Re: [livecode] after practising for a month

Dear all,
         I thought I'd make a quick report after practising live coding
(with SuperCollider) every day for the month of August. The code archive is
here and I've also rendered a few mp3s just to give some idea of how it
sounded (there is a lot more material to convert here, but at least you can
hear a few moments):

http://swiki.hfbk-hamburg.de:8888/MusicTechnology/815

Main discoveries (initial thoughts, I haven't looked back through the
sessions extensively at this point):

1) It's very tiring, particularly after a day of computer based work. It's
not relaxing/alternative stimulation, and for that I miss piano/violin
practice, which I forsook while I've been doing this.

2) Quality varies very much, often correlated to what time of day I might
have been doing the session, but also based on the theme I choose for the
day. One week I challenged myself to explore the 3x+1 problem, and the
negotiations with the algorithmic theme probably became more refined as the
week went on, though still varying in their musical effectiveness because
of the further issue of psychological mapping etc. I found myself choosing
between musical output and mathematical thinking. (perhaps there is a way
to have one person map while another explores the maths?)

3) If I chose a tough theme, there would be a break at the start of the set
while I tried to get some basic functions coded- sometimes 5 minutes before
any sound! All the sessions were from scratch live coding, so either a
forgiving connoisseur audience, a duet partner, or cover material for the
early stages would help in dramatic presentation.

4)  However, I could often reach a critical point of complexity and breadth
of material where unexpected and interesting results would flow, and there
were enough voices to play with to maintain a musical exploration
simultaneous to the algorithmic exploration. The Aug 4th session is a good
demo of this happier state.

5) I got better at it, by introducing various shortcuts, by having certain
synthesis and algo comp tricks in the fingers ready for episodes, and just
by sheer repetition. I did try to use jitlib a few times, perhaps
successfully on one occasion, though the habits of jitlib actually
interfered with my standard non-jitlib habits, so I'd need a month on
jitlib alone to cover that properly. I was happier without it (sorry
Julian, though I did use Tdef every day!) just in the way that you get used
to your own way of working, even though it might not be the best general
approach.

Ok, enough from me, getting this out of my system. Now it's someone else's
turn for September? I'd be curious to hear other people's impressions after
they try this sort of exercise, feel free to email me off list, or post for
everyone on list.

best
N