Program Notes for “Taibhse” (2008)
Posted by andrewmcmanusmusic on August 11, 2009
“Taibhse” is a Gaelic word meaning “ghost” or “phantom”. This piece, created with Csound, explores interactions between three distinct instruments, all of which take pure sine waves as their source material. The first is a combination amplitude- and frequency-modulation instrument with vowel formant filters and a complex combination of reverb, delay and rapid panning. The results from this instrument are extremely diverse; they range from stable AM and FM sounds to highly unpredictable bell tones. The second instrument, the source of a wind-like whistling, comes from randomized granular synthesis. The third creates a somewhat abrasive buzzing by generating a Gaussian distribution of upper partials over the sine wave source. These three instruments combine to form a veiled, haunting and enigmatic sound world.
Taibhse was composed in the Eastman Computer Music Center in Rochester, NY in the fall of 2008.
Listen here: (44.1K mp3)
