Samuel J. Hunt
ABSTRACT
Polyrhythms, Polymeters, and Polytempo are compositional techniques that describe pulses which are desynchronous between two or more sequences of music. Digital systems permit the sequencing of notes to a near-infinite degree of resolution, permitting an exponential number of complex rhythmic attributes in the music. Exploring such techniques within existing popular music sequencing software and notations can be challenging to generally work with and notate effectively. Step sequencers provide a simple and effective interface for exploring any arbitrary division of time into an even number of steps, with such interfaces easily expressible on grid based music controllers.
The paper therefore has two differing but related outputs. Firstly, to demonstrate a framework for working with multiple physical grid controllers forming a larger unified grid, and provide a consolidated set of tools for programming music instruments for it. Secondly, to demonstrate how such a system provides a low-entry threshold for exploring Polyrhytms, Polymeters and Polytempo relationships using desynchronised step sequencers.
- Willi Apel. 2003. The Harvard dictionary of music (4th ed.). Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
- Christopher Dobrian. 2012. Techniques for Polytemporal Composition. In Proceedings of Korean Electro-Acoustic Music Society's 2012 Annual Conference (KEAM-SAC2012). Korean Electro-Acoustic Music Society, Seoul, Korea, 1--8.Google Scholar
- Alan Dorin. 2002. LiquiPrism: Generating polyrhythms with cellular automata. In Proceedings of the 2002 International Conference on Auditory Display. Georgia Institute of Technology, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute, Kyoto, Japan, 447 -- 451.Google Scholar
- Jared Dunne. 2007. Monome 40h Multi-Purpose Hardware Controller.Google Scholar
- Martim Galvao. 2014. Metric Interplay: A Case Study In Polymeter, Polyrhythm, And Polytempo. Ph.D. Dissertation. UC Irvine.Google Scholar
- Dave Hodder. 2018. Launchpad Pro. Technical Report. Focusrite. https://github.com/dvhdr/launchpad-proGoogle Scholar
- Viljo Malmberg et al. 2010. Iris: A circular polyrhythmic music sequencer. Master's thesis. Aalto University.Google Scholar
- Monome. 2020. Grid. Technical Report. Monome. https://monome.org/docs/grid/Google Scholar
- Chris Nash. 2014. Manhattan: End-user programming for music. In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. NIME, Goldsmiths, University of London, 221--226.Google Scholar
- Nathan Renney and Benedict R Gaster. 2019. Digital Expression and Representation of Rhythm. In Proceedings of the 14th International Audio Mostly Conference: A Journey in Sound. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Nottingham United Kingdom, 9--16.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Richard Vogl and Peter Knees. 2017. An intelligent drum machine for electronic dance music production and performance.. In 17th International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. NIME, Copenhagen, Denmark, 251--256.Google Scholar
- Scott Wilson, David Cottle, and Nick Collins. 2011. The SuperCollider Book. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Exploring polyrhythms, polymeters, and polytempi with the universal grid sequencer framework
Recommendations
Digital Expression and Representation of Rhythm
AM '19: Proceedings of the 14th International Audio Mostly Conference: A Journey in SoundMusic provides a means to explore time by sequencing musical events in a seemingly endless and expressive way. This potential often far exceeds the ability of digital systems to enable composers and performers to explore musical time, perhaps due to the ...
Human sequencer
NIME '07: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on New interfaces for musical expressionThis audio game is an interactive installation for collective musical creation. The challenge is to create together as a group interesting rhythmic patterns in a giant sequencer controlled by the visitors' feet on the floor. The virtual playback head ...
Multi-conductor: an onscreen polymetrical conducting and notation display system
NIME '03: Proceedings of the 2003 conference on New interfaces for musical expressionThis software tool, developed in Max/MSP, presents performers with image files consisting of traditional notation as well as conducting in the form of video playback. The impetus for this work was the desire to allow the musical material for each ...
Comments