page.layout: post page.title: We Spend So Long page.date: 2021-06-19 00:00:00 +0000 page.url ⛓️: /2021/06/19/3-we-spend-so-long/ page.content_id: 3 page.author: Trent page.type: Autofiction page.ascii: % page.x: 3 page.y: 13 page.class: red page.attributes: iridium, neptunium
We spend so long trying to talk about the thing. We use metaphor & abstraction, and we break it down into questions of “what it is.” This always seems to be the entry point, especially in a knobs & cables paradigm, where we silo knowledge about objects and try and understand them by adding together.
The problem is the operator +addition+, but behaviour in these systems is interactive & multi-modal. Our collective desire is to see the connections of our objects; to imbue these sound entities with greater meaning than they can have in isolation. Communication is the thing of interest, and our cables are the mascots of that interaction.
“…but this is the scientists way of thinking, not the artist or the hacker.”
The filter ping felt like an ideal entry to this way of thinking. Classically we say a filter “subtracts” everything outside of it’s passband, but this is the scientists way of thinking, not the artist or the hacker. Today we watched filters whose desire was to ring at their own frequency - every bit of energy we pass to it is captured by the filter, and transmuted into that ringing. A trigger pulse becomes an invitation to ring out. The presence of the input signal mixed in with that ringing is a by-product from the perspective of the filter - a necessary evil.
Operating at the edge of stability is where our artistic mind travels - the desire to be on that precipice & explore what comes from the fear & adrenaline & uncertainty. We do it in ourselves, and in our performances, but we also push our instruments there too – the filter right at the point where it’s more than just a spectral-subtractor, but less than a droning oscillator.
This is a place worth fighting for - the chaotic transition between two states. Requiring both great control & precision to maintain one’s footing, while being a place where ambiguity is the only constant.