A game of two halves

This is an improvisation performed within a computer environment (a patch) using the Max/MSP software. The patch is best described as a game between the performer and computer with loose rules that can be noted, followed or ignored.

To begin the player must play a note with in the C1-B1 octave range. The computer then plays its first note from C major in any of four octaves that the player is to try and copy regardless of octave.

Progressing through the levels

Each time the player plays a wrong note the computer will respond with its note based on the time it took the player to play theirs. When the correct note is played, the patch progresses to the next level where a second note from C major is added to the list of possible notes that the computer might play. With each further correct note that the patch receives a note is added to the list of possible notes the computer might play, until all 7 notes of C major are added, at which point it moves on to adding the remaining five accidentals.

Accuracy

The less accurate my note is, the more vibrato it has, the darker the rectangular correctometer box (above ‘LEVEL 1/12’) gets and the more likely are we to hear a detuned recording of mine and the computers notes and a granulated recording of the same thing. The speed at which I respond is also tracked and so the faster I play (correct or incorrect), the louder the detuned buffer will get (detuned relative to my inaccuracy), the quicker the computer will play notes back and the softer the tembre of the computers notes. As more time elapses since the last correct note the volume of these nasty sounds increases, making it yet more difficult for me to find the correct note.

When a correct note is finally received the unpleasant sounds are reduced drastically for a short period to aurally point out the achievement. If I manage to successfully match three notes in a row (at any speed) a loud reward is sounded which then quietly continues until your next note.



All of the above mentioned strategies are an attempt to aurally accentuate the inaccuracies and difficulties the performer incurs whilst following the loose guideline of trying to match the pitch of the computer. This was inspired by something Nigel Osborne mentioned in a talk on New Complexity at Goldsmiths College in early 2007 whereby the actual sound of a virtuoso performer struggling to perform a nearly impossible piece could be an integral part of a composition. This formed the basis of my concept and so is the reason why the more accurate you play, the more pleasant the sound and the less accurate, the less pleasant the sound.