Yeah, singing is the thing – the keyboard stuff is just sort of a supplement.
It’s funny. Right after the show, I was thinking “You know, these people are gonna go home, and they’re gonna google us, and they’re gonna find my blog. How weird.” And lo and behold.
I like your blog – some stuff I definitely identified with, but I’ll make comments over there. I’m confused though. Is it Lexie or FK?
September 25th, 2004 at 10:35 am
Oh, and I almost forgot – for more info, check out the new website:
Freestyle Love Supreme