MOTM

Seems to me this would be a bit like playing the slots--mostly nothing(or
piddly crap)
waiting for a big payoff. (Does that sound a bit harsh?  Sorry.)
But here's why I'm saying it.
1.  Too many random patches are gonna end up giving you nothing.  I just
can't
see spending that much time with a module and getting zero payoff.

2.  Too little control of the whole thing.  I think if you could limit the
range of randomness,
or focus it in some ways (more than what Paul described), it might be more
to my
personal tastes.

3.  No repeatability.  What if it does just the perfect thing & you forgot
to roll tape?

Anecdote:  A friend /sometime collaborator used to play bass for an old
blues guy named
Blind Joe Hill out in LA.  So he walks into one gig, & it turns out they're
playing a party for
John Cage.  The idea is that there are all these different groups playing
different musical
styles & you have this chaos in the spaces between the groups.  Blind Joe,
though,
was not really hip to the avant-garde thing & thought this was a shitty
idea, & managed to
get two or three of the other bands to sort of sync up with him on a twelve
bar blues thing,
sort of defeating the whole purpose of the thing.
Mr. Cage was not amused.

tomr

tomr
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Schreiber <synth1@...>
To: MOTM listserv <motm@onelist.com>
Date: Thursday, November 04, 1999 10:55 PM
Subject: [motm] Proposed module: ChaosFactory


>From: "Paul Schreiber" <synth1@...>
>
>While sitting here trying to catch up with the backlog, the mind wandered
>to...
>
>>>>>C H A O S  F A C T O R Y<<<<<
>
>This is just a whim/point of discussion (to distract those waiting for me
to
>ship stuff).
>
>The ChaosFactory is a 1U or 2U audio out module. Essentially, it is a
>self-contained
>analog synth that is constantly being randomly patched and played (Look Ma!
>No hands!)
>
>Several have asked about an "academic" chaos processor. These are basically
>oscillators
>with feedback that are sort of like Jimi at Woodstock. The trouble is,
after
>20 minutes of
>sqeals, it gets sort of old.
>
>What I'm thinking of is a "sloppy" synth "voice" that is controlled by a
>"farm" of PIC uPs. Each
>PIC supervises 1 little section (VCO, EGs...). Each PIC has an internal A/D
>converter to
>read a CV. The CV determines "the degree of chaos" in that section. For
>example, a chaos
>of 0 is like a drone (not much choas). A chaos of 10 on a VCO means it
could
>be 20Hz one
>note and 20K the next, then silence for 4 minutes (extreme chaos).
>
>I think it would be neat to have a big ROM with like 5000 musical
"snippets"
>(ie phrases of
>songs from "Row Your Boat" to Bach to whatever) Not songs, just a few bars.
>These are
>interleaved with scale runs, random stuff, etc. There is no "speed"
control:
>that is random but
>the chaos sets the *probability* of a deviation from a nominal. Sometimes,
>it just drones, squeals,
>outputs white noise, or sits there.
>
>Too much Haloween candy on the brain again. Or, too much Skinny Puppy.
>
>Paul S.
>
>