Autechre "See On See" Patch Concept
Anybody has any ideas on how to achieve similar random-rhythmical behaviours as in Autechre's See On See?
For what I can hear, I think Autechre is basically deconstructing a quite simple harmony based on a chord progression, bass-line and melody. I can sort of imagine how they are generating the harmonic information of this track; but what is really unknown to me, is the randomization that is going on in the rhythm of the melodic sequence. Would love to hear opinions, advices or even patches which can help to achieve similar results.
Here are some excerpts from an Autechre interview talking about their use of MaxMSP in Oversteps (See On See's Album):
Do you use any other generative practices, particularly withOversteps?
...
Max is really brilliant because there are so many tiny modules you can nest within each other. So that’s a great starting point. But even back when Logic Audio was eMagic/Creative Logic, they had environments where you can patch delayed objects and repetitive objects together and pitch-changing objects. Before you knew it, you could create these cascading effects that gain a life of their own. We’ve been really into doing that for a long time now. Any bit of software that’ll afford you a little bit of algorithmic behavior without too much scripting and still quite a visual language if you like Works. I am a really bad programmer; I’m just a straightforward person when it comes to that. I’m not that boffin when it comes to scripting in C or C+ (sic) or whatever. It’s just your basic tools in that regard, nothing too exotic.
How much do algorithms figure into your compositions as of late?
Quite a lot. Algorithms are a great way of compressing your style. One of our strong points developed in the past is the concept of experimentation. A lot of people think we’re very improv-based, and it’s true to an extent. But if you can’t go back to that spark or moment where you’ve created something new and reverse-engineer it, it can be lost to that moment. Sometimes, we try to capitalize on acquiring that moment and re-using it again and again, or finding the essence of it and applying it in different directions. It has always been important to us to be able to reduce something that happened manually into something that is contained in an algorithm. Then the algorithm allows us to add a bit more flair or a bit more deviation that we would also do ourselves in a little script. Just a few slight tweaks can spin it out into all sorts of recreations. It’s a great way to spawn yourself if you like (laughs), and spawn your actions. It’s an addictive way to work. Programs like Max allow you to reduce these ideas to collections of numbers and scenarios that are recallable, cascade-able, even nest-able.
randomization that is going on in the rhythm of the melodic sequence
a huge part of what i'm perceiving about the randomization in the rhythm is actually a randomization of the 'swing' notes. they don't all swing by the same exact amount, and often through the song, this creates a tension between a specific sense of rhythm and a loose blur of notes, especially because the decay on the amp-envelopes is so long, too(i'm bad at finding examples of what i mean, but i feel like i've heard this most often with hi-hat sounds in many of their other songs... it's a nice part of their style: it creates this feeling like electronic music could sound human, but only when the machines rebel and decide not to go according to human-metrical-time anymore 🤖🦾).
there's other stuff going on with the rhythm(if i were to reproduce this rhythm, i would first begin by thinking in different layers of rhythmic quantization(might switch randomly too...), and then i'd add this style of swing to the syncopated notes(at least i'd try these things first, and then adjust to taste).
thank you so much for your answer! I have played with clock dividers before to get a similar random-rhythm effect, but never combined it with a “swing-level” modulation, will def try that! 🦾🦿🤖
Do somebody have a patch or idea in this direction ? to see in patch would be amazing! :)