Ch. X.1
Superorganismic technological anatomy
Visualize the live remixing setup not merely as a collection of equipment but as a dynamic, expansive brain - a superorganism with a complex nervous system stretching across the performance space. This analogy transcends mere technical configurations, suggesting an intuitive, holistic view of the technological and human elements as interconnected parts of a larger, living system.
In this superorganismic model, the myriad cables and signal paths represent the neural pathways, facilitating communication and interaction between various "organs" - the instruments and technology operated by performers.
Each component in the rig functions akin to an organ, specialized and essential, contributing to the overall vitality and functionality of the system.
Focusing on interoperability within this superorganismic body highlights the importance of seamless integration and fluid communication between different technological components and performers. Just as a biological organism relies on the efficient functioning of its nervous system to coordinate its actions and respond to its environment, the remixing rig depends on a well-integrated setup to enable creative expression and dynamic performance.
This perspective invites us to consider the rig as a living entity, capable of 'thought' - musical ideas and expressions - propagated through its 'nervous system' to the performers, who then interpret and manipulate these inputs into a coherent, collective output. The technological anatomy of the rig, therefore, is not just a static framework but a vibrant, responsive organism.
Drawing from this analogy, we can also explore the transmodal aspects of this setup. Transmodal perception in this context refers to the ability of the remixician to perceive and interact with the musical environment in multiple sensory modalities simultaneously. For example, the embodied gesture of playing a MIDI controller may be as integral to the performance as the auditory output from the speakers. This blending of sensory inputs and outputs enhances the immersive experience of the performance, both for the performers and the audience.
Ch. X.3
Generative khaos
In live remixing, try to view chaos not as a destructive force, but as a generative, essential element in the creative process that enables new directions and challenges rigidity. It is easy to fall into the trap of limiting the perception of chaos to something that "decays order" - conceptualizing it more akin to the notion of entropy in thermodynamics.
The term 'chaos' traces back to Ancient Greek "χάος" (khaos), symbolizing the vast, formless void from which the cosmos was born. This primordial conception aligns with the notion of chaos as a fertile ground brimming with potential - from where new order can emerge. While modern interpretations often associate chaos with randomness or complete disorder, its original connotation is more about the absence of order, a state of potentiality from which new forms and structures can arise.
Chaos, in its original sense, encapsulates not mere disorder, but a deep state of potential. In the context of music, it can be thought of as the fertile soil from which novel musical ideas sprout. Since chaos is usually perceived when encountering complex behaviours and movements that defy predictable patterns and directions, there is an inherent opposition of predefined notions in its experience from our perception. It could however originate from such complex order, that to the uninformed ear - it is perceived as chaos. Fear not, there is enough distinction in the pragmatic context of music, that it should be clear which way it makes sense to view the musical movement or distribution.
Artists have vastly different sensitivities to chaos, and so what one might consider intriguing variation, another would feel thrown out of their tolerance window. Experientially this is highly subjective - also in the sense of harmonic, melodic and rhythmic capacity of the performer or listener. What to some is clearly an ordered and exciting 5:4 polyrhythmic relation, might be an annoying, chaotic offset "ruining the groove".
Chaos acts as a cleansing force, clearing established patterns to make way for innovative expressions, rejuvenating the musical environment with fresh ideas.
Somnambulance is a very chaos inspired piece that shows how Alessandra's free-flowing percussive one-shots and gestures stretch and push the flux of time, while my frenetic structuring attempts through arpeggiated cascades of rhythmic events creates spontaneous, temporary sandcastles that Alessandra's waves of noise wash away in organic movements.
Chaos can be hierarchical when we transduce the movements of the chaos agents in the system to instruct our structuring, be them human or machine or anything inbetween.
Be wary of overly saturating your performance with chaotic and unpredictable elements. While such mechanisms can initially invigorate the creative process, their novelty may rapidly diminish, leading to a paradoxically flat dynamic.
Like in some forms of contemporary, free jazz where relentless innovation becomes a safety net, obscuring the need for thoughtful engagement with structure. I suspect it is the expectation of unpredictability that makes the performer falsely and narrowly believe that this chaotic space of potential warrants no considerate attempt to actually arrive to a spontaneous composition - dare to commit to structure and order, yet do not become its captive.
Ch. X.4
Crystallization
Loops can feel repetitive, but with presence and continued insisting, their mantric nature starts revealing structures that are bigger than the microscopic format of a few bars of the same. Hence, an analogy to consider is the crystal. Lattices, if zoomed in on, appear to be just repeating basic structures, or even like the tiles of tesselated mosiac architecture. When zooming out, however, the bigger macrostructures or crystalline shapes emerge, like the pixels of this screen becomes an image, instead of thousands of iterations of red, green and blue dots. The same can be experientially true for our "temporal resolution". The remixician can utilize time dilation and compression to force perspective shifts in our sense of time, as well as recontextualizing past, present and future events with great flexibility.
In the piece Neurodiva, the repeating cycles of kick drums, the arpeggiated basslines, the percussive patterns dissecting the 5 based groove and LFO synced tremolos of the wet fx, are examples of introducing and enforcing periodicity out of the fluid chaos of spaceous, off-the-grid noise. We are converging the flux of vibrations and oscillations into resonant tonal gravity and ostinatos, we are structuring hectic clouds of reverb and partial feedbacks into fluttering percussive waves in the soundscape, making the "canvas" of space shake and vibrate with the bouncing sonic gestures, slowly building and transmuting building blocks of loops as the song began to emerge through our interactions.
As these units of time extend and reiterate themselves through cycles of actions, or even as pentagonal geometric rotations gradually revealing a rhythmic spiral of 5/4 - the proverbial grid or pulse of the system starts to appear.
The piece goes through several phases of layering and shedding, like an organism growing, letting go, evolving, yet retaining something consistent through its span through these seasons of different climates. Here, Alessandra's voice oscillates between being a hierarchical individual force of various degrees of contrasting chaos and order - and being rhizomatically reinterpreted by my manipulations of her voice being refracted through the prism of my effect chains collectively. This dance between establishing, insisting and breaking down structures and spatio-temporal flux in the song makes it a good case study for the X axis.
Ch. X.2
Co-evolution
As a remixician interacts with electronic music systems, they receive auditory feedback that informs their subsequent actions, creating a feedback learning loop. The performer adjusts to the system's response, exploring the boundaries, testing out novel techniques, approaching the edge of criticality.
To get the desired results requires sufficient stress testing of processing power, one's own capacity limits of operating the rig, flexibility of re-routing signals and parameter controls and dedicated practicing to facilitate muscle memory.
The evolution of one's instrumental setup is often a dialogic process, a symbiotic interplay between the artist and the affordances of the chosen technology. It is a facilitation that requires to be tried and tested in the field, through experimentation and courage in a live performance with real risk involved. Just as our own nervous systems respond differently to being on stage in front of an audience or in an expensive studio recording situation, these challenges that can come with the territory are going to reveal any critical thresholds or responsivities needed to navigate and create with efficiency, authenticity and liberty.
