Starting simple, growing complexity

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At first, we only allow the bass wires to play a very simple figure, then we give them more choices as the introduction proceeds. It's all up to them what they do.

Dinotang - it's Orange!

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More variety in the back beat chords.

Dinosaur Tango

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Back in the day, Tom Nunn and I had a piece that we named, after the fact, "Dinosaur Tango". It was a duo of Tom on one of his crustaceans plucking wires, and me on balloon flutes: first bass, then alto, then soprano as the pace quickened.

I've tried a dozen times over the years to duplicate the mood. Imagine a caveman sneaking into the den of a pair of dinosaurs. He discovers them dancing. Of course he joins in. Wouldn't you?

Dithyrambs of Dyspepsia

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Love those 8 against 13s.

For dessert here's some yellow mustard on chocolate cake

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I sure hope this 53-TET with glissandi using highly enharmonic samples doesn't sound too much like yellow mustard on chocolate cake.

How about some dry percussion?

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These are the extra sounds of the dry spring. The bent wire instrument sounds like what it must feel like when falling down a set of dark stairs in a decaying building while your coat is on fire. That's the glissando applied to each note. It's one of these four, depending on duration and chance.

f312 0 256 -7 1 256 1.0625; g11 glide up 17/16
f313 0 256 -7 1 256 .9375; g12 glide down 15/16
f314 0 256 -7 1 256 .875 ; g13 glide down 7/8
f315 0 256 -7 1 256 1.125 ; g14 glide up 9/8


Not a podcast

A pair of slightly longer excerpts here and here.

Controlling the indeterminacy

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There is a variable that determines the variability of the choices that can be made. It had been set very low for some reason. I decreased the likelihood of repeating a pattern and listen to the result. Controlling the indeterminacy.

And some even lower notes

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Added the bass bent wire spring instruments. And added a new glissando that drops the tones by .875, or 7/8.

Some low tones too

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Added the lower tones. Next look for some bass. Long time between bumpers, don't you think?

Back to the bent piano wire instrument

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Trying to figure out how to integrate this instrument into the work so far. It sounds more like a steel drum to me.

Mix the spring back in with the percussion

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Drop the sample a few octaves

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Here we have the .080" twisted piano wire instrument samples taken down a few octaves. Here's a picture of part of the instrument. It's made of .080" piano wire (very thick tempered steel wire), which is bent with a pair of plyers and a blow torch into interesting shapes. The wires are then brazed onto a steel plate, and magnetic transducers are attached to pick up the vibrations. Csound is used to drop the sample by 1, 2, or three octaves.

A few more notes for the balloon drums

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More notes for the balloon drums, including arpeggios instead of just repeating notes. I'm still trying to figure out how to have the 8 against 13 appear more rarely and not repeat so much. Indeterminate is not purely random, after all.

A bit more time

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Stay the same for a few bars, then change. The rhythm is 13 against 8. It doesn't sound as different as you might expect.

Just the balloon drums and the dry spring

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I keep removing more and more of the sounds to get more clarity. I deleted the bent spring and the welded piano wire sounds for now. I'll add them back. Or maybe piccolo?

Some Samples

Richard Boulanger is collecting samples to include with some Csound generating software. I volunteered to include the Finger Piano, Balloon Drum, and spring instruments I have been using, since I recorded them myself.

Here is a zip file.

Licensed under creative commons attribution 2.0.

Just a little more sparce

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I've reduced the frequency of the notes a bit. I also need to calm down the percussion. I need several different densities to be able to play with.

Busier than before

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Trying to get the repetitions to work.

A bit more of the steel drum melody

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Each note has a small glissando applied to it now, either up by a 17:16 or down by a 15:16. Just enough to not notice too much.