Release date: October 15, 2023
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Microtonal Experiment One — MacOS — Windows
Microtonal Experiment Two — MacOS — Windows
Microtonal Experiment Three — MacOS — Windows
Microtonal Experiments with Piano Samples, Rainfall and Sine Waves, the third release from Celestial Messenger, is a deeply exploratory wander around the borderlands between ambient music and contemporary experiments in microtonal and generative composition.
For Experiment One we composed an algorithm to repeatedly play a low note of the so-called 'cosmic octave' (around a quarter tone below a low C#/Db), each time randomly choosing between four possible grand piano samples, then replying with a cluster of three grand piano samples two to four octaves above, each tone a randomly chosen frequency somewhere within that octave, unrelated to conventional musical pitch (so, 'microtonal'). Meanwhile, the continuously playing urban field recording adjusts its pitch to one of the three frequencies from the previous chord. In this way, hopefully the 'nonmusical' sounds of the city provide the 'traditional' melodic anchor while the traditionally musical sounds veer off to explore microtonal possibilities.
The repetitive and non-musical nature of the piano sounds is similar to drone in its affective drift and almost trance-inducing effect. Anyway, just listen and see what happens.
In Experiment Two, best in headphones. we composed an algorithm to randomly generate sine waves a few hertz apart slowly fading in and out in each ear, along with rainfall samples with similar behaviour. The differences in the waves are different from, usually smaller than, a whole tone (so, "microtonal"). Given the short durations of the waves, the algorithm might be said to be exploring the musical potential of so-called binaural beats simultaneously with the neuro-active potential of microtonal music. Again, drift is induced.
Experiment Three brings experiments one and two together in a live played experiment. We composed an algorithm to compose a three dimensional space of nested concentric spheres made up of a range of piano samples, synthesiser samples and rainfall samples. Then we navigated this nested spherical soundspace live, flying through each sample in real time until they all disappeared, which took about thirty minutes. Flying and drifting.
Composed, programmed, performed and recorded by Celestial Messenger.
#ambient, #microtonal, #generative #experimental