RADICAL/EXTREME COMPUTER MUSIC?

[pentd]

up -- cos one of the best electronic records ever is finally getting reissued: point line cloud!

https://www.curtisroads.net/news/

lookin very much forward to seein+hearin the upcoming album... 

[Yrjö-Koskinen]

So, what would you consider the best (if any) digital/laptop noise releases? These days, the lines between analog and digital modes of production are far more blurred than they used to, so I'm not talking about digital circuitry in pedals or even using a minidisc or computer as a recording destination. I mean noise recordings in which the computer/artificial/digital dimension is loud, obvious and clear. Think most Merzbow from the first decade of the 2000's. In fact, if you can think of nothing else, maybe at least a couple of Merzbow laptop era albums that works?

I think everyone who was there to witness the birth of easy home computer recording will always have a slight problem with many forms of sound associated with those times (remember standard MIDI?), but surely there must be a bunch of inorganic diginoise recordings that came out just right?

[Duncan]

This thread might already have a lot of what you're looking for: http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=1017.0

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Topics merged.

Most things what I associate with computers, is negative, although I am aware most artists use it to some degree. Including myself. Especially in "post production".
I would think, that one element in dislike is that many times someone does noise what feels like cheaper version of what noise at best is. While theoretically computers would allow nearly endless possibilities.

For me, John Wiese, at best, is really good in laptop stuff. He has vast amount of things done, that could not be done with analogue equipment. Circle Snare used to be one favorite.

https://johnwiese.bandcamp.com/track/circle-snare-second-part
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94ZKsIOgazE

Seeing him play live years ago also was quite interesting.

[NO PART OF IT]

Assuming we're looking for compelling experimental work created with computers:


I don't know if this artist always did laptop music, but it was pretty good harsh noise when I saw one person live.  Apparently it is also a group sometimes. 
https://www.discogs.com/artist/563391-Brain-Transplant

X Terminal from Cleveland is also good harsh noise:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/208780-Xterminal

AMFJ - BÆN  -  This is excellent and innovative use of vocals with a laptop (probably using audio mulch):
http://wordsonsounds.blogspot.com/2013/03/

This one is processed gospel singing through a computer in 1984, and I think it's great. 
https://www.discogs.com/Joel-Chadabe-Irene-Oliver-Settings-For-Spirituals-Solo/release/863622

If anyone wants to bring me up to date on Dissecting Table's later work, I'd be curious to know if there's any good laptop noise.   The split LP with Anemone Tube was good.   Assuming it was processed Buddhist chants with a laptop... https://www.discogs.com/Anemone-Tube-Dissecting-Table-This-Dismal-World/release/4490007

[Yrjö-Koskinen]

This thread might already have a lot of what you're looking for: http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=1017.0

Topics merged.

Thanks. I figured there should be a thread already, but I failed to find it with the search function.

For me, John Wiese, at best, is really good in laptop stuff. He has vast amount of things done, that could not be done with analogue equipment. Circle Snare used to be one favorite.

https://johnwiese.bandcamp.com/track/circle-snare-second-part
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94ZKsIOgazE

Seeing him play live years ago also was quite interesting.

This was interesting. Never bothered much with John Wiese, but perhaps I should.

Regarding the cheapness of computer noise, I think it's mainly a question of people not bothering to check out the possibilities (which have become insane in the last ten years or so). If you look at stuff like Impulse Response loading cabinet/room simulators and expensive and/or nerdy effects modeled on analog gear it is becoming comparatively easy to produce sound that sounds very, very much like the real deal. And, perhaps more interestingly, it should be possible to come up with completely impossible forms of noise, that are still "pleasing". Simply maximizing BPM, resolution, high fidelity or any such parameter has been possible for some time with computers, but it should be possible to do a whole lot more.

[l.b.]

I think Two Assistant Deputy Ministers is digital?? just straightforward good ripping harsh noise

[JLIAT]

Recently involved with a comp using segmod, sofware for PC / Mac which writes sound files.

You can download the program here https://doebereiner.org/segmod/Segmod2.zip

Segmod is a non-standard sound synthesis that embraces the discrete nature of digital sound. All sounds created with Segmod result from the concatenation of simple periodic waveforms, such as sine, triangle, and square waves. The sixteen contributing composers have employed a vast array of different compositional, aesthetic, and technological strategies, ranging from inaudible sounds, to neural networks, chaotic functions, careful micro-montages, and analysis-resynthesis techniques. While the results differ widely in sound, all lead back to the idea that synthesis can be seen as a form of composition.

https://dumpfedition.bandcamp.com/album/segmod

I have 12 freebees - digipack CDs if anyone wants a copy (free) PM.

[pentd]

definitely!! PM comin up

this is certainly very close to what i am expecting/hoping to hear from vcvrack makers, it sure has an insect elektronix drive to it!!

edit:
reading into that segmod manifesto.... brings to mind some of the nastiest vsti's that synthesize crunchy noise .. those only do it with a GUI... giving the machine orders to write a file to disk... without prior existence in the acoustic/analog domain.

thanks for the tip

[JLIAT]

Using a computer to write data directly into a sound file is very simple, in crude terms  WAV files are just sets of numbers (which plot the sounds) admittedly lots of numbers 44100 for just one second... The simplest way is to create these, a program helps! Audacity (free) will allow import of raw data – Project Tab, import raw data. It gives a choice of format, - no worry – CD quality is 16 bit stereo 44100... This enables you to import any files on your computer, and "hear them". I would advise using copy, to copy the file and import this, if you import a program file or WP etc. and mess with the sound and save it- you will 'corrupt' it. So best copy files to a folder, and rename them to be on the safe side! In windows some .exe files have distinctive sound signatures, as do WORD files...

Using this its "fun" to hear what programs sound like, and you can save them as .wav of course. Remember the files need to be big : 44100 samples a second! And once in Audacity you can further process these..

Of course you can create data for sound using such things as segmod, or JAVA et al.. There are plenty of examples out there. You (i've) can experiment with importing data such as PI or Primes... here they are normally text, numbers held as ASCII, Goldwave will import these. PI gives white noise, but there is some structure to the Primes...  With movies you can in some cases 'hear' the frames...

You might also try 'recording' with no input, then using Audacity to amplify, you get noise and clicks generated by the CPU etc... Also you can import raw data into photoshop, and "See"  rather than hear!!!

Anyway another potential source of material...

[muppet1]

A great deal of Akihiro Shimizu material from the late 90s onward fits this prompt. He's uploaded many releases to Bandcamp - his Alienlovers in Amagasaki moniker often sounds to me like it was primarily composed on computer using computer sound, same with the Necro Thirdorgan Trial cdr.

http://thirdorgan.bandcamp.com/album/musica-elettronica-bionico-07f
https://www.discogs.com/Necro-Thirdorgan-Trial-Dont-Communication-Over-The-Mobile-Network/release/116700

[Duncan]

I don't think this has been mentioned yet and I don't think this person's work is all computer based, however Jason Soliday/Crank Satori did some pretty great work toward the end of last year working with 'Real time manual and generative manipulation of digital speech synthesizers'.

Great sounding work, check it out:

https://cranksatori.bandcamp.com/album/three-conversations

https://cranksatori.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-speech-synthesis

[Andrew McIntosh]

Funny cus as a kid, i recorded several tracks like that of minimal blasted out texture noise but never released it cus I thought it was too easy. That said, he does compose those carefully ... .

I've had similar feelings - recorded material and imagining there's no way that anyone else would care to sit through it, only to find almost similar material available publicly from others, only to find that, on comparison, their's is often much better in terms of composition and sound than mine. It's certainly character building.

[acsenger]

Hecker definitely deserves a mention. His Sun Pandämonium album has been described by William Bennett as "one of the most beautifully recorded bits of unpleasantness", but I wouldn't call it unpleasant. It's an enjoyable album of digital sounds manipulated, twisted and deformed in radical, sometimes surprising and even funny ways. It also sounds really good (the sounds almost jump out of the speakers). I have the vinyl version and the long track on side B is pretty tortured. Hecker emerged as part of the Mego crowd in the late '90s, which might help some to put him in context. I myself am not familiar with that scene (Pita and others).
His untitled 12" from 2003 is also great (although the locked grooves at the end of side B are silly). It's like a shorter version of Sun Pandämonium.

[pentd]

as mentioned before: the segmod project is amazing

https://dumpfedition.bandcamp.com/album/segmod