La Otra Voz for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano with electronics
and real-time visual image!

Miyuki Ito, Composer, Japan
Kazumasa Hiei, Real-time Visual Image, Japan

ABSTRACT

the word “voice”, (“voz” in Spanish and“koe” in Japanese) are notated in the score
to be spoken by players to produce thismysterious atmosphere with symbolic
messages, merged with breathing sounds
and percussive sounds produced byinstruments.

La Otra Voz for ensemble, prerecorded
electronics and real-time visual image, takes
its inspiration from Octavio Paz’s “La OtraVoz”. According to his poesy, we tried tosearch for invisible existence and inner
voices with music and visual image. This
paper will describe the musical material andstructure, as well as the technical system forthe visual image and the interactivity
between it and the music.

1. Ensemble Writing
The pitch materials are created from a partof the harmonic series on the root note D,other pitched spectra and D distorted
harmonic spectra, analyzed by Open Music(see Figure 1), the musical results are shownin Figures 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3.

INTRODUCTION
La Otra Voz was premiered by the Onix
Ensamble at the Seminario de Música
Contemporánea, Escuela Nacional deMúsica UNAM, Mexico in February 2010,
supported by the Onix Ensamble, theCMMAS, and the Japan Foundation. It is awork for ensemble and prerecorded
electronics and real-time visual image.
Software such as Audio Sculpt, Open Music,
Max/Msp and Max/Jitter were used asmeans of technological tools.
COMPOSITIONAL MATERIALAND IDEA

Figure 1: Harmonic distortion
on the Open Music patch

The music is constructed with a multilayered
complex sonority consisting of sounds of theensemble,
musicians’voicesandprerecorded electronics, which focus ondiversity while remaining consistent. It
produces a subtle timbre with a simple, yet
powerful symbolic gesture. Translations of

Figure 2.1: n=1.2 distortion on D1

the pianist striking on cross beams with
fingernails, knuckling on the piano cover,and repeatedly up and down rubbing on thekeyboard with flat fingers. This is meant toexpress a chaotic moment when a similarsonority emerges from the electronics part
(Figure 5). This section is composedintuitively.
The resultant sounds are
merged powerfully with electroacoustic part,which itself is derived from percussive
piano sounds, reversing the relationshipbetween the electronics and ensemble.

Figure 2.2: n=1.5 distortion on D

Figure 2.3: 50 partials chosen by 5 steps on D

Because of these results from the computer
analysis, quarter tones are used (Figure 3).

Figure 3: flute, clarinet, violin and cello in the score

As for the piano writing, there are four
patterns with lowest-register’s sounds at thefirst four measures from the beginning of thepiece, used as a bass ostinato with different
figurations through the whole piece (Figure4). These piano patterns are also recorded
to use in the electronics part.

Figure 5: Excerpt in the middle section

2. Electroacoustics!
There are fifteen soundfiles to be triggeredby Max/Msp during the performance (Figure6); each trigger point is precisely indicatedin the score.
The soundfiles aresuperimposed; depending on the situation,and often corresponds with an on-stageinstrument. These soundfiles (processedby software such as Audio Sculpt andMax/Msp) were created using the recordedmaterials of piano, maracas and rain stick,
and white noise.
Just as the real(non-transformed) maracas are also used byplayers, the electroacoustic part uses similartransformed audio materials.

Figure 4: Piano patterns

Furthermore, in the middle section fromrehearsal letter G, white noise-like sounds
are created by breathing sounds in the fluteand clarinet, knuckling on body and bowing
behind the bridge by violin and cello, and2Figure 7: harmv2b~ on the Max/Msp patch

Figure 6: Max/Msp concert patch

The recorded piano materials are used fromfour patterns with lowest register (Figure 4)
and percussive sounds (Figure 5). There
are 79 excerpts that were recorded frompiano. The piano materials and white noise
were all processed by AudioSculpt andeventually combined to form the fifteensoundfiles. In total, 138 electronic sounds
were processed by Audio Sculpt using thefollowing treatments:
1) Transposition: -1200 cents, -2400 cents,
creating much lower register’s sounds.
2) Band Filter
3) Dynamic Transposition: glissando effect.
4) Clipping Filter5) Time Stretch: 5 times or 6 times
stretching.
6) Formant Filter: focused on both vowels“o” and “e”, which come from the words“koe” in Japanese and “voz” in Spanish.
7) Generalized Crass Synthesis: filteringwith white noise.

Figure 8: fshift1~ on the Max/Msp patch

Processed sounds on Audio Sculpt andMax/Msp are selected and mixed onProtools to become the final fifteensoundfiles.
REAL-TIME VISUAL IMAGE
The concept of the image is to visualize
invisible phenomena like sounds. A visualimage will be transformed in terms of aperformance each time (Figure 9). The
sound of the flute is used to create areal-time visual image during a concert.
Because of my experience working onMiyuki Ito’s The Sands of Time for bass
flute to create a live visual image and remix
version, I have a good conception of her

The other effects are used within Max/Msp
for the sounds originally from the piano,maracas and rain stick. Both the harmv2b~
object for harmonizer and the fshift1~ object
for frequency shift are used. Transpositionsmoothing for the harmonizer patch causes
the glissando effect (Figure 7 and 8).

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flute writing. Different kinds of extended
techniques such as multiphonics, distinct
types of breathing sounds, sweep ofharmonics, tongue click, use of flutist’svoice create mysterious textures on a visual
image as well as on music.

.
2) Rotation direction of center point.
Direction of Point C is controlled in realtime by rotary controller, shown in Figure
11.

Figure 11: Rotary Controller

Figure 9: Real-time visual image

1. Hardware System
A microphone picks up flute sounds during aperformance.
Max/Jitter samples thiscaptured sounds into a computer in terms ofamplitude and then converts a value ofamplitude to a wave shape. A result of
these data draws a wave shape on the screen.
2. Programming
This program isgeometry.

basedonelementalFigure 12

Velocity vector of Point C in Figure 12 iswritten asv =(v cos (!), v sin (!) ).

1) How to describe a wave shape.

Center point is written as

and is referred to Figure 14.

Figure 10

Orthogonal vector p to velocity vector inFigure 12 is written as

Point C in Figure 10 is moving along thecenterline at velocity V and this location isdescribed as4.

and is referred to Figure 15.

Figure 14: Center Point on the Max/Jitter patch

Figure 13“A” denotes amplitude of sound. Point S
on a wave shape shown in Figure 13 is
calculated as.
Similarly, vector q is written by thefollowing formula.

Figure 15: Orthogonal Vector on the Max/Jitter patch

Therefore, the following images werecreated during the concert, shown in Figure
16.1, 16.2, 16.3, 16.4 and 16.5.

Point Q is written as5

Figure 16.5

Figure 16.1

Figure 16: Excerpts from the live visual images inthe concert.

CONCLUSIONS

Figure 16.2

Our recent interest is to imagine “invisiblethings”, which might be a pivotal energy ofour creativity.
In addition, Japanesesensibility and aesthetics are always present
in our works, consciously and unconsciously
woven into its very fabric.

Figure 16.3

Because of the technical limitation of theperformance venue for the premier concert
in Mexico, it was risky to use live
electronics with Max/Msp, as well as to use
multiple microphones for each instrument inorder to create complicated visual images.
However, it will be possible to have morediversity of spatialized sounds with live
electronics version and multilayered
complex live visual images for a futureconcert.

Figure 16.4

Computer technology could enhance ourcreativity and let us think of new
possibilities. Therefore we try to explore acomprehensive approach and in order togive an advanced technology a new meaning.
Furthermore, we believe that the mostimportant thing is “invisible phenomena”,
which the computer cannot calculate but
human being can feel. The invisible weincarnate can generate multidimensional
images, using the computer technology.
6ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the Onix Ensamble, the CMMAS
and the Japan Foundation, we could have anopportunity to create a challenging work.

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