Curtis Roads is a composer, author and computer programmer specializing in granular and pulsar synthesis.
He co-founded the International Computer Music Association in 1980 and edited the Computer Music Journal for over 23 years. He has created software including PulsarGenerator and the Creatovox, both with Alberto de Campo.
In this series of interviews, Roads talks about granular synthesis, microsound and his ideas on electronic music. And then he takes apart his Hammond organ.
Check out these videos and leave a comment with your thoughts!
Getting Granular
Microsound encompasses any sound thats so short it couldnt fit on the normal musical time scale. In terms of measurement, youre talking anywhere from 10 milliseconds to 1/10 of a second.
Building Compositions With Granular Synthesis
Curtis Roads shows you his garden and explains its connection to his music, and then he takes apart a Hammond organ.
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3 Responses to “Curtis Roads And The Secrets Of Granular Synthesis”
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Kind of an odd fellow… Seems kind of silly to work on a piece like that for decades, when to most ears it would sound quite random. But I do appreciate his philosophical sort of approach to music in general.
Very nice. I think it is the techniques these individuals come up with that really extend the electronic music sonic palette. I appreciate what he has done actually even if he took 10 years to achieve a, by ordinary music standards, boring piece. I bet his music really works very well if they had the proper visualizations.
He pretty much says he likes exploring this new sound field rather than saying he is writing music, or a "song". He refers to the works as "pieces" which to me implies – a work of art using sound rather than paint for example. If I do not think of it as " MUSIC" it's quite interesting to listen to.