@postmodern Not sure about a conspiracy theory but there's documentation on the decision to settle on 440Hz. As for 12-TET, it's become so dominant that people assign everything else to #microtuning. In terms of musical diversity, it's had a big but mostly unnoticed impact.
Notices by Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)
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Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Sunday, 23-Jul-2017 20:58:03 UTC Alex Enkerli -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Friday, 14-Jul-2017 11:00:20 UTC Alex Enkerli This conversation between #AphexTwin and former #Korg engineer Tatsuya Takahashi has been making the rounds. For good reason.
http://item.warp.net/interview/aphex-twin-speaks-to-tatsuya-takahashi/
To me, the whole #microtuning part is not only interesting but useful and even important. A large effect of #pianocentrism is the (in)famous 12TET at 440Hz standard. A blip in human musicking, but a destructive one. -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Monday, 26-Jun-2017 02:26:20 UTC Alex Enkerli @woozle @luka @eylul @sk_ @sloum @cphuntington97 @fredmbarros @poemproducer @sakrecoer @sense @riglow @TheOtherAMF @PipeManMusic Might indeed make sense to add links to our profiles. Some may hate Soundcloud, but it’s convenient…
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Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Monday, 26-Jun-2017 02:20:45 UTC Alex Enkerli Since the #EigenD software for the #Eigenharp instruments has been open sourced a little while ago, this could qualify as #ArtWithOpenSource.
Will need to practice a lot more but it’s already pleasurable.
https://soundcloud.com/enkerli/clar-n-bass -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Sunday, 25-Jun-2017 22:15:58 UTC Alex Enkerli @woozle @msk @fluffy Been posting some simple experiments here. https://soundcloud.com/enkerli
Some of them are with Free/Libre Open Source Software, but not all.
Recently bought an Eigenharp Pico, which is my current focus in terms of #DigitalMusicking. -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Thursday, 22-Jun-2017 15:22:33 UTC Alex Enkerli @celesteh Insert joke about the tuba being a handful.
Part of my intention, with the Eigenharp, is to use it in Sonic Pi. (Not only is SPi a livecoding environment making SuperCollider really shine, but the new version allows us to do cool things with OSC and MIDI I/O.)
After attending some mixed synth/sax performances at Drone Day, been thinking about ways to involve my alto in synth-heavy projects. But learning the Eigenharp is likely to take more of my attention. -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Thursday, 22-Jun-2017 12:15:45 UTC Alex Enkerli @celesteh USB only. The bigger Eigenharps (Tau and Alpha) use a base station. They're so imposing that it distracted me from understanding the ’harp was my ideal instrument. Can play the Pico like a sax.
So your back is in tuba? Do you still play? -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Thursday, 22-Jun-2017 04:47:53 UTC Alex Enkerli @celesteh To me, the main point of those controllers is expressiveness. My #Eigenharp Pico is by far the most expressive digital instrument for my needs with 3D touch plus breath control and a strip. All very high resolution (14 bits instead of MIDI’s typical 7 bits) and high sampling rate (2kHz as control rate is pretty much a firehose).
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Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Thursday, 22-Jun-2017 04:44:09 UTC Alex Enkerli @celesteh The Eigenharps do require a connection to a computer but that computer can actually be a Raspberry Pi (haven't tried that part, yet). It does send MIDI (including MPE) and OSC (not clear on this part, yet).
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Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Thursday, 22-Jun-2017 04:42:20 UTC Alex Enkerli @celesteh Yeah, my blog is down. Still not quite sure why.
Got the ’harp Monday. My main background in music is as a sax player (for over thirty years, including training in classical music). Bought a Yamaha WX11 in the mid-1990s. Was only able to have fun with it recently. -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Jun-2017 22:41:14 UTC Alex Enkerli In all sincerity, my #Eigenharp makes me feel like my life is complete.
In fact, it made me blog for the first time in quite a while. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, my #WordPress server is having issues and this post is currently unavailable. But still.)
http://blog.enkerli.com/2017/06/21/not-holding-my-breath/ -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Saturday, 17-Jun-2017 21:31:11 UTC Alex Enkerli @randulo To my ear, wind controllers can produce some of the most expressive music. But the overall model for those instruments hasn't necessarily reached its destination. We need even more control, possibly polyphony, and more appropriate sound generators. Wrote some of that description already but my exploration will surely go deeper.
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Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Saturday, 17-Jun-2017 01:39:45 UTC Alex Enkerli @cnc @acw “it's important to ensure that a FOSS project doesn't get coopted by a corporation and "rebranded" and turned into nonfree software”
That opinion is shared by a significant contingent but not necessarily all. Some would argue that a more radical freedom is the one where some versions can be non-Free since freedom will win out anyway. -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Friday, 16-Jun-2017 16:40:37 UTC Alex Enkerli @cnc Which doesn't meant that we shouldn't discuss both in the same context. Free/Libre Open Source Software is more than two sets of principles: it’s a #SphereOfAgency.
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Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Jun-2017 22:28:43 UTC Alex Enkerli Geeking out over MPE: #MultidimensionalPolyphonicExpression. Getting exceedingly interested in the work #GeertBevin has done. It's as though he heard my pleas, over the years. Funny thing is, there's a big difference between guitar players like him and wind instrument players like me. Especially on phrasing.
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Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Jun-2017 11:41:02 UTC Alex Enkerli @randulo Yeah, now we’re talking.
If you have an iOS device, there are some neat patches for wind controllers. The key, to me, has been to use breath control to modulate the cutoff frequency of a low-pass filter. It's a bit like a wah-wah pedal, but it has more effect on the intensity of the sound. -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Jun-2017 02:04:32 UTC Alex Enkerli This video summarizes my upcoming ’harp pretty well:
https://youtu.be/TVaTDXQdXkY
The breath control is extremely important to me as a sax player but the use of the ribbon controller to “bow” a cello is also giving me ideas.
The support for different scales, including #microtuning is pretty nice. And the “Bel Canto” language, playing commands on the instrument itself is just rad. -
Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Jun-2017 01:58:16 UTC Alex Enkerli Keep learning about more and more features of this very sophisticated digital musical instrument. In some ways, it's a bit like the (in)famous toaster/fridge, or Homer Simpson's dream car. It's like John Lambert took my whole wishlist and built something combining everything. Eight years ago, when most of these thoughts were germinating.
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Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Jun-2017 01:55:26 UTC Alex Enkerli After a few days, several interactions with diverse people, and a little help from someone close to me, was able to purchase an #Eigenharp. It'll take a little while to reach me but it's already having a nice effect on me. A bit hard to describe. Can't stop talking about it but it now feels less like an obsession and more like something which will be part of my life.
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Alex Enkerli (enkerli@mastodon.cc)'s status on Tuesday, 13-Jun-2017 01:44:23 UTC Alex Enkerli Bit the bullet and bought one of these, an #Eigenharp Pico: https://youtu.be/TVaTDXQdXkY
Will surely post stuff about it on this instance. The main idea is, for me, that it's a #WindController which supports MPE: Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression. In a way, it's my dream instrument. Was quite literally dreaming about a device which could transcend the limitations of most controllers yet allow for direct breath control.
More soon…