Patchwork Canvas

November 1, 2022

The randomization method this time involves a tracery grammar I made to generate "musical directives."

All songs on this album were written in Musescore and rendered using this Roland Sound Canvas soundfont.

Tracklist (6m 19s total)
  1. Elevator Escalator (1m 19s)

    Directives:

    • Use D melodic minor.

    • Use woodwinds in the bass.

    • Use septuplets.

    • Use a 7 against 2 polymeter.

    I think I'm in love with the synth brass in this soundfont. Not super in love with the ending section. I couldn't figure out how else to incorporate the 7 against 2 polymeter, and I got sick of the bassoon.

    I do like the wonky rhythmic feel the septuplets give to the first section. Seems like the elevator and/or escalator is a little broken.

  2. Drainage (1m 14s)

    Directives:

    • Use keyboards.

    • Use agogo, ride, and bongos in 5/4.

    • Make a groove with triangle, bongos, and cowbell.

    • Use Gbaug in E major.

    MuseScore doesn't actually have an agogo instrument. Thankfully there's a workaround. I consolidated the percussion instructions because they both had bongos in common. It just makes sense.

  3. Stress Breathing (1m 11s)

    Directives:

    • Use guitars.

    • Use septuplets.

    • Use a 13 against 13 polyrhythm.

    • Use G altered.

    I'm going to interpret a 13 against 13 polyrhythm as just writing a section in 13/8. I felt like septuplets in 13/8 would be super crunchy, so I decided to alternate between 13/8 and 7/8 instead.

  4. Life on Mute (0m 56s)

    Directives:

    • Use cowbell, ride, and snare.

    • Move from Cdim7 to Amaj7.

    • Use guitars in the soprano range.

    • Use guiro, triangle, and hi-hat in 9/8.

    Once again I'm consolidating the drum instructions.

  5. Walk Out With the Shrimp (1m 37s)

    Directives:

    • Use strings.

    • Use a 13 against 11 polymeter.

    • Use ride, guiro, and bongos in 12/8.

    • Use a 5 against 5 polyrhythm.

    One of the issues with using Tracery for this is that I keep getting X against X polyrythms. Once again I'm interpreting this as "use 5/4 for a section".

    I normally don't like MIDI strings, but these actually sound really good. It was probably a mistake to let the grammar give me such wonky polymeters to write, though. I don't think that's something in my skillset.