ok hello! This list is alive!
Introducing myself, erm...
I use SuperCollider for creating music but I also play guitar, piano
and at the
moment I am practicing playing the clarinet. I play in few improv-
bands (with acoustic
or electric instruments) where I use SuperCollider and I have to
confess it's
sometimes hard to keep up with the changes in the music, when using
software.
I see building software environment for fast reactions in a free
improv situation
as my main challenge these days.
I don't really livecode (as defined by toplap) although I sometimes
(reluctantly) write
some code while playing live and run it. I prefer not to have to
write code while
playing live as I find it distracts me from concentrating on the
music. I am also more
interested in people just closing their eyes listening than watching
what I am doing.
However, I have always enjoyed "toplappy" performances by people like
Slub, Nick
Collins, Ge Wang, Dave Griffiths, etc, etc, and I hope to see more of
them in the future.
My interest in Toplap and this list is based on curiosity but also
because I use many of the
tools that are relevant here and/or developed by people on the list
(SC, PD, ChucK, Impromptu).
Related to my interest in Toplap: one of my long term subject of
fascination is "embodiment"
in music or how we learn playing instruments by incorporating the
knowledge into our motor
memory ( i.e. learning acoustic instruments, but arguably also
digital hardware).
I find the act of playing an acoustic instrument and livecoding (as
defined by Toplap) almost
two opposites of a spectrum. The instrumentalist uses his/her body to
play the instrument and
often the playing just "happens" without conscious decisions. The
skill is in the body.
The livecoder however is all in "the mind". The typing on the
keyboard is just (irritating?)
latency and not an integral part of the playing. Wouldn't the dream
of the livecoder be to
think the algorithms and plug the thought directly onto projected
screens without the
intervention of the body?
Livecoding is disembodied music par excellence and that's what I find
fascinating.
Please disagree, I'd be interested in other views.
---
I also work on a project called ixi ( www.ixi-software.net ) with
some other people.
The ixi apps are not embodied as such - they are interfaces to
soundengines that can
be written in SC/PD/ChucK/Max or whatever can communicate using OSC.
(At the moment
there are only old apps there, but something should happen soon when
we finally
get our asses together and decide what/how/when to upload the new
stuff).
---
Cheers
Thor
Received on Mon Apr 17 2006 - 12:38:52 BST