Timbral Circuits

Listen to the work here!
 
Timbral Circuits is a work for an electronic sampler/MIDI controller, using the likes of which electronic drums are often added to the tracks of popular music. In particular, as indicated by the graphic score, the sampler to be used is one with a total of 64 pads, arranged in an 8x8 square grid. Each pad is to be programmed with a short sampled sound of ½ second to 2 seconds in duration, and descriptions of those sounds are provided in detail below the graphic score. The numbers in each box on the graphic score correspond to the numbering of the Sound Reference list, and the graphic score is meant to provide a visual map of the 8x8 grid of pads itself.
 
The 64 sounds used to perform Timbral Circuits are split into eight groups of eight sounds each, in two different ways. One set of groups, indicated by the letters A-H, denotes adjectival qualities of sound: high (A), sweeping (B), harmonic (C), smooth (D), crunchy (E), explosive (F), skittering (G), and low (H). The other, indicated by the eight colors of boxes in the score, denotes different sources of sound: animals (Red), string instruments (Orange), wind and brass instruments (Yellow), nature (Green), machines (Blue), percussion instruments (Purple), electronics (Pink), and the human voice (White). Throughout the course of the piece, the performer alternates between playing only pads of a certain Letter Group, or only pads of a certain Color Group. In this way, the piece creates a winding and cyclic journey of sound exploration, always moving listeners sideways into new directions of listening. This work was commissioned by Tamara Persad, a doctoral candidate in Percussion Performance at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, whose doctoral research centers around pragmatic issues in performance of electroacoustic works for percussion instruments.