The People – variation 11 – #45

This is new version of variation #11. For this one, I revised the hexad for A major and E major. These are derived from overtone series of the note a 4:5 ratio below the root of the chord. That is, 1:1 otonality provides a major chord that starts on the 5:4 and includes a standard just major third triad plus another triad that is not. The 4:3 otonality provides a major third chord on the 5:3. The result is a less jarring sound than the previous scales. The tuning uses 9:8 utonality for G minor and D minor, 4:3 otonality for A major, and 1:1 otonality for E major.

I generate the source code for Csound using a text preprocessor I wrote. The preprocessor takes care of sorting out which sample files to use and other tasks. It includes a macro processor component that stores and retrieves text elements that end up as lines of Csound source code. A macro is defined by a period followed by text. What follows is a fragment that defines three macros of varying duration, kind of a vamp in the key of G minor that might last 1680 beats or only 720 beats. An eighth note is either 30, 24 or 20 beats long:

.v11-gmin-vamp-1680 p35&all-480-v11-n66hgd. &all-480-v11-n66hgd. &all-480-v11-n66hgd. &all-240-v11-n66gd. &pick-v11-loud*.&vel.d1680
.v11-gmin-vamp-1200 p35&all-480-v11-n66hgd. &all-480-v11-n66hgd. &all-240-v11-n66gd. &pick-v11-loud*.&vel.d1200
.v11-gmin-vamp-0720 p28&all-480-v11-n66hgd. &all-240-v11-n66gd. &pick-v11-loud*.&vel.d0720
@
.v11-chorus-0960 p35&all-240-v11-n66gd. &all-240-v11-n66EC. &all-240-v11-n66dd. &all-240-v11-n66AF. &pick-v11-loud*.&vel.d0960
.v11-chorus-1920 p35&all-480-v11-n66-gd. &all-480-v11-n66-EC. &all-480-v11-n66-dd. &all-480-v11-n66-AF. &pick-v11-loud*.&vel.d1920

When I want to call the v11-gmin-vamp macro, I append an ampersand to the front of the macro name. Here I make a new macro called v11-middle made up of other macros:

.v11-middle &v11-gmin-vamp-*. &v11-chorus-*. &v11-Emaj-vamp-*. &v11-chorus-*. &v11-dmin-vamp-*. &v11-chorus-*. &v11-Amaj-vamp-*. &v11-chorus-*.

The name of the macro is important, because in the v11-middle macro, I can call any of the three macros that match the first few characters of the macro name, up to the asterisk.

The structure of the piece goes like this:

@ 4*6 * 6 = 120 30 beat eighth note - this is a comment. the @ sign means comment.
@ 5*4 * 6 = 120 24 beat eighth note
@ 6*4 * 5 = 120 20 beat eighth note
@ variation #11 combined
&v11-start.
.8th 4*6
&v11-middle.
.8th 5*4
&v11-middle.
.8th 6*4
&v11-middle.
.8th 5*4
&v11-middle.
.8th 4*6
&v11-middle.&loudness-pp.
&v11-ending.

The v-11-middle parts are about minute or two each, depending on what macros the randomizer has chosen to select.

I’ve been playing around with the randomness selections. This version allows some of the middle parts to deliberately play the same parts over and over again, instead of following the drunkard’s walk Markov chain. Repeats as variation, so to speak. I also made each voice have it’s own density shifts from always playing a note, to almost never playing, which allows the voices to shift focus more.

The .8th 4*6 variable changes the duration of the quarter note. 4*6 uses fits 4 eighth notes to a measure. The 5*4 fits 5, and the 6*4 fits 6. The duration of the measure stays the same, but it speeds up to fit more notes in the measure, then slows down to fit fewer.


or download here:
People var #11 – 45

Published by

Prent Rodgers

Musician seduced into capitalism.