Disquiet Junto Project 0589: Auto Play

The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa

Step 1: Think about things you’re used to doing when you make music, habits you take for granted.

Step 2: Record a track in which you automate something you usually do manually, or manually do something you usually automate — or both.

This project was inspired by recent conversation in the Disquiet Junto Slack.

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, April 17, 2023, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, April 13, 2023.

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

Disquiet Junto Project 0589: Auto Play

My submission for Disquiet Junto Project 0589: Auto Play
The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa
More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

Automated Unautomated (disquiet0589)

A live electronic sequence created in Pure Data, with automated irregularity.

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

Autobash (disquiet0589)

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

Auto Play

Disquiet Junto | Auto Play - disquiet0589

Visuals on YouTube @ https://youtu.be/5ChKLbMuPWA ... please subscribe! 🤗

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

visuals (YouTube)

halF automaT [disquiet0589]

Random patch and sequence on Korg Opsix, processed by Max4Live Xformer, Sonic Charge Permut8 and Vallhalla SuperMassive with parameters from the plugins automated by Max4Live LFO random
Drums from Maschine processed with Max4Live Xformer automated by Max4Live LFO random.

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

Automata (disquiet0589)

Usually when I record something, I do everything by hand - especially mixing and recording. So for this project, I decided to automate mixing and recording in a semi-random manner (with Drambo and AUM) and do the rest manually.

First I tried this with singing but it turned in too much of a mess. So in the end I jamed with some percussion instruments with the help of my five year old daughter.

We played into several loopers, with automated recording and overdubbing of the loops. For recording we simultaneously used four mics or rather a mic, a Zoom audio recorder (via line out), the built in Organelle mic with the Cannabits effect and Microfreak Vocoder. The looper channels went into a master channel with four effects that randomly were turned on and off (same pattern as loops).

We recoded one messy session and then overdubbed it with a second take. The result is one automated manual percussion mess (with some spoken instructions).

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

Disquiet0589 - Percussive Automation

[disquiet0589] Low

I spent all day re-organising my modular, and realised that the best way was to create a 'side instrument' in the smaller box- which I thought of like a VCS3, with joystick, poorly tracking oscillators and spring reverb, but without the pin matrix.  The idea is to get me out of my comfort zone and force a different workflow.  I used this box to create a tuned-by-ear drone, which I then played hands-on the synth for filter sweeps, levels, and feedback controlling - things I normally automate (I usually patch the modular to play itself as much as possible, and then play other keyboards over it).  

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

Give In To The Drone (disquiet0589)

Tell Yall Bout My Friends (disquiet0589)

for the disquiet junto //

algorithmic ambient + clicks 'n' cuts

==

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

Mechanised Revel

[disquiet0589] Mechanised Revel

Instruments: iKaossilator App, Synth One App, SpaceCraft App
Plugins: 2-C Kaleidoscope, CromoVerb, Valhalla Uber Mod

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-pr…ect-0589-auto-play/

Purchasing a Canopy (disquiet0589)

This was my contribution for the Disquiet Junto Project 0589: Auto Play

Here’s a copy of my post on the Disquiet Junto 0589 discussion thread:

I’m currently in the process of learning how to use a Torso T-1 generative sequencer, so I figured this project would be a good one to practice on. I usually like to utilize a combination of automatic and manual processes when creating music. But in this case, I let the hardware and software automatically generate almost all of the notes, patterns, parameters, etc.

I used the T-1 to generate the Ableton Live wavetable mallet melody, and used two instances of Max for Live Patter devices with Slate+Ash Choreographs to create additional sequences. I can get a little too granular and manipulative on many of my tracks, so it was refreshing to go on autopilot for most of this journey. 

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/
About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co 1: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

Autogenic Succession [disquiet0589]

Manual filter control. Normally I would automate the filter frequency. In this track there is a Shakti feedback module generating feedback via a Moog-style ladder filter and a reverb. Then the signal is split into several paths, one of which is passed through a Doepfer Wasp filter. The frequency is modulated by a ultrasound detector and actuated by my hand moving nearer and further away. There is another ultrasonic filter adding to a patch that provides an off kilter clock driving some envelopes that are modulating the other signal paths via a VCA and an LPG. All this was then recorded into Ableton and further manipulated.
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More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co 1: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

waving at a wasp (disquiet0589)

The latest Disquiet Junto project: automate processes you would normally do manually.

More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

automatic writing [disquiet0589]

This week's #disquietjunto prompt was to "automate something manual — or vice versa."

This was a REALLY interesting prompt that basically led me to flip many of the ways I make a song. It made me think about what automation can be (habit? Mylelin-encased pathways in the brain?) and made me create new ways to generate musical material.

LFO's did a lot of the automation for me (hey, no one ever said automation has to be predictable).

The song stars with a chord progression I often improvise over when warming up for a practice session. 

The chord progression later gets randomized using Ableton Follow Actions.

The piano bassline is complemented by Klevgrand's Syndtsphere, which lets you spin through different presets on three axes. I set up some gentle LFO's on each axis (trying to set constraints so they didn't randomize the synth into silence). 

The melody was generated by running one note into 
1) Ableton's Chord plug-in to generate several notes at once, then
2) Ableton's Arpeggiator with the Style parameter mapped to a slow-moving LFO to break the arpeggiation into different patterns, and Arpeggiator's Rate parameter mapped to the *same* LFO to change the rate of notes (it just sounded better this way somehow)

I bounced those MIDI notes to a new track and then edited out anything that sounded too random.

The melody in the B section was generated by ChatGPT.

The drumbeat was programmed by me, and then I had Soundtrap evolve it into a variation (which ended up being much more of a dance beat).

The swurpy percussion fills were generated by running the drum track through a delay with several parameters mapped to LFO's, bouncing it, and then some light editing to make the "fills" happen at significant times.

* * * * *
More on this 589th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Auto Play (The Assignment: Automate something manual — or vice versa), at: https://disquiet.com/0589/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co 1: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0589-auto-play/

AutoNatetion (disquiet0589)

My 33 1/3 series book about the Aphex Twin album <i>Selected Ambient Works Volume II</i> was published in 2014. The book was one of the top 5 bestselling titles for the calendar year, and in 2015 was ranked by Pitchfork as one of the "33 best" of the 100-plus books in the 33 1/3 series. It has subsequently been translated into Japanese (2019) and Spanish (2018)

Since 2012 I have moderated the Disquiet Junto group, which began on SoundCloud. More at disquiet.com/junto. 

I've written for Nature, Pitchfork, The Wire, Down Beat, Boing Boing, NewMusicBox, Red Bull Music Academy, Art Practical, the website of The Atlantic, and many other publications. 

I've exhibited sound art at galleries in Los Angeles (Crewest), Manhattan (apex art), and Dubai (DUTAC), and I had a audio-visual installation at the San Jose Museum of Art as part of its 45th anniversary.

And since 1996 I've run the website Disquiet.com about the intersection of sound, art, and technology.