open music-32 patches

Overview

The 3209 Patches is a collection of patches for basic algorithmic composition. They are built in an OpenMusic workspace. OpenMusic is a software environment for “patching” programs to carry out algorithmic processing of data, in particular, pitch and rhythmic data. This library is designed for beginning composers and to a lesser degree beginning composers of algorithmic music. It is not designed to teach one how to use OpenMusic or give a good introduction to algorithmic composition. However, the processes carried out by the patches are essential, common algorithms and their design can be studied by just double clicking the patch. In this sense, it could be useful for beginning composers of OpenMusic and algorithmic music, in general. I designed this collection of patches as a set of tools for musical experimentation and compositional exploration. My main tenet is that algorithms are a part of composition, whether or not one is intentionally composition with them. Below is a brief list of the kind of things the patches in the library can do. As one can see, many of the tasks are used commonly by composers who have no interest in algorithmic composition.

1. Generate a melody from a drawn line;2. Generate a melody given a starting and ending pitch;3. Carry out rhythm and pitch series permutations like transposition, inversion,

retrograde, etc.4. Create a canon;5. Create an isorhythm with augmentation and diminution;6. Join a series of musical passages consecutively together to create a single, longer

line;7. Join a series of musical passages vertically together to create a polyphonic passage;8. Apply a rhythmic cell to a melodic line.9. Transpose a chord or melody;10. Re-voice a chord using prescribed or random processes;11. Transform a chromatic passage into a diatonic or octatonic passage, or vice versa;12. Find the set of a chord and its subsets and create segmentation.

This list covers many but not all of the possibilities of the collection. The collection is designed so that one can execute commonly used compositional processes very easily. One connects these patches together to create musical passages from basic rhythmic and pitch source materials. One imagines a process, easily executes it, hears how it sounds, and exports it into Finale/Sibelius or prints it for further development.

Why not do these things inside of a software notation program? While some of the processes - like transposition and even canon - can be carried out in a software notation program, not all of them can be. Even when they can, it is often easier to do them inside OpenMusic with the 3209 Patches. The ease with which one can execute compositional ideas is important: not because it speeds up the compositional process, but because it allows for more experimentation. With these patches, one can try something, adjust some settings, then get a new result, and repeat this trial and error process until one is satisfied. That is much more difficult to do in any other

3209 Patches Introduction! Peter Ivan Edwards

© 2011 Peter Ivan Edwards

environment. So, at its heart, this collection aims to make compositional experimentation and discovery easier. Also, I should mention that some things would be impossibly difficult to do without an algorithmic patch.

Beginning Steps

To open the workspace with the 3209 Patches:

1. Double click on the OpenMusic application icon.2. When the screen seen below comes up, choose “Open a Workspace” and find the

3209 Patches folder.

When the workspace opens, you will see a window on the left. It has 1 file and 1 folder.

All of the patches are in the 3209 palette file (a patch itself). The 3209 Palette organizes the patches based on their role or type of process: pitch, pitch and rhythm, rhythm, and tools. To use them in you own patch, simply copy and drag to the desired patch. If you have a question about how to use the patch, then select the patch, press Command and hover over its body, inlets, and outlets. As you move your cursor, information about whatever you are over will be displayed.



If you still have questions and want to see an example, then double click the patch. This will bring up a new window (the internal programming of the patch, which might interest you, too, if you are interested in learning OpenMusic).

In the upper right-hand corner of this new window there is a documentation patch. Double click on this patch to see an example and read the documentation further.

Within the folder, there is a series of tutorials to familiarize the user with the different patches. It is suggested that you start with the Tutorials. These tutorials propose compositional scenarios and demonstrate how to use the 3209 patches to realize a desired musical passage. They have been designed to introduce the user to each patch in the collection and place them in a broader context of usage. From this, one can get ideas of how to use these patches for musical purposes.

Eventually, you will want to experiment or create your own work. You can do this in a new patch. To create a patch press Command-1, or select “New Patch” from the File menu. Then, simply copy and drag any patches you would like to use from the 3209 Palette.

You will need to have some material for pitch and rhythm, of course.. Note that OpenMusic uses different objects for pitch material. These include Note, Chord, Chord-seq, Voice, and Poly. Their differences arenʼt too important at this stage, but itʼs



Internal patching of Set Finder patch, with documentation patch in upper right-hand corner.

Set Finder Documentation patch with example.

important to realize that you canʼt put a chord in a Note object or a series of chords in a Chord object. Also take note that the 3209 Patches are generally very specific about which pitch object they work with. If your patch isnʼt working, that could be the reason. The documentation clearly illustrates which pitch object(s) works with a given patch.

You will need these pitch objects frequently. You could copy and paste from other patches, but it is much easier to simply double click in the patch and then type in the name of the pitch object.

Double-click and get this:

Type “Chord” (for instance):

Press return and get this:

Press “m” to see the chord:

Double click to edit the chord:

Command-click to add notes; select a note and press delete to remove one:



Close and view your edited chord within the object window. The little “x” in the upper left corner means that the box is locked. Always lock the pitch objects once the material has been inputted. If not, it is commonly erased when a process including it is run. Press “b” to lock and unlock the box.

You will often need to create lists of numbers to convey information about transposition or rhythmic patterns, for instance, to patches. You create them the same way that you create a pitch object. First, double click and get the “??” box. Then, type in your list or number. Refer to the Introduction in the tutorial on writing lists in OpenMusic.

A Few Other Things

You might not have OpenMusic or your school has it but you want to work on your own laptop. No problem. Go to the following website and download OpenMusic.

http://repmus.ircam.fr/openmusic/download

This is the basic version of the program, but I have purposefully designed the patches in the 3209 Patches to fully function with this free version.

Also, since 3209 Patches is a workspace, any patches that you might add will be saved in the workspace. You might be using this workspace on a computer at your school or a shared computer. In such a case, everyone would be able to access your patches, or worse, they will be erased when the computer is restarted. If you are using a shared computer, I would recommend copying the 3209 Patches folder and renaming it, then saving this to a thumb drive or your own computer and always using this folder to create your patches. In fact, if you donʼt need the tutorials, then the whole collection is a single patch - 3209 palette. You could easily copy and paste this file into a new workspace that you create and have the entire collection available to you.



Documents

open music-32 patches