Musical Progress.

So far this year I've just been making as much music as I can with my Gameboy. After receiving my copy of LSDJ however, it has taken the majority of my chipmusic time.

I have recently been working with Oliver Wittchow's(author of nanoloop)software nanovoice.(http://www.nanoloop.com/nv.html)
Nanovoice is strange in that while it plays the role of a 16 step sequencer, it does things a bit differently.

"Nanovoice does not play Game Boy specific sounds with the console's built-in synth functions but implements its own synthesis scheme while the soundchip is misused as D/A converter. Digital audio output is realized via amplitude modulation of the Game Boy's two rectangular wave generators, resulting in a 4-bit stereo audio stream with a variable sampling frequency below 4 kHz."

This means nanovoice is capable of producing some very interesting sounds(often droning and very minimal) whilst still maintaining the lo-fi signature of the gameboy.
The sounds pulsate, warble and often have a very soundscapely sound to them.

One of the composition techniques I've been playing with while using nanovoice, is to implement Conway's Game of Life(http://www.ibiblio.org/lifepatterns/) in a 16X16 grid, as offered by nanovoice.

After coming up with an initial setup, I work out 5 or so generations, normally more than enough material for a lengthy track. I then hit record, and begin plotting in each generation, creating a gradual, build from the minimalistic 2 note sequences, to complex hyperpaced melodies.

I've also been using several "rule sets" to aid this process.

The first is the simplest, once a generation is complete, I simply begin building the next, erasing and adding cells where needed, choosing without much thought, the volume level of each cell.

The second, involves each cell being set on the mid volume level in the first generation, when it comes time for the second, new cells are added at the mid volume level, cells that have died fade down one step, and cells that have remained move up a step.

The third rule set is the most time consuming, as it requires changing volume levels dependent on the number of adjacent cells. Preempting the death of a cell, or birth of a new cell.


This has been an interesting method of composition, leading to unexpected results, some of which can be heard in the following

nanolife

here are the(tiny) scores for the first and third tracks