Textural Exploration in Bufferless Granular Synthesis
In the field of contemporary music and live electronics, granular synthesis has played a crucial role in the manipulation and transformation of sound. Traditionally, this technique fragments a sound into small pieces called grains, which are manipulated and rearranged over time to create complex sound textures. This process generally relies on a buffer to store the audio and allow the fragmentation and manipulation of the grains in real time. However, my approach to developing a granular system has followed a different path, omitting the use of a buffer. Instead, I have focused on generating grains from the audio signal in real time.
The inspiration behind this approach comes directly from Barry Truax's ‘Riverrun’ (1986), one of the first pieces to employ real-time granular synthesis. Truax used the PDP-11 computer, one of the first widely available minicomputers in the 1970s and 1980s, known for its ability to process data in real time and handle interactive tasks. Through this system, he designed a process that stored sound fragments in buffers, which were then manipulated through granular synthesis to generate thousands of tiny ‘grains’ of audio per second.
Instead of using a buffer to store audio fragments, my system relies on direct, real-time manipulation of the sound through Max/MSP, exploring how small variations in the signal can generate changing, dynamic textures without the need for pre-stored recordings. This approach has allowed me to take granular synthesis into unusual territories, where each performance is unique.
The next step in this process was to integrate this system into my compositions, where live electronics and the interaction with the sound generated by my instrument, the tuba, play a central role, but this procedure can be applied to any audio signal. This combination of techniques has allowed me to create dense and enveloping soundscapes, where every note and every gesture of the performer affects the way the grains of sound unfold and transform. Where technology and music coexist in a shared space of constant evolution.
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