Composing with granular synthesis
Hi guys i'm tring to make a samples based granular composition using max msp i'm reading "micro sound" and various papers and things like that! I'm completely new on this kind of composition and yes of course i want to use max msp.
The problem is that i can't understand a way of thinking to "compose" with grains and granular sounds.
It's not a technical issue of how to make granular synthesis in max msp it's mainly a philosophical problem related to how can i think to build a granular composition.
Anyone could give me an input of how to think in a "granular way"?
I got difficulties on catching concepts of this kind of music!
An other much more practical question could be how can i think to establish a structure for this kind of composition ?
Probably here it's not the right place to ask this questions but hey! I've to start from "somewhere".
I would recommend looking up the books by Curtis Roads, he talks about this a lot. "Composing Electronic Music" is great.
Maybe stating the obvious, or being too semantic, but isn't granular synthesis (like any other type of synthesis) simply a technique for generating sounds ? It is not by itself a composing technique.
i will carry on where sebastien finished:
...bu one difference of granular synthesis types of generators compared to other types can be that they do not have a fixed frequency / not only one base frequency.
(you could say that about some other techniques, too, but it is nowhere so clearly as with granular.)
this can lead to different approaches how you trigger and/or modulate them. so any composition methods which involve taking the generaor into account - or even playing it live - can be influenced by that.
But, thinking twice (as I always should do before posting ... I know), Fabrizio may also refer to an issue I also have : when you proceed mainly randomly, 99% of the sounds obtained by granular synthesis are of no interest. It is true for a lot of electronic music, of course (there's a beautiful quote by Eliane Radigue regarding this ; I can't retrieve it right now, unfortunately).
But some of us may have tricks or recommendations regarding i.e. type of samples to granulate, typical interesting waveforms, influence of grains duration, density ... who knows.
That would be indeed useful.
I would suggest a starting point to listen to some examples that use or exploit granular synthesis composition techniques. (There is no single granular composition technique - granular synthesis can be used for just about anything.)
This video shows Curis Roads talking about and playing his compositions that use granular techniques:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXJyk0BezA0&t=312s
Tadej Droljc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajCYefU61e8
Granular pulse patterns
https://youtu.be/WvAFbDUxtcg
Composition using a M4L instrument where granular synth parameters are manipulated by automation in Ableton. The composition technique here is gradually shifting / morphing sound textures.
I think one thing many people consider - granular synth is well suited to create sound "textures" - sometimes called granular clouds. So think in terms of abstract sound design, not in terms of traditional melody + chords, drums, etc. (However there are also interesting ways to use a granular synth in melodic ways.)
This one is interesting as well (Robert Henke's Granulator II).
Thank u all guys! I think I have to try a sort of 'work flow' i think to a bottom up approach!
So i've to start creating different sound materials and then tryin' to blend, trasnform it and so on!
I can't find a kind of method to organize the sounds material or decision making on changing parameters.
The reasonable or obvious way is to listen to sounds and having faith in my instinctive intuitions!