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DISRUPT AUDIO WORKSTATION - Part 1: Unimaginable Potential of ‘Automatonism' with Pavel Milyakov

Added 2022-08-04 18:01:03 +0000 UTC

DISRUPT AUDIO WORKSTATION

Part 1: Unimaginable Potential of ‘Automatonism'

with Pavel Milyakov

In this Lux Cache tutorial series, we invite our favourite producers and sound artists who develop their work outside of the popular digital-audio-workstation meta - offering their unique perspective in software & hardware techniques in digital audio, to reintroduce outsider thinking and new challenges into music production. In this inaugural chapter of Disrupt Audio Workstation, we invite Pavel Milyakov, also known as buttechno, to share his artistic practise on creating ‘unimaginable’ compositions, using tools such as Automatism & Pure Data to produce his outlook on observer-less and free-forming music.

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“I want to challenge a description of artistic practice that sees it as starting in the artist's mind, and defines success or failure as one's ability to more or less adequately organise and then express the contents of one's mind. A process ‘limited only by your imagination' — the main problem with this slogan is exactly what it says: yes, activity is limited by imagination because imagination is limited. Something outside the imagination is needed in order to arrive at what was previously 'unimaginable'. A view of artistic practice that places massive emphasis on its point of origin and its ability to predefine its endpoint, reduces everything to a naive teleological drama — a sort of tug-of-war between minds and tools.” (Mark Fell, “Structure and Synthesis, The Anatomy of Practice” Urbanomic, 2021).

In order to achieve those ‘unimaginable’ territories I often use a variety of different tools and techniques that have a lot to do with unpredictability and random algorithms. No matter what particular technique or gear I use and what concept I apply to any particular work, the general strategy often tend to be the same — to create a system that has a very small dependence on my personal choices, to let it evolve in its own way, then adjust it (if needed) and finally pick and use the best parts. Then I finalise the result, mixing and EQing it if needed, but the main “core” of the whole piece does not come from my “imagination” or “inspiration”.

It is also always a kind of a ‘movement-image’, which feels and sounds alive, even if its reduced to just a few sounds, but you feel that they definitely “catch the groove” in their movement. Here are the good examples:

Cyrus - "Presence"

Ø - Metri - 07 - Twin Bleebs

SOFTWARE

I mostly work with Max MSP and Pure Data these days. These environments give one an enormous amount of freedom and ability to create nearly everything from scratch. There are also some “ready-to-use” modular systems like Automatonism, which is based on Pure Data. It's free and pretty easy to use even for unexperienced users and its a good start for everyone to get into the modular workflow: https://www.automatonism.com/the-software

Here is the example of the 4-track sampler patch that I created using Automatonism: https://youtu.be/Qujkz9pi8RU

With the help of my friend I also created my own version of a similar Max MSP device, which selects random samples from the folders and also warps them randomly. Here is how it looks:

It is still in the progress of development and is pretty much raw, but I already made a lot of sound pieces with it.

Here is also a sampler-based granular app that I really love, It also allows multi channel compositions for up to 8 speakers: Kenaxis Surround

There is not much randomization inside the app though there are a lot of controls and multidimensional possibilities.

HARDWARE

It's also possible to build the same kind of systems using hardware, for example Eurorack modules or other modular systems. You can also try to apply the same principles to most hardware devices which have the possibilities to control their inner processes externally, or to control the inner processes of other devices. For example I really love to apply MIDI CC control to any devices that allow that. I really love to use an Eventide H9 midi input to send some random signals through EUEM2 module by Northern Light Modular. You can also use software MIDI CC controllers to do the same things with most of the hardware gear.

EUEM2 Module by Northern Light Modular

I also like these old BOSS devices which allow delay/pitch control via audio input: RSD-10 and RPS-10. It was intended to be used with a keyboard, but you can send any type of audio in there, as well as loop the main output to this controlling input, which leads to unexpected results and crazy feedback glitches. It was heavily used by Autechre in their early works.

The BOSS RPS-10 is a crazy noise machine!!!

BOSS RSD-10 Sampler & Delay

But it is not always about creating weird and complicated control chains or programming tons of code. Even really simple interaction with a simple machine/system can lead to intriguing results. Sometimes it happens when one researches the gear possibilities and ‘just turning the knobs’. Also sometimes gear is used not the way it was originally intended to by the developers. The most famous example of it in modern electronic music history is the birth of the acid house. Back in 1985 artists from Phuture (Earl "Spanky" Smith Jr., Nathaniel Pierre Jones aka DJ Pierre, and Herbert "Herb J" Jackson) created the entire new genre with the machine that was originally intended to replace bass guitar sounds and sequences (Roland TB-303). They used it in a their own way, which allowed them to reach the ‘unimaginable’ territories and create the entire new ‘movement-image’ or, more precisely, ‘movement-sound’ called acid house:

Phuture ‎- Acid Tracks

2. WORKFLOWS WITH AUTOMATONISM & PURE DATA

Apart from using my custom made sampler, wIth Max MSP I also sometimes create really simple patches, mostly MIDI sequencers, for example like this one:

Max MSP Tutorial - MIDI &Sequencing - Intro to Audio pt 2

There are plenty of videos with really simple tutorials on Youtube. With these kinds of patches I can send midi signals to either software synths, or to hardware devices.I can also recommend this book, which helps to build a simple sequencer step-by-step:

Step by Step: Adventures in Sequencing with Max/MSP by Gregory Taylor (2018)

WIth Pure Data there are also a lot of tutorials online, the one I would recommend can be found on this channel:

PURE DATA: 01 Hello World!

Both PD and Max are really deep environments, though you can start making your own small patches even in the early stages of learning. It can be really simple but still powerful.

3. BUILDING AN AUTOMATONISM DEVICE FROM SCRATCH, A CHRONOLOGICAL GUIDE

All the basic Automatonism FAQ and how-to-use guide could be found on the automatonism website:

https://www.automatonism.com/the-software

Let's build a simple sequence-based instrument:

First let's define our clock input. You can either use the “CLOCK” module to use the internal clock or “MIDI IN” module to keep it running from the external device, e.g. Ableton DAW. MIDI input could be assigned in the preferences of PD.

There are numerous different oscillators in the module list, and I really love the triad one. It has 3 different CV-adjustable root notes, attack-release settings and adjustable scale.

For triggering purposes we can use a simple trigger sequencer:

so our CLOCK will send the gates to the trigger SEQ’s input CLOCK IN, which will then send the gate signal to the TRIG input of the TRIAD oscillator. We define the GATE steps by selecting a cross in the trigger SEQ steps:

To route the audio out we will need a mixer. For a simple stereo signal output you can use a MAESTRO4 DAC mixer.

Connecting the TRIGGERED output of the TRIADS to the CH1 mixer input.

If you now Turn on the clock, you will hear the sound of an oscillator running.

There are plenty of adjustable controls of an Oscillator and a Mixer, which could be controlled with a range of CV signal processors. We can take SIMPLE LFO from the MODULATORS section for example and route its output to the ROOT input of the TRIADS. You can use 3 different LFOs to control 3 voice inputs of the TRIADS.

For the second channel we can use the PD-303 module, which is a really great TB-303 clone synth/sequencer with alot of adjustable controls:

If we want it to be in sync with the main CLOCK, we can simply route the CLOCK output to the CLOCK input of PD-303, and route it’s output to the MIXER:

We can also try to add a drum synth module, eg KICK, route the clock from our main CLOCK module, run it through another TRIG SEQ and then run KICK’s output through some effect, for example STEREO DELAY, then route everything into 3rd channel of our mixer:

To record the result you can use the AUDIO RECORDER module, simply connect it with the MAESTRO4 outputs and then put on the REC/STOP button. After you stop the recording, the wav files will be saved into the AUTOMATONISM folder:

There are plenty of interesting OSC, logic and effect modules, which could be patched in an infinite amount of ways. There is also a multitrack recorder available, so you could record up to 8 separate channels simultaneously and then easily mix and arrange them in your DAW.

4. CONCLUSION

The concept of Deleuzian “movement-image” describes the above-mentioned sound examples well: “Images are not described in a unique moment; rather, the continuity of movement describes the image. In this respect, cinema embodies a modern conception of movement, "capable of thinking the production of the new", as opposed to the ancient conception of movement as a succession of separate elements where "'all is given” (Gilles Deleuze, Cinéma 1. L'image-mouvement, 1983)

The purpose of using such devices and systems resonate with one of the Quantum theory principles: “The observer effect is the fact that observing a situation or phenomenon necessarily changes it”. Such devices allow me to avoid (as much as it's possible) the observation process (for example when the system randomly selects the samples by itself), which leads to unimaginable grounds. For sure it sometimes takes a lot of time to achieve the results, but in the end it is worth the time. The fewer decisions I make, the more it ‘lives its own life’, the more lively and interesting it sounds, the more it tends to represent the ‘movement-image’ concept.

This concept leads me to the thought that, especially in dancefloor-oriented music (or lets call it ‘music based on the rhythmic structure’) it is really hard to achieve this ‘movement-image’ state when you start with working from selecting those “separate elements” like drum sounds and other separate parts of the whole composition. In my practice it always leads to boring and lifeless results. Though there are ways to break the template and try to step to the ‘unimaginable’ territories.

Pavel Milyakov, also known as Buttechno, is a sound artist & producer from Russia. His releases, in which all proceeds benefit Ukrainian charities and volunteer teams, are available on his Bandcamp.

You can follow him on Instagram @buttechn

Support & Relief for Ukraine: @RazomForUkraine | Linktree

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