Complex System

video upload by Memetune Studio

"I was wanting a way of setting up an interactive environment to record sounds from some modular systems which could be the basis for some improvised performance based sound explorations

I figured that if I set up some cybersynth patches (ie patches that are evolving by themselves in some way, or are at least dynamically varied over time) and could record some long stereo samples (loops) that could be manipulated live, this might be an interesting thing to do

It occurred to me that the Octatrack, which I got a few years ago and use as a granulating sample mangler, might be perfect to pair with the modulars in this way

The thing about the Octatrack is that it is so unbelievably deep and sophisticated that it can be very difficult to set things up on. I see it as a truly Complex System (AI Overview definition: Complex systems are characterized by numerous interacting parts and emergent behaviors that are not readily predictable from the individual components) and the user manual is utterly hopeless beyond a very basic overview

With the Octatrack you have to basically tell it what you want to do for any given situation. You create a personalised environment inside it and then work within the limitations you set yourself. You have to think of a setup that you want to create, then you build it for yourself using all the different components. In other words, it's not a preset environment that does a few specific things, you have to decide what you want then make it yourself

So I thought it would be useful to have 4 stereo 'Tape Machines' that can be manipulated in real time, with control over the following in each: Pitch, Playback Speed (Timestretch), Direction (forward / reverse) basic Filtering (bandpass) and Delay with feedback. All the things you might find in a Musique Concrete studio in the 1950s (with the addition of granular timetretching)

I might do a more detailed breakdown of the Octatrack patch in the future, but I wanted to live with this setup for a while and make sure it does everything I want it to do in the most efficient way first

This is my first experiment with it, using the Buchla 200. There are two stereo outs from the Buchla - two independent patches running concurrently - going into the Octatrack's dual stereo inputs. These are then fed into the four "tape machines" I created in the Octatrack, which mixes them into one stereo output along with the two live feeds from the Buchla (so what you are hearing is a live mix of the Buchla's 2 voices plus 4 tape loops (30 seconds each) recorded as we go along from the Buchla. As I said, its a complex system 😁"