Another Chuck / Max Msp question

[musicdog400]

I was reading the other thread but did not want to hijack it. It got me interested and I downloaded Chuck.

 

Could anyone (especially Davey-J) comment on what might be the best language if I was not so interested in doing repeating loops, but rather long non repeating sequences, like classical music ? Also if I was more interested in playing samples that playing the MIDI synth ? I was wondering if some languages have the ability to say play a wav file, or if it is just better to midi control a sampler.

 

I write code by day (some C++ but mostly C and drivers) so the whole object oriented thing is familiar to me.

 

"Two things have come out of Berkley, Unix and Acid, we do not believe this to be a coincidence"

[Inventor]

musicdog400, for long non-repeating sequences, I came up with something that does the job. I call it Boolean Sequencing. People on another forum said it was a "new" thing, though it has its roots in the early synthesizer days. You can implement it in any music programming language as far as I know, including ChucK.

 

Boolean sequencing is easy. You take a binary counter and add a "cloud" of logic as they say to its output. Then you play a note only when that logic value is one. To set parameters such as the frequency of each note, you just pick of some sub-terms of the logic, add them up, add in some reasonable offset value, then multiply by a frequency value. I can explain further to clarify that description if that's not clear and you are interested.

 

Aside from that there's a university professor out there somewhere, I forget who it is, who has written software that listens to two composer's classical works and then produces really good classical music that is a synthesis of their two styles. Sounds incredible but its true. I could try to look him up if you like.

 

Attached is the kind of guitar song that Boolean Sequencing can easily create. It's not classical music but you will get the idea of its creative potential. I used my ChucK Lab software to make it. ChucK Lab currently only runs on the Mac.

 

Good luck with it!

[musicdog400]

Nice clip, very interesting. That could be a very powerful compositional tool for getting fresh ideas.

[Inventor]

 

Nice clip, very interesting. That could be a very powerful compositional tool for getting fresh ideas.

 

 

Thanks! I just wish I could actually play the guitar, not just create computer generated guitar, but skills will devlop with time. I get better every time I practice, that much is clear. And I wake up excited about my guitar and building DIY hardware and software for it. What a fun hobby!