brettworks

(Image: Polina Kuzovkova)

A musical system is a cybernetic circuit linking the musician with a set of technological tools. The circuit can be instruments and hardware or, as is increasingly the norm, the virtual software components of a studio in the computer. In the DAW, the musical system is the DAW + its sounds, VST instruments, effects, and you, their collaborator. A musical system ideally multiplies functionalities by functionalities, generates serendipities, and offers up ideas for noticing. Like a game of Pong, the longer you interact with the system, the quicker it bounces results back at you, accelerating your thinking about what’s musically possible. When in doubt about how to devise a musical system, start simply with a single instrument, sound, or device and play with it. As sounds happen, find ways to connect them to other instruments, sounds, or devices to get them interacting with one another. Use your musical system to build up a circuit of connections through which musical possibilities can flow.