I began the composition with a simple drum and snare pattern, initially aiming to come up with an Afrobeat composition. But ended up with something completely different which sort of sounded good to me, so I chose to follow that direction. The structure follows an Intro → A → Rise → B → A → B. The composition is organized using timed sequences and multiple channels to allow me control individual layers. MIDI patterns are used to drive Hydra visuals, but this was quite challenging as my entire visual setup is made of videos. Getting them to sync with the pattern from the midi was, and is still very challenging.

Code snippets:


Hydra visuals

Tidal snippets:

Demo Video:

Composition structure: A + B + A + B(with slight modification)

I first started my composition in Tidal by gathering all the class examples and sample patterns that I liked. I experimented by changing the beats and playing around with different speeds. After settling on two parts, A and B, that I liked, I organized them into a composition with an A + B + A + B structure. Because I wanted a clear sense of beginning and ending, I kept both the opening and closing sections simple, with minimal beats and visuals, so the composition could build up and then gradually fade out.

For the visuals, I initially used a blob slowly flowing on the screen. When I synced it with my sound by adding a glitch effect to match the glitch sound, it felt too boring, and there were no significant differences between parts A and B. Therefore, I added a new section where more chaotic and unexpected visuals appear in part B.

Code Snippets:

shape(200, 0.4, 0.02)
  .repeat(() => cc[3] + 1, () => cc[3] + 1)
  .modulate(osc(6, 0.1, 1.5), 0.2)
  .modulateScale(osc(3,0.5),-0.6)
  .modulate(noise(() => cc[1], 0.2), 0.3)
  .color(
    () => Math.sin(time) * 0.5 + 0.5,
    0.4,
    1
  )
  .modulate(
    noise(50, 0.5),
    () => cc[0] + cc[0] * Math.sin(time*8)
  )
  .add(o0, () => cc[3])
  .scale(0.9)
  .out()
start = do
  d1 $ slow 2 $ s "house(4,8)" # gain 0.9
  d2 $ ccv "0 127" # ccn 1 # s "midi"
  d3 $ s "chin"   <| n (run 4) # gain 2
  d4 $ s "click"  <| n (run 4)
  d5 $ s "bubble" <| n (run 8)
  d12 $ ccv "0" # ccn 3 # s "midi"

start

back_drop_with_glitch = do
  d6 $
    s "supersnare(9,16)?"
      # cps (range 0.45 0.5 $ fast 2 tri)
      # sustain (range 0.05 0.25 $ slow 0.2 sine)
      # djf (range 0.4 0.9 $ slow 32 tri)
      # pan (range 0.2 0.8 $ slow 0.3 sine)
      # gain (range 0.3 0.7 $ fast 9.2 sine)
      # amp 0.9
  d7 $
    every 8 rev $
      s "bd*8 sn*8"
        # n "[1 ~ ~ ~ 1 ~ ~ ~] [[2 0?] ~ ~ [~ 0?]]"
        # amp "0.02 0.02"
        # shape "0.4 0.5"
  d8 $
    every 4 rev $
      s "[sostoms? ~ ~ sostoms?]*2"
        # sustain (range 0.02 0.1 $ slow 0.2 sine)
        # freq 420
        # shape (range 0.25 0.7 $ slow 0.43 sine)
        # voice (range 0.25 0.5 $ slow 0.3 sine)
        # delay 0.1
        # delayt 0.4
        # delayfb 0.5
        # amp 0.2
  d9 $
    s "[~ superhat]*4"
      # accelerate 1.5
      # nudge 0.02
      # amp 0.1
  d10 $ s "glitch" <| n (run 8)
  d11 $ ccv "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10" # ccn 0 # s "midi"

back_drop_with_glitch

another_beat = do
  -- d1 $ s "ul" # n (run 16)
  d5 $ s "supersnare(9,16)?" # cps (range 0.5 0.45 $ fast 2 tri ) # sustain (range 0.05 0.25 $ slow 0.2 sine )  # djf (range 0.4 0.9 $ slow 32 tri )  # pan (range 0.2 0.8 $ slow 0.3 sine )
  d7 $ fast 2 $ every 8 rev $ s "bd*8 sn*8" # n "[1 ~ ~ ~ 1 ~ ~ ~] [[2 0?] ~ ~ [~ 0?]]" # amp "0.02 0.02" # shape "0.4 0.5"
  d7 $ fast 2 $ every 4 rev $ s "[sostoms? ~ ~ sostoms?]*2" # sustain (range 0.1 0.02 $ slow 0.2 sine ) # freq 420 # shape (range 00.7 0.25 $ slow 0.43 sine ) # voice (range 00.5 0.25 $ slow 0.3 sine ) # delay 0.1 # delayt 0.4 # delayfb 0.5
  d8 $ s "[~ superhat]*4" # accelerate 1.5 # nudge 0.02
  d9 $ sound "bd:13 [~ bd] sd:2 bd:13" # krush "4"
  d12 $ slow 2 $ s "arpy" <| up "c'maj(3,8) f'maj(3,8) ef'maj(3,8,1) bf4'maj(3,8)"
  d1 $ ccv "0 0 0 0 0 127" # ccn 3 # s "midi"
  d4 $ fast 2 $ s "kurt" <| n (run 1)
  
another_beat

do
  start
  back_drop_with_glitch

beat_silence = do
  start
  d6 silence
  d7 silence
  d8 silence
  d9 silence
  d10 silence

beat_silence

hush

Here is a demo video of my composition progress:

  • I like the beats and visuals I have so far, but I haven’t decided on a solid composition structure yet.
  • Also, I feel like the visuals are too boring and simple. I think I need to include something unexpected at some point in the composition to make it more interesting.

What I loved about this reading the most is Kurokawa’s approach to presenting his art. His content is very cohesive and well researched in all his projects but he curates his own pieces in a way that just looking at the artwork is an experience itself. He says he does not have synesthesia himself but he creates experiences keeping the principle in mind. He focuses on the implicit interactions that occur during an experience; the eyes seeing the beat of the music, the body feeling the vibrations of the light and the ears associating visuals with the sounds. I would imagine he would be really hard to work with for curators because he has such a strong vision for how his artwork is meant to be shown. But at the same time, I love his intentionality and direction. I really admire how he’s able to take the chaotic-ness of nature and our environment, and express it in its full abrasive glory while using simple interactions to immerse the audience in his world.