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Dendriet is a network of musicians in The Hague (.nl) that perform with networked electronic and acoustic instruments. The word dendriet, or dendrite, is also the name for the receptors of a nervecell. Dendrites are typically branching branches. You'll find these fractal shapes in ice, in metal chrystals in limestone, and likewise, in our performance setups. Please do check out our homepage by clicking the stone. You too are invited to join the discussions.
28.2.05
Random analogue Sequencer Melody
The following three examples were synthesized using Ernst's Doepfer a100 system. The sequencer module (a155) and the sequencer controller (a154) were used in this experiment. The recordings are straight from the system, so no overdubs (only some editing, courtesy of Dave). The patchers were: Dave Krooshof and Ernst van der Loo.
The whole thing started when Dave and Ernst found out that the manual knob on the a154 could be set just in between two settings.
Thus creating semi-random possiblities. This was too cool to ignore!
A melody was formed from 8 tones, all tuned to a single rootnote. The tuning was pythagorian, though Dave tempered the second and the sixth. The sixth is tuned very jazzy, and this colours the scale. The rootnote was later transformed into a bassline. A random noise burst was added as an accent. There is a tempo in this music, but no metre. Or you could say this music has a random bar length. The melody was played by randomly choosing notes from the scale. We choose three different kinds of random:
'Cage' random:
the previous notes that have been played are not taken into account when choosing the next one. "PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS". The fact that a tone can be repeated several times in a row, and the jumpiness of the melody are both typical characteristics of really random melodies. The melody may jump to any note at any time (including jumping to itself).
'Bach' random:
the sequence may step up and down through the scale as it will, and the stepping direction is switched at random moments. The stepsize is either -1 or 1. So, notes are not repeated twice in a row, and the jumpiness is limited to 1 step up or down. This sounds a bit Bachy to Dave. It's sometimes referred to as Brownian noise (not to be confused with the brownnoise, which is 93 cents below the low E-flat).
'Coltrane' random:
This is also a form of limited randomness. The sequence will keep stepping up or down, but it it may jump to random notes at random times. After such a jump, the sequence may continue stepping either up or down at will. Occasionally, a note is repeated. Jumpiness is limited a bit, as the melody may not jump to any note at any time. Like in jazz, it jumps out of boundaries from time to time, but the madness is limited by style.
Please note that these examples are just some silly experiment we did to get to know the possibilities of the Doepfer a154/a155 sequencer modules combination. It is here because we think it is an interesting show of what these machines can do. However it does not reflect the music made by members of the Dendriet network. See it as our 'random with sequencer' workshop...
Dave and Ernst
The whole thing started when Dave and Ernst found out that the manual knob on the a154 could be set just in between two settings.
Thus creating semi-random possiblities. This was too cool to ignore!
A melody was formed from 8 tones, all tuned to a single rootnote. The tuning was pythagorian, though Dave tempered the second and the sixth. The sixth is tuned very jazzy, and this colours the scale. The rootnote was later transformed into a bassline. A random noise burst was added as an accent. There is a tempo in this music, but no metre. Or you could say this music has a random bar length. The melody was played by randomly choosing notes from the scale. We choose three different kinds of random:
'Cage' random:
the previous notes that have been played are not taken into account when choosing the next one. "PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS". The fact that a tone can be repeated several times in a row, and the jumpiness of the melody are both typical characteristics of really random melodies. The melody may jump to any note at any time (including jumping to itself).
'Bach' random:
the sequence may step up and down through the scale as it will, and the stepping direction is switched at random moments. The stepsize is either -1 or 1. So, notes are not repeated twice in a row, and the jumpiness is limited to 1 step up or down. This sounds a bit Bachy to Dave. It's sometimes referred to as Brownian noise (not to be confused with the brownnoise, which is 93 cents below the low E-flat).
'Coltrane' random:
This is also a form of limited randomness. The sequence will keep stepping up or down, but it it may jump to random notes at random times. After such a jump, the sequence may continue stepping either up or down at will. Occasionally, a note is repeated. Jumpiness is limited a bit, as the melody may not jump to any note at any time. Like in jazz, it jumps out of boundaries from time to time, but the madness is limited by style.
Please note that these examples are just some silly experiment we did to get to know the possibilities of the Doepfer a154/a155 sequencer modules combination. It is here because we think it is an interesting show of what these machines can do. However it does not reflect the music made by members of the Dendriet network. See it as our 'random with sequencer' workshop...
Dave and Ernst
