Some Gifts from Japan (And an Interesting Idea about Time)

One of the annual high points in my Cycling ’74 trade show life back in the day was the visit from our Japanese colleagues and distributors at MI7. Along with cool gifts, they almost always brought a recent issue of the Japanese Magazine Sound & Recording along with them (often with a post-it note marking a particularly interesting feature on Max). I usually wound up scoring the copy of the magazine after everyone else was done, and I regularly scoured it in search of pictures or ads for unfamiliar and interesting stuff (No, I don't read Japanese. I'm just curious). They still email us from time to time to keep us informed of things of interest (and we are interested. Very interested)

The magazine has been posting the DEVICE series - a group of MSP patches intended as jumping-off points for the Max-inclined. As soon I heard about this month's edition, I thought I might share it with you: an elegant looper based on the MSP 2d.wave~ object that makes use of non-phasor~ inputs to kink the looped audiofiles in interesting ways. It's the work of Makoto Kataoka, a synthesist and guitarist based in Kyoto.

I downloaded the patch, and decided right away that I'd better check out Makoto and his work a little more. To my surprise and delight, his artist website was chock-full of interesting stuff, including his own work (click on the works menu item on his main page) and a nice batch of downloadable Max for Live devices (click on the release menu item on his main page and keep your eyes peeled for links marked Free DL....).

During the Edo period in Japanese history, the Japanese used a time system that divided the day and the night and then partitioned that into equal parts (yes, that's right - the length of hours for the day and night vary by season. It made for some very interesting clocks, as you might imagine). Although the original system was seasonal, that's precisely the sort of time expansion and compression that I associate with coming on such a treasure trove of MSP patching while trolling the web in the cool of the evening....

After the sun comes up and you're done sampling those delights, I'd definitely recommend a reconnoitering and bookmarking visit to the Sound & Recording website itself. The plucky explorer not terrified by the sight of Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana will find the Sound & Recording page that contains all 20 of the current DEVICE patches, interspersed with tantalizing Japanese interviews with Max world movers and shakers, from DUB-Russell (whose 2020 Kickstarter project generated quite a lot of buzz in the Max social media world) to Joshua Kit Clayton and Sam Tarakajian, and even David Zicarelli. While these mysterious interviews may have you calling in favors from your Japanese-speaking friends, the real treasure here is hidden in plain sight: just under two dozen "Devices" - Max patches created by a number of Japanese artists (and a few American celebs, too) to whet your appetite for more patching - just look for the word DEVICE in the listings. In addition to the lovely "http://rittor-music.jp/sound/magazine/max/55077">2d.wave~-based looper patch for this month, you'll also find a great patch from Daito Manabe that converts 3d models to clouds of sound, a loop shifter from Carl Stone, some subtle scrubbery from Shintaro Imai, and even a chance to explore harmonics and subharmonics with David Zicarelli (yes, that David Zicarelli, thanks for asking) - all with Soundcloud examples to whet your appetite.

So head on over to the Sound & Recording website and do some exploring and downloading. As the DEVICE series of articles regularly say themselves, 新しい音楽の制作に役立ててください (Please help in the production of new music).