Tag Archives: generative music

New Music – ‘Random-2’

Music,

Yesterday, I dropped a new generative modular composition called ‘Random-2’.

It is another generative modular piece that I made on VCV Rack software which calls itself a Virtual Eurorack DAW. It is free for download and is open-source meaning anyone can freely download the software code and modify it for their own purpose.

What is generative? To me it means that the notes (melody, harmony, et. al. are generated randomly under some form of control for octave, scale, timbre and other musical properties. Often the voices (instruments) are arranged in a sort of random fashion.

What is a Virtual Eurorack DAW? Virtual means it is software, not hardware. Eurorack is a form of modular synthesizer hardware first specified in 1996 and it is said to be the dominant modular synthesizer hardware available today. VCV Rack can be thought of as a software version of Eurorack that graphically shows what the hardware would look like and act like on your computer screen.

But what is a modular synthesizer? A synthesizer (synth) is an electronic instrument, often played with a keyboard, that combines simple waveforms to produce more complex sounds, such as those of various other instruments. Most bands today will have at least one synthesizer. If you have an electronic piano keyboard in your house, it probably is a synthesizer. Modular means that instead of every part of the synthesizer packed and wired together in your keyboard case (which limits flexibility), all of the parts (modules) are separate and the artist can choose which parts to use and how to wire (patch) the modules together to produce the sounds she wants. The modules are mounted in a case which is defined by the Eurorack specification.

What is a DAW? Digital Audio Workstation is usually software that is used to build an mix music on a computer. Functions would typically include recording, mixing. mastering the audio. Applying special functions to the audio like reverb, delay, compression, etc. At this time, VCV Rack is not as flexible as a full fledged DAW but you can get the audio and video production from VCV Rack to a DAW and do any processing you want. I record audio and video from VCV Rack and import the results into Reaper DAW for my final processing. By the way, I used Reaper’s video capabilities to artfully distort the video.

Random-2

Having told you more than you wanted to know, here is the composition.

Random 2
Watch this video on YouTube.

At least I have not wasted all my time during this time of ‘social distancing’.

May we all have the best possible outcomes,
Cy

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2020 Cyril Ball

Two Music Releases This Month

Music, , ,

September 2019, I have released two new songs. I have gotten some good feedback on them as well.

The latest piece called “Spiral Marbles” is an upbeat, electronic fantasy. This may be one of the best that I have ever done!

Spiral Marbles
Watch this video on YouTube.

Earlier this month, I released “Polyphonic Pastorale” which is a slower, easier going piece.

Polyphonic Pastorale
Watch this video on YouTube.

Namaste,
Cy

Whale Song

Music, , ,

I was experimenting with the VCV Rack modular synthesis software, when it started making sounds at me that I thought similar to whale songs.

I couldn’t resist putting this together. It also contains some interesting generative drums.

It is already on my bandcamp store and has been uploaded to my distributor. It should be available on Spotify, iTune, Google Music, Apple Music, Amazon Music, etc. in about a week.

Here it is on Soundcloud:

And here on YouTube:

Namaste,
Cy

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Cyril Ball

Another Release.

Music, , , ,

Two albums in one month. Very exciting. With this release, I have finished putting my 2018 production out there for sale. It is all very different from my previous work.

This album is called Meditative and it is. Quite ambient, downtempo.

You can listen and maybe purchase on Bandcamp. https://cyball.bandcamp.com/album/meditative

You can view it on my YouTube playlist:

Or you can listen to it on my Soundcloud playlist:

I hope some of my readers like it!

Namaste,
Cy

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Cyril Ball

New Album for Sale!

Music,

Today, I issued the first album that I have issued in well over a year. It’s very exciting.

The album is called “A Bit of Chaos” and it is available for sale on my bandcamp store:

https://cyball.bandcamp.com/album/a-bit-of-chaos

All who know my work for the past year will realize the this is Modular Synthesizer generated, experimental music. Some of it is pleasingly ambient.

It has been uploaded to a distributor and will soon be available on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Music, Amazon Music and many other online sales and streaming services.

You can listen to the playlist on YouTube:

or on Soundcloud;

Thanks for listening,

Namaste,

Cy

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Cyril Ball

A Couple More Songs

Music, ,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It seems like December was a productive month for me. I have created and released two more generative pieces of music. Hope some of it is inspiring.

“A Bit of Chaos” below was actually released today (New Year Day). It originally was just and experiment with various plugins that I had not used. It evolved into something that I rather like.

“Experiment 8” published 4 days ago was another experiment that developed into a finished piece. This stuff is very much fun!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

May we all have the best possible outcomes,

Cy

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2019 Cyril Ball

Meditative Music

Music, , ,

You know that I like making modular synthesizer music and you know that I like meditation.

What better than a meditative piece of electronica? This is a generative piece which means the notes are all generative randomly.  As the notes are generated, I push them through a quantizer to get them to a musical scale (in this case F# Locrian scale). Then they go to VCOs (voltage controlled oscillators) which actually generate audible sound and then through an envelope generator which shapes the sounds.  Finally all goes to a mixer and though a delay and a reverb to make the final product.

I hope you like it.

Namaste, 

Cy

Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Cyril Ball

Generative Music

Music, , , , ,

Yesterday, I uploaded a new piece of  generative music called “The Blues I” to YouTube and Soundcloud.  they can be viewed/listed to below.

Sooo… what on earth is generative music? You can think of it as music that is generated by a process.  In this case, it is generated by software called VCV Rack. This free software models hardware called a Euro Rack synthesizer which is a modular synthesizer.  Modular Synthesizer?  Well that is an electronics rack and all the electronics that you might find in a more normal commercial synthesizer which most bands use these days. The difference is that the user puts the electronics parts (modules) into the rack and uses movable jumper cables to connect them in any way the user wants.  Thus the user can make a very large array of sounds.  The modules start with oscillators for the sound wave creation (sine waves, square waves, triangle waves, saw waves, etc), filters, envelopes, low frequency oscillators, voltage controlled amplifiers to modify the sounds.  After you have those, you can add many more sophisticated modules.

VCV Rack is still in devlopment (version 0.5) but it already has a large following and a goodly number of developers making new modules for it, some free, some for sale, some for a donation.  It is completely addictive!  You will see the model I built for the music in the YouTube below.

I built in the basic beat and the bass with a small amount of randomness to happen over time.  The lead voices (I designed  what they sound like) use randomly generated notes for their parts constrained only by the beat and the musical scale that I chose.  Hence it is generated music.  I was surprised at how musical it sounds.

YouTube version:

The Blues I

Watch this video on YouTube.

Soundcloud:

Hope you find it interesting.

Namaste,

CyDigiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Cyril Ball