Cultivating sounds
Todd Barton, Adam Hulbert · Focal Press eBooks · 2024
This chapter explores some of the underlying principles of working with the processes that have become associated with the Buchla and Serge instruments. Of specific interest to both sound designers and composers are the affordances that these instruments provide in terms of generative processes, that is, the ongoing exploration of emergent sounds and structures that arise through a systems-based approach to working with sound. We’ve adopted the concept of ‘cultivating’ sounds in recognition of the mode of engagement required for systems-based approaches to composition. In the first section, we explore the key concepts of the Buchla-Serge paradigm, and propose relational acoustics as the fundamental process for composition and sound design within this context. In the second section, we examine three foundational pillars of the Buchla-Serge paradigm. Following this, explore some specific systems or patches that exemplify the various approaches associated with this paradigm before concluding with general discussion about this approach.