Is it possible to configure Antescofo for free improvisation?
Are there audio/video examples of this? Is there documentation on how this is achieved?
Thank you for any suggestions
Glen,
You can look at Antescofo as a combination of a real-time listening machine, and a language for computer music composition. During live performance the two parts tightly interact with each other. The language has been designed to accept various dynamic and algorithmic patterns in real-time from human musicians. So basically what happens in a piece composed with Antescofo depends on what the artist/composer has programmed and how it has been conceived.
This means that in its simplest use, Antescofo can be used with a pre-composed score of music (for human musicians) where the computer will react to those events as they happen on stage. This is commonly referred to as score following. But Antescofo can be used in situations where the “human score” is not fixed, as well as, where the electronic commands are processes whose values/sequences are generated on-the-fly as a function of musician’s play or other input (or other processes). This latter one comes close to interactive algorithmic composition. We have examples of both situations.
Now, the concept of free improvisation is very large to be able to answer your question. In reality, you should be able to easily program the type of interaction you want to set up an improvisation setup. It all depends on how you define it. Our job is to facilitate the programming for you when things become too complex. So do not hesitate to tell us what you have in mind and we’ll point you to more concrete examples and help you go through it. Nevertheles, here are some examples of Antescofo where such interactions occur and can come close to either interactive algorithmic composition, improvisation or “open scores” (this list has links which can be seen in the HTML version of our online Forum):
- Antescofo is a back-bone of the new ImproTek improvisation system, handling chord and rhythmic progression in Automatic Improvisation as reported in this article.
- In his piece, Shadows for piano the composer Jason Freeman (@xfreeman) has employed Antescofo on a score for pianist whose order can change as the pianist plays it on stage.
- The Odei Music Group has been using Antescofo in their free improvisation setup in almost every show! I unfortunately do not have much detail about this but I'm sure @echeveste can tell us more about their setup.
- The piece, Dispersion de Trajectoir by José-Miguel Fernandez (@fernandez) uses Antescofo's classic score following in an intense algorithmic and interactive setup where the electronics evolve freely but controlled through SuperCollider.
Last but not least, many recent uses of Antescofo uses the language in complex algorithmic setups as we saw some in the Antescofo Symposium last year. I’m especially thinking of Marezs and Goepfer’s use of Antescofo to elaborate a rhythmic machine which was successfully premiered in Ircam’s festival this June. I hope that they’ll publish this soon… .
Check our long documentation online and play with examples in Max and Pd packages. A new documentation is underway and meanwhile, let us know of your intentions and we’ll help you out.
Arshia
Arshia,
Thank you very much for your detailed answer to my very general questions. I was looking for a place to start and your answers have given me things to think about.
One of my intentions is to use Antescofo in a piece for my improvising chamber group, EAR-CAM. I will notate small sections in which certain motifs will trigger insect sounds. I think this will be within the scope of the examples provided with Antescofo’s documentation and examples, especially Anthemes 2. However, it is the ‘before’ and the ‘after’ sections containing un-notated material that might confuse things. Would I simply have Antescofo remain “dormant” (audio input off) during those sections? This I think is a simple problem.
Another intention is to ‘compose’ actions for Antescofo whose timing and whose order of appearance are uncertain and determined on-the-fly. This use, to begin with, would be for my solo saxophone or bass flute performances. Is it possible to create processes in Antescofo that can be selected and triggered quickly and easily?
In my acoustic/electroacoustic work, I do not have a technician. I do everything myself. Therefore, any complexity with the computer takes me away from my instrument/performance. I also use Kyma, which has WaitUntil functions that can be inserted in its Timelines. These allow for hands-free triggering of audio processing and sample playback in a pre-determined sequence of events. One thing I would like to achieve with Antescofo is a library from which individual or groups of processes can be selected and triggered quickly in a manually simple way.
Thank you again for taking the time show me some doorways to go through on my explorations.
Best wishes,
Glen
Arshia,
A correction, my improvising chamber is SonoRa, which is the group with which I’d like to use Antescofo. EAR-CAM is my free improvisation group that includes Plunderphonics creator, John Oswald. In EAR-CAM, I use Kyma with its Multigrid configuration and CataRT.
The Multigrid system of Kyma ( https://vimeopro.com/symbolicsound/kyma-7-tutorials/video/117336966 ) is somewhat similar to what I would like to work towards with Antescofo: a group of self-contained ‘modules’ capable of processing live audio, playing samples/pre-composed audio tracks, and algorithmic sound generation.
Best wishes,
Glen
Would I simply have Antescofo remain “dormant” (audio input off) during those sections? This I think is a simple problem.
The easiest way of turning Antescofo’s listening machine dormant is to send a suivi 0 message. This way the action sequencer continues with no interruption and the score follower just stops listening. While the action sequencer is active, you can still change the tempo through the tempo message as if an external musician is controlling it!
Is it possible to create processes in Antescofo that can be selected and triggered quickly and easily?
Yes! They are simply called process in Antescofo which you can pre-define as a library and re-use anytime and anywhere inside a score or outside the score using their name and :: prefix. See the additional patcher in the Anthemes 2 Remake tutorial -> Tab 4 (Sampler) -> Patcher Clocks and Clouds as an example of using simple processes. See also the second Composer Tutorial made by @juliablondeau called Composing Basic Rhythms and Soundscapes as another starting point to start with.
And ofcourse the PDF documentation gives you lots of hints on how to use Processes in Antescofo and combine them with other structs.
One thing I would like to achieve with Antescofo is a library from which individual or groups of processes can be selected and triggered quickly in a manually simple way.
You should really look at process and Macro in Antescofo for this! The Anthemes 2 is a simple example showing how using these scores become really easy to read… .
The Multigrid system of Kyma ( https://vimeopro.com/symbolicsound/kyma-7-tutorials/video/117336966 ) is somewhat similar to what I would like to work towards with Antescofo: a group of self-contained ‘modules’ capable of processing live audio, playing samples/pre-composed audio tracks, and algorithmic sound generation.
I looked at the video and I see that Kyma has gone further since some 10 years ago when I first used them! 
You can definitely program such interactions with Antescofo noting that we currently do not do audio processing inside an Antescofo object (we are planning to).
But a good question to ask, as an artist, would be why you’d want to port anything like that to Antescofo. If I had to move away from Kyma’s Multigrid, I’d certainly jump to latest Ableton Live with Max4Live. This way, you can also embed your Antescofo object inside your max4live session and control stuff (triggering, tempo, interactions) through Antescofo and others via the same Live session.
I have seen reports of using Antescofo in Ableton Live on this forum and people have done concerts with it… .
Cheers,
Arshia
Arshia,
Thank you so much for your helpful comments and suggestions.
I received the Anthemes 2 ‘package’ from Cyril Beros for further investigation. Together with your Antescofo tutorials and watching your video presentations and the suggestions you have provided above, I think I’ve got enough to get a solid start.
Thanks for taking the time to give me such thorough answers.
Best wishes,
Glen