The importance of transduction in live remixing
Transduction is the act of conversion of one form of energy or signal into another, like transforming audio signals into corresponding data that can be used to manipulate or control musical parameters. I want to introduce some aspects to consider when setting up transductive interactions in a live remixing rig.
Transductive Criticality: This term can be seen as a pivotal concept within the Triaxis model, particularly within the Origo. It represents the optimal balance between different processing modes and musical elements, where the potential for creative novelty is maximized. The criticality aspect underscores the delicate, often transient state where slight changes can lead to significantly different musical outcomes. In more practical, operational terms it points to the threshold edge of sensitivity or tolerance in a transduction.
An analogy of this is how routing an audio feedback chain requires enough sensitivity to self-oscillate, yet have enough tolerance to be musically usable for the intended purpose, and to not blow up the PA.
The transductive criticality refers to that window of signal transfer from one domain to another, where it is sensitive enough to translate the nuanced movements, yet have the transductive tolerance to withstand unwanted noise, interference, leaks from other sources and have the needed headroom to transduce large range dynamics without clipping or flatlining in the extremes.
It is the scaling sweet spot of transductive processes' inputs and their respective scaling of output range in accordance to their mapping destination. This is a crucial balancing act when creating dynamic, responsive operation within the interconnected system of processes one chooses.
Transductive Resolution: This concept deals with the granularity with which transductive processes (those converting one form of energy or signal into another within your setup) can be controlled or manipulated. High transductive resolution allows for finer, more precise manipulations of parameters, enhancing the nuanced movements in a signal amplitude or frequency information, thus enabling a more direct translation of the original signal to its transduction curve. It's particularly useful in discussions of how technology can facilitate sound transformations that impact the perceptual experience of music. Techniques such as implementing millisecond latencies to create ramps between sudden jumps in amplitude, resulting in smoothing of the envelope curve of an Envelope Follower, using different refresh rates to enable step ladder behaviour in the signal to create signal jumps, due to the loss of transduction between sampling points of the peak value.
Pre-transductive filtration: Pre-transductive filtration describes the act of enhancing, processing or filtering different qualities of the initial signal.
We can utilize EQ filtering, compressing, gating and other manipulations that truncate or expand the original signal source prior to the transduction happening.
In some scenarios, we do not want the transduction to happen on the same track as the audio track we are handling the output in. This happens when we want to create a nodular transduction point that only intends to capture parts of a signal, e.g. only the low frequency movements, or if we only want it to transduce above a certain threshold, but in both cases do not want to alter the resulting audio as well. For this to be possible, we have to route the audio to another track or let that track use the original audio track as its input, and apply the lowpass filter or gate there, do the transduction to the designated parameter control, but without any audio output on the transduction track.
Transductive Efficiency: This term highlights the effectiveness with which energy or information is converted from one form to another within the remixician’s setup. In practical terms, it relates to how well the system utilizes input (e.g., vocal signals, instrumental inputs) to produce desired outputs (e.g., MIDI triggers, chain parameter dynamics) without loss of fidelity or intent. It is dependent upon the transductive resolution and sensitivity, yet it focuses on how intuitive the transduction is to interact with for its intended purpose.
Consider a church organ, which has a very high tactile transductive efficiency, meaning it requires very little effort to go from intention to manifestation in terms of the musician's input and the resulting powerful sonic result. It requires relatively soft tactile effort, has a keyboard that makes sonification achievable and reliable, which when compared to the finger strength, dexterity and intonation precision required to play a cello, is vastly more efficient.
In electronic music, we can generate a symphonic orchestra of sound with the push of a MIDI pad, creating even higher transductive efficiency. There is a caveat though, which is that the embodiment of manifesting the intention becomes more and more distant, which can result in an anti-climactic discrepancy between what the musical movement feels like for the musician vs. how it sounds coming out. In those scenarios, I recommend implementing some resistance or effort needed, so that the transductive processes reflect the felt experience of the resulting sound, even if it makes it more challenging to perform. There is a reason behind why for instance drummers will prefer having to hit large drum pads with sticks and considerable force, rather than opting for the convenience and delicacy of a finger controlled MIDI pad.
When the action more closely match the outcome, the expressive energy and intention is more likely to be transferred with equal integrity. Exceptions are obviously numerous, but use transductive efficiency to challenge yourself in ways that warrant a sense of accomplishment, not as a way to mask lazy shortcuts to grandiose results or other ego-inflating reasons.