About Interchanzheblique

Computer Muzak Modular Interchanzheblique is a concept that has been a work in progress for a long time. My first major attempt to make improvised music using computers started several years ago using Max/MSP. I started with small programs that produced interesting sounds, but lacked any kind of organization. After awhile, I collected many of the sounds together into one program that organized them and allowed them to be played simultaneously. I then added support for networking so that two people could play at the same time and share information about their improvisations. We tried this for awhile (and also tried having 4 people playing at the same time on 4 computers), but we finally realized that the possibilities were too limited. That's when the idea of Interchanzheblique was born.

Interchanzheblique's claim to fame is that its musical possibilites are practically infinite. Here is a basic rundown of how it works: There are 4 different types of modules that one must choose to create a sound – rhythm, pitches, timbre, and envelope. The combination of the particular modules chosen causes different sounds. The rhythm module sends rhythms to the pitches module. The pitches module assigns pitches to each rhythm and sends them to the timbre module. The timbre module generates a tone at that pitch and using the specified timbre, and sends that to the envelope module. The envelope module then shapes the note's volume in time and sends the audio to the effects chain. The audio is then put through whatever series of effects are desired, in whatever order is desired, and then the sound is finally sent out to the listener.

Each module produces different types of sounds based on how its attributes are set. For instance, the simplest rhythm module is the metronome. You set the tempo, and it outputs notes regularly into the current pitches module. You can also vary the probability that certain beats will be cancelled. There are several other rhythm modules to choose from, and most of them have more attributes to change than just tempo and probability. Many of the attributes of all the modules rely on randomness, with the performer changing the bounds of the randomness. For a more thorough explanation of the specifics of Interchanzheblique, as well as a description of all of its standard modules, see the documentation.

The second version of Interchanzheblique was a success, but there were still problems. The modules of Interchanzheblique 2.0 were "hard-wired" into the patch. That is, if you wanted to put in or take out a module, you had to actually edit the patch and add or delete the objects that consisted of the module. This was one of the main motivations for building Interchanzheblique 3.0 from scratch. The new version allows you to add or subtract modules simply by adding or removing its patch file from a folder. Also, the process of creating modules was simplified greatly and meticulously documented in the hopes that fellow Max/MSP users might create modules that were outside the realm of my imagination alone.