@veetguitar said:
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Feenixx, do you go totally by ear when doing these clusters or are there some techniques/guidelines to let them shine?
veetguitar, it's mainly by ear - some people can plan it and get the results they visualize, but I haven't got the experience. I need to keep playing back, the sounds I am working on, tweaking values and parameters, listen again… and again...
A buddy of mine is working towards a PhD in composition, and I draw on his help as a programmer.
There are three different levels at which I manipulate the raw material (which are VSL bounces of short textures, single notes and chords), and the process involves four steps:
1 - visual programming and tweaking the code in a variety of interfaces he wrote, using a programming system and language called Max/MSP, breaking the sounds down into "clouds" of "grains".
2 - spectrum manipulation, courtesy of FFT tools he wrote, performed on the grains
3 - visual programming again - stretching, envelope shaping and re-assembling the grains
4 - there is a very cool Mac program called Metasynth, which is a favourite among "IDM" and other Electronica producers for making "beats". I use it for what looks like sequencing, but it is really a form of re-synthesis. It has a feature called "Image Synth", which lets me paint stereo position, volume and pitch over time from left to right on a canvas. It can handle up to 2048 "tracks" - but for live monitoring and tweaking, I am limited to "only" about 500 tracks. Unless I use microtuning, I can only hear about 110 different pitches.
Step 4 results in audio files, which I assemble in Logic.
