MORPHOLOGY

I thought it would be a good idea to provide an insight into some of the methods I personally used to create the music of "Colour Theory" - you never know it might just help to stimulate your own creative processes.

overview

The music of my MIDI Album "Colour Theory" was constructed from initial experiments with two 'generative' music programs - [Gingerbread - by Phil Thompson(Organised Chaos) & Musinum - by Lars Kindermann] - see LINKS for site info. I usually start by experimenting/doodling within one of the applications and eventually producing an exportable MIDI file. Although the music produced by both programs is far more melodic than most other 'generative music' applications available, I personally still find it far more productive to view the output

of these programs as compositional starting points rather than finalised pieces. Another thing, I always work on the resulting MIDI files in a different session from that in which they were created due to the fact that they almost always sound different at a later date. So if you wait a while after the initial creative process you will most likely find you are more objective and thus give yourself the opportunity to maximise the chance of a rewarding and successful composition ~ although as always nothing is guaranteed.

methods & tools

For the purpose of this discussion I have used MusiNum as the "generative" starting point and through a process of 'experimentation' created a simple piece for guitar which utilises eight mono voices. The MusiNum 'min' file and the resultant exported MIDI file are available on the right of this text together with a link to the MusiNum web site if you don't already have a copy of this program (MusiNum 2.08 is 'freeware' - thanks Lars).

MusiNum get the MusiNum Application here.
Gtr1 get the 'Gtr1' min file here.
Gtr1_120 get the 'Gtr1_120' MIDI file here.

Note: One odd thing about Musinum is that tempo feels to be at twice normal speed. If you load the Gtr1.min file you will see the tempo is set to 240 (lower rates just sound to slow). For this reason I have reduced the length by 50% (Length function in Sonar) for all start times and durations, then set the tempo to 120.

The sequencer package I use is Cakewalk's SONAR but I am sure most other sequencers will have similar tools to perform most of the functions I will be using here.

Gtr1_120 is 84 bars long - prior to editing.

1.) The first step I take is to simply listen to the complete piece a few times and make some notes as to which parts I like, don't like, are repetitive, could be expanded upon etc..

3.) Initial Part allocation for 'Gtr1_120'; numbers inside the brackets are the original bar numbers.

PART 1 (1~10)
PART 2 (11~20)
PART 3 (21~22)
PART 4 (23~25)
PART 5 (26~27)
PART 6 (28~34)
PART 7 (40~47)
PART 8 (51~57)
PART 9 (68~68)
PART 10 (69~74)
PART 11 (75~78)
PART 12 (79~84)

2.) Next using a notepad I break down the complete piece into sections and give them all part numbers noting the bar start and end points working through the whole piece (missing out bars I have already decided I don't want). Right [ 3.] is my initial 'part' allocation for 'Gtr1_120'.

morph it

4.) Now that I have broken the original piece down into parts, on paper, it's time to work on the MIDI data. With the original file open in Sonar, I create a new file into which all the parts are copied and pasted as listed above. I also insert two empty bars between each part as an extra visual aid as well as using Sonar's 'markers' facility to enable the quick and easy auditioning of each part. At this point the file is saved as version 'B'.

5.) Our original file can now be closed as we no longer require it. The 'B' version is left open and a new file is now created called (er, yes you guessed) 'C'. Its the 'C' version that usually ends up as the final version.

For this particular piece I have kept things simple with only two "morphing" techniques used (I will add further examples at a later date with more extreme changes made to the music):-

MIDI RETROGRADE - One of my personal favourites, this command reverses the order of all events in a selection.

MIDI QUANTISE (DNA GROOVE) - Most sequencer packages these days come equipped with similar quantise pre-sets offering;shuffle, pushing, late, etc.

paste it up

6.) This next stage involves cutting and pasting from 'B' to 'C' - a part at a time - whilst experimenting with the two "morphing" techniques as above to alter the structure and feel of each part as we go. This is the bit were creative decisions are taken as to what treatments (or no treatments) sound right as you gradually form the final shape and feel of the song.

7.) Here's what I did to each part (note; unless stated all channels altered together)
Part 1 - No change
Part 2 - Channel 2 & 3 up an octave
Part 3 - Retrograde plus channel 5 down an octave.
Part 4 - Retrograde plus channel 1 & 2 up an octave.
Part 5 - DNA Groove 16th, shuffle feel 'A'.
Part 6 - DNA Groove 16th, shuffle feel 'A'
Part 7 - DNA Groove 16th, shuffle feel 'A' plus channel            6 down an octave.
Part 8 - DNA Groove 32nd, soft shuffle 'A' plus
           channel 6 retrograde.
Part 9 - DNA Groove 16th, sft shuffle 'A'.
Part 10 - Retrograde then DNA Groove 16th triplet.
Part 11 - No change.
Part 12 - Retrograde.

final

My final arrangement (Morphology) with the sequence of parts as follows: -

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Part 5 followed by a retrograde of Part 5
Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9,Part 10
Part 5 followed by a retrograde of Part 5
Part 11
Part 12 repeated 3 times to fade - also channel 6 from           Part 5 is used as a counterpoint.

FILE DOWNLOADS

Morphology - General MIDI version.

Morphology(Audio) - Windows Media File(1.4M)

The audio version above uses two of the acoustic guitars from the Korg Oasys sound card layered and panned wide.

That's it for the moment I hope this example has been of some help - I'll add another soon.