MIDI Guitar 2.2.1 and modernist composer tools - A technical guide
In any normal case, I would advise against using different pitch bend values for the MIDI Guitar software and any software instruments/synths later in the chain. But these last days I seem to have fallen down a rabbit hole of untapped expressive resources, and I don’t seem to want out!
In this first case, I’ve used four Audio modeling Violins with pitch bend settings 2, 3, 4, 6 with the pitch bend set to 12 on MIDI guitar 2. This gives me 4 instruments that react to pitch bend or glissando in the following manner: Where the ratio is 6:12 you have to gliss double the length of the fretboard (compared to a match of 12:12). Three times with 4:12, four times the stretch with 3:12, and 6 times with 2:12. The effect is really interesting with long glisses spreading out, but also with pulsating effects since the pulses are different in size but proportionally the same. Listen and marvel. This is a rabbit hole indeed!
The following three are examples of applications for this novel way of preparing the instruments by manipulating the pitch bend relationships. These examples are provided by Penderecki tone clusters we find in the graphic score for his ”Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima”.
I often come across note distributions in modern music that seems interesting, but I’m not sure that I ”hear them” correctly. I might have had an idea of what it would sound like, but then it comes out totally different. So for this example (also from Krzysztof Penderecki’s ”Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima”, I made a template for 11 up and 11 violins down from the indexical that is pitch bend 0. Every other violin ( except for the PB = 0, is bent by a value of 1-11 positive and negative. So the template contains in fact 23 violins to choose from. And in this case, it is clearly specified that the note is supposed to be played by 12 violins, all starting on the same E, and finish on separate notes in a distribution ranging from the lower B to the higher A#. So in this case I just need to choose the violins from PB = -5 to PB = 6 in my template, play a note (E), and bend/slide the note in accordance with the pitch bend setting on my MIDI Guitar software (PB = 4 ( = slide 4 half notes)), to hear the result. After this, I am free to experiment with any and every kind of distribution I’m interested in. A most handy tool for people like me 😀
Then there is an example that I couldn’t realize for MIDI Guitar. Not that it can’t be done, it most certainly can. The same way as before but with the Touché controller added to the mix. I just couldn’t keep focus on the amount of pressure necessary, and at the same time slowly slide down the fretless fingerboard while jabbing the Touché controller. This results in the tonal spreading starting over and is most unsatisfactory. So for this case, I used the Roli Seaboard for the slide, changing the default 48 pitch bend range to 12. On octave seems like a controllable stretch to cover in a measured manner. Then I used the brand new Audio Modeling Violins, with the new brilliant MIDI mapping patches to connect my Expressive E Touché controller for its first public appearance in any real context. I copied the violin six times (only) to spare my computer, but you get the gist of it. Set the pitch bend on the violins to 1-6 respectively and you have yourself a great composing tool, setup.
Ligetian microtonal spiderweb constructs, or breathtaking Xenakis glissandi. Using the MIDI guitar 2 software in combination with a breath controller and a fretless guitar gives me access to a lot of highly expressive modern techniques. In this particular case, I also make use of a sustainiac for some extra help with those long notes. This is primarily a 2x(Double Bass, cello, violin) trio. There are some guiding principles here, but nothing interesting, as this is primarily thought to be an experiment.
In this second installment of this setup, I keep my focus on texture above harmony, a direct result of me being a total Ligeti/ Penderecki devotee. I have here some violins and some trombones set up so that half of them respond to incoming pitch bend data (slide) in the normal way, whereas the other half moves in the reverse direction. It makes for a static stillness in the moving pitch as the different pitches move proportionally to each other in separate directions. It also suggests a natural starting point or tonal center where the tension resolves. But it certainly does not suggest any harmony attached to it.
Totally unapologetic - what interests me most in music creation is trying to find those hidden paths to the purest possible expression. And most often I find consonant music doesn’t really do it for me ( even though I am a true romantic at heart) I saw master improviser @jo_jena__ take a page out of the Xenakis catalog of expression, and it inspired me to take on the attitude of another one of those musical giants, namely Penderecki. 11 violins with 11 purposes. Regard or discard?