studiotoolz♥

Interchanzheblique is a sound generation program with almost limitless possibilities. The multiplicity of generated sounds arises from the modularity inherent in the design. That is, modules which control different parameters of the sound can be interchanged in any combination to produce different sounds. New modules can also be easily created and inserted into the program, thus limiting the capabilities of the program to the imagination of the user.

Computer Muzak Modular Interchanzheblique is a concept that has been a work in progress for a long time. My first major attempt to make improvised music using computers started several years ago using Max/MSP. I started with small programs that produced interesting sounds, but lacked any kind of organization. After awhile, I collected many of the sounds together into one program that organized them and allowed them to be played simultaneously. I then added support for networking so that two people could play at the same time and share information about their improvisations. We tried this for awhile (and also tried having 4 people playing at the same time on 4 computers), but we finally realized that the possibilities were too limited. That’s when the idea of Interchanzheblique was born.

Interchanzheblique’s claim to fame is that its musical possibilites are practically infinite. Here is a basic rundown of how it works: There are 4 different types of modules that one must choose to create a sound – rhythm, pitches, timbre, and envelope. The combination of the particular modules chosen causes different sounds. The rhythm module sends rhythms to the pitches module. The pitches module assigns pitches to each rhythm and sends them to the timbre module. The timbre module generates a tone at that pitch and using the specified timbre, and sends that to the envelope module. The envelope module then shapes the note’s volume in time and sends the audio to the effects chain. The audio is then put through whatever series of effects are desired, in whatever order is desired, and then the sound is finally sent out to the listener…

A program designed to benefit from interaction among a community of users. As more people design new modules and share them, the musical possibilities are exponentially increased.

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http://interchanzheblique.snottywong.com/ (1258 clicks)

filed under the Max/MSP category.