Computer Aided Composition, Timbral Synthesis, & Electro-Acoustic SuperInstruments: An Exploration of Heaviness in Electro-Acoustic Chamber Music

Abstract

In his article 'Reigen seliger Geister' (On My Second String Quartet) (2004), Helmut Lachenmann used the term super-instrument to describe moments in his work where the string quartet is treated homophonically as a single “16-stringed sonic mechanism” through “unison sound and unison rustling, i.e. the synchronous multiplication or amplification of sound or noise” (2004, p. 62) and/or the “parallel deployment of tones greatly separated in sonic space” (2004, pp. 64). In my Masters Thesis composition “Tripping in the Horror Vacui” for amplified violin, amplified cello, and amplified piano with electronics, Lachenmann’s idea of the super-instrument is extended with digital music technology and electro-acoustic tools such as computer aided composition, timbral synthesis, live processing, and multichannel spatialization. By utilizing computer aided composition, the composer/author derived pitch information from noisy samples of raw data sonfications used in the work’s fixed media/“tape track”. This pitch material derived from the raw data sonifications in the fixed media is then mapped to the performer’s instrumental writing to create homophonic textures. The material between the performers and the fixed media is then synthesized in the performance space with either a stereo or 7.1 multichannel speaker setup to create a huge and distorted electro-acoustic super-instrument. Creating these electro-acoustic super-instruments in my own works allows me to sculpt enormous melodic gestures that stretch out over the multichannel speaker setup thus also incorporating the “parallel deployment of tones greatly separated in sonic space” (2004, pp. 64). In Tripping in The Horror Vacui, these larger-than-life electro-acoustic superinstruments embody a maximalist aesthetic to create a heavy and sublime experience that overwhelms the audience through metal music tropes, density, intensity, and amplitude.