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.