In addition to my music on Jamendo, I'm also a member at ccMixter. A few weeks ago, I was excited to see some familiar names on ccMixter's front page -- notably the OLPC Berklee Sample Pool.

So there is already a connection between Csound and ccMixter! I'm about to build on that, by submitting some of my creations in a new collaborative project: Random Ambient

A few weeks ago, I found something amazing: the Bohlen-Pierce Scale. To simplify my life, I designed a pitch class converter to allow scorefile input in the form T.pc (tritave, dot, pitchclass). It can handle two forms of the scale, in equal temperament and just intonation. And just to make things a bit more interesting, I created a demo -- complete with an announcer ;-)

The BP Scale

One of the best uses I've found for Csound is experimenting with music in different tuning systems. About a year ago, I got into Pitch Class Sets (even writing a Python module called pcsets). Long before that point, however, I was into jazz, and the traditional chord-scale theory.

All three now collide.

(Continued from part 1, part 2.)

I decided to voice the melody using the vibes opcode. Here's where I met my first major problem ... and made a major discovery.

(Continued from part 1.)

For the sparse chordal accompaniment, I tried to get an effect like a chorus of strings. Instead, what I have sounds similar to an accordion, or some other reed instrument. I used wgbow as the basis for the instrument, but the sound was a bit harsh -- I rolled off the highs a bit with a tone control.

I've been a musician for many years. However, I'm always trying to learn something new; that's how I came to play bass, guitar, keys, and drums. But now, I'm exploring the area just beyond the horizon -- software synthesis and composition. For the past few months, I've been learning Csound.

It all began innocently enough, with me exploring the patches on my Nord Lead 2X. As I worked through them, I began to see the patterns, and think of other ways the sounds could be combined. Well, a hardware synth is very convenient, but not exactly trainable ;-)