No value without utility


The title alludes to the concept of Use value. I want to explore other methods of distribution and how that affects how my work is perceived. I want to actively distance myself and my artistic output from contemporary pressures to commodify all things. I feel at unease as an artist existing within a society which has been completely subdued by Neoliberalism. I am increasingly longing to create an alternative means of existing within the system, while striving to increase the usefulness of my work to others engaged in struggle. I aim to adress how scarcity is often produced and artificially upheld in commerce by creating works that offer the listener abundance at zero cost. I regard giving the music and code away as a questioning of how value is attributed to goods or services in general and works of art in particular.

The longevity of information depends on its relevance, utility, and accessibility.
- Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is near

Lastly nothing can have value, without being an object of utility.
 - Karl Marx, Das Kapital

A drone of infinite duration. Made with SuperCollider 3.7 Listen to the beginning of it in the player above. Click here to download the .scd file that is the piece. It contains code that can be run forever just to listen to it or you can take it apart and mess around with it so you can learn how to make your own Synthdef (which can make sound) and your own Pdef (which can make sequencing). At the top of the .scd file there is a no previous experience explanation of how to get sound going in SuperCollider and also how to get the .scd file running on your machine. At the bottom of the file is a practical walkthrough of how to get extensions installed on your machine. Some previous experience with synthesis in general might come in handy but you'll be ok either way.

In the Synthdef there is code that can be looked at to understand:



In the Pdef there is code that can be looked at to learn about:



A loss of self


The title alludes to a conversation I had with a colleague about the purpose of making music. We discussed what can be hoped for in terms of a best case scenario outcome from someone having heard it. To loose one's self to the act of listening. To become fully that which is attentively experiencing the music. I've also felt a need to separate myself from my work. I want to give my work away and to free my music from myself. To make it free not only in a strictly monetary sense but also to make it's inner workings available and approachable. To open it up. I increasingly want to steer clear of any mystery surrounding the mechanical aspects of how my music is produced. What remains should be my choices. I am at unease by how entrenched in secrecy the means of production can be. To what avail? This .scd is valuable to me. It contains solutions to problems I've encountered producing music. It represents a realization of potential. Essentially it turns my dreams into reality. I am attempting to make this .scd valuable to you as well. I hope it is of use to you, not only for its sonorous capabilities, but also as a means for you to approach SuperCollider for your own ends. It would be wrong for me to not share this code with others. Not sharing would be a disservice to others as it would place limits on learning. On a fundamental level I feel that the only way I deserve to know anything is to share that knowledge, with everyone. Briefly put: I want to enable you to do things. To listen to my music is one of them, to explore making music of your own with SuperCollider is another.

Another drone of infinite duration. Also made with SuperCollider 3.7 Listen to the beginning of it in the player above. Click here to download the .scd file that is the piece. It contains code that can be run forever just to listen to it or you can take it apart and mess around with it so you can learn how to make your own Synthdef (which can make sound) and your own Pdef (which can make sequencing). At the top of the .scd file there is a no previous experience explanation of how to get sound going in SuperCollider and how to get the .scd file running on your machine. Throughout the .scd I've tried to make as few assumptions about previous knowledge of SuperCollider as possible although some previous experience with synthesis in general might come in handy but you'll be ok either way.


In the Synthdef there is code that can be looked at to:


  • Clip value ranges. This is good for frequency parameters.
  • Frequency Modulation. Actual FM.
  • Phase Modulation. This is often referred to as FM because of the DX7.
  • Glissando using XLine. Xline is exponential.
  • Envelopes using EnvGen and Env. Fade in, hold, fade out.
  • Pan2 does panning.
  • Mixing between different parts of the Synthdef.
  • RLPF. A Resonant Low Pass Filter.
  • tanh. A kind of distortion.
  • Resonz. A kind of ringing filter.
  • AmpCompA does a kind of amplitude compensation to the spectrum that follows your hearing.
  • Compression using Compander. Too much dynamics is too much.
  • LeakDC. May solve problems with DC offset.
  • HPF. A High Pass Filter. Used here as a DC problems + rumbly low end fix.

In the Pdef there is code that can be looked at to learn:


  • Sequencing of various parameters in a Synthdef.
  • Pseed. A set permutation of infinite duration.
  • Pwhite. Random floats between two values.
  • Pexprand. The lower the value the more likely it is to get chosen.
  • Prand. All values equally likely to get chosen at any time.
  • Patterns in patterns. Mix and match Pattern objects together.
  • Pkey. Choices made based on another parameters outcome.