As I spend virtually every spare moment working on the GMS I’m looking forward to slowing down the development of this sequencer so I can start using it effectively, but for now I’m happy to create the odd glitch or space pad here and there. Here’s a glitchy segment of sound created by classic, channel ten drums at high speed.
GMS Drum Glitches
This electrical crackling sound was made with the GMS while the tempo was set quite high and the note duration probability distributions were set to favor two adjacent values. The speed that the notes were played made the frequency of playing the notes more audible than the pitch of the individual sounds themselves. The randomized durations at that speed created a sputtering quality that, to my ear, sounds very similar to high voltage electrical sparks. Interestingly it turns out that the GMS might be useful for sound design as well as a composition and performance tool.
Electrical Sound
To create this silliness I set the GMS to play the drums on the built in Java Sound Synthesizer. I adjusted the tempo and duration probabilities to something ridiculous then captured the output on my PCM-D50. Since this experiment I have made a few more that are even more high speed and scattered. Perhaps I’ll post more examples of this nature. I have rare instances of longer durations inabled in the probability distribution, so as you’re listening, every so often you may think that it’s over (finally!) when suddenly it starts up again with obnoxiousness.
GMS Drum Solo
Here’s another segment of some experimenting I did with Grant Muller’s GOL Sequencer Bank. One suggestion I would make if you are planning on have a look at his application is to try using some example patterns from John Conway’s original work. Also, when you come across new forms that survive well, document them so that you can recreate them for future sequences.
GOL Recording Part II
You might remember me posting an article called Three Phase Oscillator produced using a Ruin & Wesen tutorial on creating a “game of life” sequencer. Well, Grant Muller has run with the idea and created a robust, fully featured, multitimbral sequencing application. I have just started scratching the surface of possibilities that his tool offers. Features include a long list of possible scales, including all the modes, and Turkish to name a few. What I like most is that six versions of the sequencer run in tandem so that you can have separate voices on different MIDI channels and / or devices. For more information, or to download his sequencer visit Grant Muller’s site. Here’s a short example I made with the Game of Life Sequencer Bank Beta.
GOL Recording Part I