Unstable Structure: The improvising modular synthesiser

White, A

Unstable Structure: The improvising modular synthesiser

White, A

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Publisher:: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: ORGANISED SOUND, 2022
Issue Date:: 2022-02-14

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	White, A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6812-7660
dc.date.accessioned	2022-12-02T02:17:55Z
dc.date.available	2022-12-02T02:17:55Z
dc.date.issued	2022-02-14
dc.identifier.citation	ORGANISED SOUND, 2022
dc.identifier.issn	1355-7718
dc.identifier.issn	1469-8153
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/164053
dc.description.abstract	<jats:p>The desire to work in real time and improvise with the possibilities of tape-based studio practice was a key design intention of early modular synthesisers. The resulting instruments, in particular the Buchla, emphasised possibilities for the creation of musical structure in combination with components designed to enable real-time, expressive interaction. As smaller, keyboard-based synthesiser instruments achieved broad commercial success, many of the possibilities for the real-time creation and manipulation of musical structures, developed in the larger modular synthesiser designs, were not carried forward into the new age of commercial electronic music instruments. The resurgence of the modular synthesiser has seen these possibilities for improvisation of musical structures revisited, opening up processes and approaches that were almost lost to a new generation. Following an analysis of the genesis of modular synthesisers, with a focus on the Buchla, this article describes three examples of modular synthesiser-based compositional processes that enable the performer to undertake improvised actions in real time that construct, influence and distort musical structure. These examples are then analysed to better understand the processes, motivations and experiences of using a modular synthesiser to construct musical structure in a real-time and improvised fashion.</jats:p>
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
dc.relation.ispartof	ORGANISED SOUND
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1017/S1355771821000595
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	1904 Performing Arts and Creative Writing
dc.title	Unstable Structure: The improvising modular synthesiser
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	1904 Performing Arts and Creative Writing
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/School of Communication
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2022-12-02T02:17:54Z
pubs.publication-status	Published

Abstract:

The desire to work in real time and improvise with the possibilities of tape-based studio practice was a key design intention of early modular synthesisers. The resulting instruments, in particular the Buchla, emphasised possibilities for the creation of musical structure in combination with components designed to enable real-time, expressive interaction. As smaller, keyboard-based synthesiser instruments achieved broad commercial success, many of the possibilities for the real-time creation and manipulation of musical structures, developed in the larger modular synthesiser designs, were not carried forward into the new age of commercial electronic music instruments. The resurgence of the modular synthesiser has seen these possibilities for improvisation of musical structures revisited, opening up processes and approaches that were almost lost to a new generation. Following an analysis of the genesis of modular synthesisers, with a focus on the Buchla, this article describes three examples of modular synthesiser-based compositional processes that enable the performer to undertake improvised actions in real time that construct, influence and distort musical structure. These examples are then analysed to better understand the processes, motivations and experiences of using a modular synthesiser to construct musical structure in a real-time and improvised fashion.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/164053