Minimalism for Modular #5: Hans Otte's Book of Sounds

video upload by Electrum Modular

"An introduction to the ethereal music of Hans Otte, via a modular interpretation of two parts (2 and 7) from his Book of Sounds (1979-82).

Also contains several ideas for generative/aleatory sequencing in a modular system: in particular, decoupling pitch and gate, combining a multi-channel sample player (Disting EX) with a sequencer that has per-step gate outputs (0-Ctrl), and using a series of probabilistic gates (Missed Opportunities) to distribute/alternate pitch variations.

0:00 Introduction
1:41 First patch (Book of Sounds, part 7)
6:28 Second patch (Book of Sounds, part 2)

For those new to Hans Otte’s music, I would recommend his own rendition of The Book of Sounds:



And this 1995 album, Aquarian Music: • Siebengesang (Seven-Song)

PSP Pianoverb free download: https://www.pspaudioware.com/products...



Alexander Holm's Salamander Grand Piano, downsized by j_e_f_f_g, and reformatted for the Disting: https://app.box.com/s/rxl1nz0zv5hl62c...

A special thank you to Silvia Otte, for generously providing the photographs of her late father.

'Le Sacrifice: Introduction' from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, played by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski (78rpm record, His Master's Voice, 1939):
https://archive.org/details/78_first-...

Processed through a bandpass filter, with frequency boost around 3mHZ, and combined with filtered white noise, etc. to create the vintage radio effect

Images of Hans Otte’s “On Earth” (Edition Kölnischer Kunstverein II):
https://archive.org/details/cd_editio...

Sources:
Amy C. Beal, American Experimental Music in West Germany from the Zero Hour to Reunification (University of California Press, 2006) – in particular, for the reference to Otte’s wartime experience.
Ingo Ahmels, Hans Otte: Klang Der Klänge (Schott Musik International, 2006)

Modules used:
Expert Sleepers' Disting EX and Disting Mk4
QuBit Bloom
Dnipro's Metamorph
Cutelab’s Missed Opportunities
Tesseract’s Sweet Sixteen Faderbank
Tesseract’s Step Fader II
ALM's Pamela's New Workout
ALM’s MFX
Doepfer’s Sequential Switch (A-151)
Low Gain Electronic’s Shortbus
Intellijel’s Quad VCA
Behringer Neutron
Make Noise’s 0-Ctrl"