...We haven't started manipulating sounds of orchestral instruments. I just feel that there are still so many sounds and textures to get out of orchestras that are unlike anything, and can be far more disturbing/magical than most digital manipulation. I think part of me disengages with a sound when I can hear it's digital. Some people seem to think the orchestra, as a piece of technology, is somehow past it. But microtonal string mu-sic and choirs and suchlike are far more affecting to me, because it's simultaneously natural and unnatural. As a band we listen to a lot of Penderecki... ^Jonny

[The Ondes Martenot is another passion: Mr.Greenwood actually played in a concert with Ondes vir-tuoso Jeanne Loriod and her pupils in 2002, and he includes her name on the album credits for HTTT. ] ^cmv

...I heard the Turangalila symphony at school when I was 16, and became fixated on Messiaen and the Ondes Martenot, although all I could do was read descriptions of the instrument, and listen to Tur-angalila over and over. I didn't even see one until 5 years ago, and finally found one a year later. I love this instrument - it deserves to be as ubiquitous as the saxophone. I'm quite evangelical about this. I feel we're doing our bit by putting it in a rock group. According to Messiaen, when it first emerged, the very composers who should have welcomed it - musique concre`te movement - rejected it as being too lyrical and expressive... exactly the qualities that make it so great. Makes the Theremin look like a toy!.. ^Jonny

[For yet another side to this explorer, beyond the rigid sequencer technologies of Kid A, Mr.Greenwood is experimenting with interactive programs like Max/MSP, and Cycling'74 also gets a credit on the most recent album. He thinks it unlikely that he will be producing solo computer music, though:] ^cmv

...The idea is that taking a laptop off a shelf is like picking up a guitar or an organ. Newer technology, but not better, just different. Having said that, I can't imagine using it alone. When we play the song Gloaming live, the laptop takes over for the end section, using a Max/MSP patch which steals sections of whatever everyone else is doing, and carries on when they all stop. But I don't use laptops for generating sounds very often, mainly sound manipulation and MIDI generation. I prefer generating sounds other ways... ^Jonny

...I've always felt uncomfortable having to use other people's software to make music. However limitless sequencers, audioeditors, and plugins claim to be, you still find yourself being forced, however subtlely, to work in certain ways. My copy of Emagic Logic insists on looping the first four bars whenever it can (although it's good software in lots of ways)... With Max/MSP I finally got to think about sound and MIDI, and their manipulation, in a much purer way... I felt that all direct contact with computers had been taken away from me, until I found Max/MSP... ^Jonny

...Max/MSP... suits my chaotic, wire-filled constructions. Lots have half-finished ideas embedded in them, which aren't used, and they've a tendency to crash during concerts. But I love it all: I could fill pages with obsessive stuff about Max/MSP. I've even started lurking in chatrooms, and idolizing shadowy figures like jhno and Karlheinz Essl...^Jonny

...With our last record [Hail To The Thief. - CCL], there was not time for programming in the studio, so every patch had to be written and working before we started. We had a corner of the studio set up for Max/MSP stuff, and it was all done in real time as we recorded. Part of the band, rather than one person with a computer and four people watching, as tended to happen with previous re-cords. It's also becoming more and more important at our concerts... ^Jonny

About Karlheinz Essl:

www.essl.at
Essl in the classical composers database

About jhno (John Eichenseer)

Biography
Interview
Discography

Both Essl and jhno are known to post at Synthesisters message board.

This is where we have found Randy Jones, a musician and programmer whose work focuses on computers as instruments for creating live sounds and images, instruments through which the musical practice of improvisation can be applied to the processing of non-verbal idea systems.

...Jitter is very stable on OS X. The patch I wrote for the Radiohead tour visualized audio, sampled and scrubbed live video in response to MIDI, and applied effects to the video. I tested the components of the patch very carefully because a crash in front of 20,000 people is no fun for anyone. The patch did not crash in three months of touring. There are only a few software tools which I would feel comfortable using in that situation. ^{Randy on synthesisters}

...I look forward to radiohead at red rocks tonight, where there is likely to be some max-wankery [you can see a Max patch on Jonny's iBook - CCL] and Jitter visuals. Watch for the GL-based spectrograms, and the live video looping synchronized to the guitar DSP on "Backdrifts" and "Go to Sleep." ^{Randy on synthesisters}

To realize his audio+visual work Randy uses Jitter, the graphical programming environment he helped design and code for Cycling'74. Small world :-).

In case you feel like getting a good look at what Jonny and Randy are working with, Cycling'74 offers trial versions of both Max/MSP and Jitter. They also have excellent student discounts.