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WeeklyBeats.com / Music / fc's music / 6 Bagatelles for MIDI-Controlled Piano

6 Bagatelles for MIDI-Controlled Piano

By fc on October 4, 2014 9:24 am

This is a tribute to Webern's 6 Bagatelles for string quartet, and somewhat of a nod to Conlon Nancarrow for his piano-roll rhythmic gnarleyness.

These are all generated by Max MSP in a patch I created (though it took me a while to tame!)
I was going for row-consistency, but it was too hard with the patch. They are completely serial.

I did the mixing/mastering in Ableton, and I also automated the velocity of the pitches in Ableton, rather than Max.

There are six, so don't be surprised at the stops. They are each a character piece, so to speak, and each has a pause between them. But they will never be repeatable, ever.

Here are the durations of each:

I. 2:00
II. 0:54
III. 0:22
IV. 1:50
V. 0:36
VI. 0:31

Total: 6'24"


Screen Shot 2014-10-04 at 1.29.00 PM by vince-giles, on Flickr

And just for funsies (seriously, just for fun) I made a score of the MIDI output, ran a "renotate this sanely" type plugin on it, went through and found where I think the pieces start and end, and that was that. But if you're a follow-along-kinda-person, then go for it.

CLICK HERE FOR SHITTY SCORE: IT IS NOT ACCURATE BUT IT WAS FUN

Audio works licensed by author under:
Copyright All rights reserved

:0

Nice row, nice changes. Score VERY impressive. I worked with a Yamaha MIDI grand in the 90s.

Thanks for all the positive things you said about my stuff (catching up?).

Jim Wood wrote:

Nice row, nice changes. Score VERY impressive. I worked with a Yamaha MIDI grand in the 90s.

Thanks for all the positive things you said about my stuff (catching up?).

Thanks. This was all Addictive Keys, but it would be awesome to use a real player piano.

No worries. I was indeed catching up!

i really enjoyed this, despite knowing how it was generated. i do not think it takes anything away from it, just saying that it was enjoyable even though the process confuses me a little. i just don't know much about max or midi or writing plugins lol.

george bowles wrote:

i really enjoyed this, despite knowing how it was generated. i do not think it takes anything away from it, just saying that it was enjoyable even though the process confuses me a little. i just don't know much about max or midi or writing plugins lol.

Nothin' wrong with generative music! Serial music is somewhat generative in its own right, so is Cage's i-ching derived processes. Lots of music is generative!

Glad you liked it.

i too love generative music and i use the random scales in fl studio more than i care to admit. also have dabbled in fractal music as well.

Excellent work with a great outcome.  Sounds very real for most part!  I love how on the score it's 'Rhythm will dictate character' and it's the rhythm that's the motherfucker.  haha.  I pity the fool (genius) that would ever have to read and learn to play this. 

george bowles wrote:

i too love generative music and i use the random scales in fl studio more than i care to admit. also have dabbled in fractal music as well.


I remember talking to you about fractals in 2012!

rdomain wrote:

Excellent work with a great outcome.  Sounds very real for most part!  I love how on the score it's 'Rhythm will dictate character' and it's the rhythm that's the motherfucker.  haha.  I pity the fool (genius) that would ever have to read and learn to play this.


I'm not sure I'd ever give it to a pianist to play without completely re-doing it. In fact, it'd probably require transcription by ear from the audio! Thanks muchly on the compliments; the free Addictive Keys grand is actually really nice.

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