200e

I checked with Barry.  The following is what he had to say:

Was all the music in this made on the B'..?
Strange to hear melodic 12-tone scale music coming from it.
The end credits include Fairlight, though...
Be it as it may, it's a great piece.

All of the electronic music in *Moon-Whales* was done on the Buchla 200.
 The Fairlight referred to is the Fairlight CVI <
http://www.audiovisualizers.com/toolshak/vidsynth/fair_cvi/fair_cvi.htm>, an
early hybrid video processor.  The "thanks" is because the CalArts School of
Film/Video had one on loan from Fairlight at the time.

As for your question about the �melodic 12-tone scale�", the electronic
music here, as in all of my works involving live  performers, has an
"orchestral" accompaniment function.  Thus, here, it must support the vocal
line, and, yes, it is tonal, in a 20th century, abstracted sort of way.  Not
all of my music created on the Buchla 200 uses a tempered scale.  Then, as
now, I use a variety of tunings, some of which are invented for a specific
piece or section of a piece.  *Monkey King *<
http://www.innova.mu/artist1.asp?skuID=340>, for example, is entirely
pentatonic.

Like most things, the limitations of the Buchla 200 depend on the person
using it.  Some of the ideas that are important to me in the electronic
music I create are the development of new timbres, having a high degree of
control over what I'm doing, and trying to go beyond what's been done (both
by myself and others) in the past.  While little of my analog work is
commercially available, the *Lost Atlantis* CD <
http://www.innova.mu/artist1.asp?skuID=218> contains music that was entirely
done on the Buchla 200 in 1976-77.  The booklet that comes with the CD has
some technical information.  I didn't find it difficult to create any
particular type of scale with this synth, as I developed procedures for
insuring precise control.  For example, with *Moon-Whales,* I measured
voltage data to 2 decimal places with a VOM, and, using this and other means
of notating patch data, I usually was able to faithfully recreate a given
patch.

The original version of *Moon-Whales* was quadraphonic, and, on this video,
everything is really crushed together.  Still, you can get an idea of what
it sounds like.

Thanks for your kind remarks about the piece.  I appreciate it.



On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 11:29 AM, cuari7 <cuari7@comcast.net> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> Was all the music in this made on the B'..?
> Strange to hear melodic 12-tone scale music coming from it.
> The end credits include Fairlight, though...
> Be it as it may, it's a great piece.
>
>  
>



-- 

cheers,
matrix
http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com


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