The patch seeks to convert text into generative music based on a self-developed musical cryptography system (Figure 1) that was inspired by the French method. The purpose is to recontextualize an already-existing meaning into new creative material.
Figure 1
The patch uses [textedit] and [atoi] to convert ASCII to MIDI which, afterwards, feeds two different sections. The first part is the beating heart of the patch as it contains the [metro] and the [counter] objects which go through all the individual characters of the text. The [split] object has been perfect to separate the incoming characters into the appropriate categories in order to achieve certain musical effects. The numbers and other non-letter characters are being filtered into a single oscillator that benefits from a pronounced slap-back delay. There is a special use for the space character (no 32) as it not only generates a low-frequency drone, it triggers word separation as well, but this will be covered in the appropriate section. Lowercase characters generate the main melody, the actual concept of the patch, through a simple and monophonic synth that blends a sine and a rectangular oscillator. Here, we have the implementation of the musical cryptogram where “a” is converted to the note C and so on, through a [% 12] object to which I add 47 in order to obtain the correct midi note. The signal is being randomly delayed between 40 and 99ms in order to mimic a small but constant rallentando and give the melody a more humane feel. Uppercase notes follow a similar process as they are converted to the same musical notes, but they are also interpreted as regular lowercase characters as, otherwise, the main melody would not have played the uppercase note. Here, we have quick chromatic bursts as the section transitions between octave displaced notes spanning 150ms (Figure 2). This is where I fell in love with timed ramps and, to emphasize the effect, the chain ends with another slap-back delay.
Figure 2
The right half of the patch is focused on creating the harmonic foundation of the song but also the shifting textures. All the words of the text are being introduced into a [coll] as they are used to generate chords in three different ways, as we will soon see.
Initially, I used another [metro] object to switch from word to word but, as it were based on the length of the word, the [counter] made the transition to the next word when it reached the maximum count, not after completing it. Ideally, it would have sent a bang between the last and first count of the cycle and even though I tried delaying the signal, it was completely chaotic.
Consequently, I used the space between words to trigger new chords and go through the [coll]. Here, I must say I am proud of the small sequence that plays the letters of a word in the span of one second as it adds much needed variety to the piece. The words are being processed by a [vexpr] object to create a chord through a polyphonic sine oscillator, while the textures are obtained by selecting 3 certain numbers from the word-generated list. These feed into the 4-way oscillator blenders which were a great discovery as I researched and tried to understand how other, more developed MAX users code (Forum Cycling ’74, 2021). I managed to successfully implement it in my project while also adding a random sweep provided by two LFOs which also modulate the filters and some of the panning.
Another, dare I say, proud moment happened when finalising the Live Mode. The small section generates chords from words as they are being typed, using the spacebar or the enter key to trigger them and also allowing real time correction with backspace (Figure 3).
Figure 3
The code was built with the consideration of making an ambient music piece (Eno, 2004) but with slightly less discrete developments or interventions. The oscillators, filters and reverb are aimed to avoid monotony while staying true to the genre and, alongside interactivity, make the whole experience with the patch to be, hopefully, a pleasant one.
You can listen to an audio export at the following link.
The overall patch proved to be a challenging experience, going from concept to practice. There were quite a few moments of doubt and frustration with the sequences but the immense satisfaction of achieving the desired result brought new respect and appreciation for the world of coding, as well as the motivation to further develop my work.
Bibliography
Cycling74.com (2021) Forum | Cycling '74. Available at: https://cycling74.com/forums/page/1 (Accessed 2 January 2021).
Eno, B. (2004). Ambient music. Audio Culture. Readings in Modern Music.
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