Stockhausen's GAGAKU-CIRCUIT on Max 5

The GAGAKU-SCHALTUNG or Gagaku Circuit is a fundamental block in the construction of Stockhausen's TELEMUSIK. It summarizes the idea of merging two distant worlds and obtaining as a result something which is more than the sum of the original parts. In fact amplitude modulation is exactly that: a nonlinear synthesis (i.e. it does not meet neither superposition nor proportionality criteria - G. Loy in Musimathics vol.2 - MIT Press 2007). Nevertheless, this circuit can be tuned to decode a modulated source if one knows the frequency of the oscillator used for the modulation. In the digital era, this can be accomplished with very little distortion in the output and it can be tested in this patch by tuning both oscillators (A and B) to the same frequency and only listening to the output of the modulation B. In structure 3 of the piece, there is a brief glissando at the end of the section, that shows the effect of going from the same frequency of 12000Hz in both oscillators to 50Hz below and back to 12000Hz again (try presets 1 and 2 for testing - see below).

We have prepared an introductory video that will guide you thru the steps needed to initialize and run the patch. You can also contact us thru the forums for help, questions, etc. Please find the video, and the links to the forum and download at the bottom of this page.

Requirements:

To run the patch you need Max 5.1.4 or higher or same version of Max Runtime
Click here to download from Cycling '74.

We also recommend to download and install the Max Object-Defaults settings for this patch in order to see the correct coloring (copy the uncompressed file to your /Cycling '74/default-settings folder).

General remarks:

The blue rectangle with little bubbles at the top-right corner in the second step box, is a [preset] object that lets you modify the frequencies of the [cycle~] objects without going to each of them manually. The frequency values stored in these presets are listed below; each of them corresponding to different structures or parts of a structure according to the TELEMUSIK score.

Preset List:

1. Structure 3 - A:12000Hz (constant), B:12000Hz
2. Structure 3 - B: 11950Hz Glissando between 22.6s to 31.4s
3. Structure 11 - A:12000Hz (constant), B:6000Hz
4. Structure 11 - B:7000Hz
5. Structure 11 - B:8000Hz
6. Structure 11 - B:9000Hz
7. Structure 11 - B:10000Hz
8. Structure 11 - B:11000Hz
9. Structure 18 - A:10000Hz, B:9900Hz (constant)
10. Structure 18 - A:9980Hz Glissando back and forth between 10000Hz and 9980Hz
14. A:0Hz, B0Hz - Useful to jump instantly to the original music without modulation.

* Notice that the Gagaku music fragment included in the patch corresponds only to Structure 3 of the piece. Please refer to the sources for more examples.

Proposed exercises:

Intermediate level:
- Use any musical fragment of your choice as an input on the Gagaku circuit and make an automation between presets that lasts at least for 10 seconds.

Advanced level:
- Reproduce structure 17, 18 and / or 19 from TELEMUSIK, tracks I, II, III and IV with the appropiate indications from the score and using the music from TEXT CD 16 - Muschel-Musik

Sources:

• TELEMUSIK Partitur - Universal Edition (UE14807) and Stockhausen Verlag (SV)
• London Lecture VI (1971) on TELEMUSIK - SV
• TextCD 16 on TELEMUSIK - SV
• CD 9 MIKROPHONIE I und II - TELEMUSIK - SV

Video

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