The setup and the execution of the electroacoustic part of this work requires a Computer Music Designer (Max expert).

Performance date: 17 juin 2015

Documentation date: 10 août 2015

Version state

Valid

Validation date: 2 mai 2018



Executions dates of this version

  • 17 juin 2015,

Version documentalist

  • lemouton (Serge.Lemouton@ircam.fr)

Version realisation

  • Michael Jarrell (Composer)
  • David Poissonnier (Sound engineer)
  • Serge Lemouton (Computer Music Designer)
  • Augustin Muller (Computer Music Designer)

Version length

18 mn

Upgrade Motivation

A few corrections in the flute part (and, consequently, in the score follower score)

Detailed staff

  • solistes : flûte midi, hautbois
  • clarinette, clarinette basse, basson (aussi contrebasson), cor, trompette, trombone, 2 percussionnistes, 2 claviers électroniques/MIDI/synthétiseurs [claviers de contrôle TX802 (type KX88)] (aussi clavier électronique/MIDI/synthétiseur [DX7 II] , piano), alto, violoncelle, contrebasse
(Detailed staff comes from Brahms, send mail to brahms-contenu@ircam.fr for correction.)

Electronic equipment list

Computer Music Equipment

  • 1 Retina - Apple Laptops (Apple)
    10.9.5, I7, 8Go, flash
  • 1 Max 7 - Max (Cycling74)
  • 1 Fireface 800 - Sound Board (RME)
  • 2 KX 88 - MIDI Keyboard (Yamaha)
  • 1 BCF 2000 - MIDI Mixer (Behringer)
    optional
  • 4 Footswitch / Sustain Pedal - Footswitch / Sustain Pedal
  • 1 Unitor 8 - MIDI Interfaces (Emagic)

Audio Equipment

  • 6 Loudspeaker - Loudspeakers

Premiere

  • 22 novembre 1989, Paris, Centre Georges-Pompidou

Publisher :

  • Lemoine

Realisation

  • Jan Vandenheede
  • Nicolas Vérin

Work length

  • 18 mn
Télécharger tous les fichiers
File Author(s) Comment
Download [37,9 Mio] Audio file(s) concert recording recorded by the swiss radio (RTS-Espace2)
Download [1,2 Gio] Performance patch max patches and sounds Serge Lemouton max patches, libraries and sounds. Everything required to play the piece.
Download [391,5 Mio] Simulation files live session for simulation flute, oboe, midi keyboard 2 and midi pedals in a live project.
Download [269,4 Mio] Simulation files live session for simulation flute, oboe, midi keyboard 2 and midi pedals in a live project.
Download [296,6 Mio] Recording(s) concert recording Julien Aleonard of the CGP concert
Download [70,6 Kio] Technical rider technical rider David Poissonnier

Instructions

Audio setup

2 audio inputs :

  • Solo Flute

  • Solo Oboe

10 audio outputs from max patches :

  • Real Time FX

  • Fake RT samples in dac 1&2

  • Sequences Samples in dac 3&4

  • samplor~ based sampler for Keyboard 1

  • samplor~ based sampler for Keyboard 2

Loudspeakers setup

The electronic part is sent to a crossed stereo (L R Ls Rs) setup for Real Time effects & sounds, and a stereo + monitors system for the (virtual) “synthesizers” part.

Midi setup

The following midi devices are required :

  • 2 pedals with different ctl number for flute and oboe

  • 2 keyboards (88 notes + sustain pedal,  with pgm change buttons) for playing the synthesizers parts. 

Software installation

You need Max 7 

Ircam forumnet account is required for supervp.play external ( http://forumnet.ircam.fr/fr/product/supervp-pour-max/ )

Add the following folders to your Max file preferences path:

  • Congruences_max/

  • Congruences_samplor/

System calibration and tests

  • Play the sounds 

  • Test the RT (with the provided simulation files) 

  • Test the synths

  • Test the pedals

Initialization routine

  • Open the following patches :

    • Congruences_2015-16Manifeste.maxpat

    • Congruences_samplor/CongruencesClavier1DXSamplor-v7.maxpat
    • Congruences_samplor/CongruencesClavier2SYSamplor-v7.maxpat
  • Check all midi IOs (in app, patch and samplor patches)

  • Check DSP status (SR = 48khz, 256/128)

  • Init

  • Load sounds (check max window)

  • choose your section !

Patch & system overview

The electronic part of Congruences consists in live real time effects on solo flute and oboe, sequences (former synth sequence, now soundfiles), and 2 keyboards playing samples (formerly DX7II & SY99/TX802).

Some fake RT soundfiles have been added for some events and should be mixed with the real time treatments.

Congruences uses score following based on the detonate max object. Flute pitches are followed along with pedal switches and keyboard 2. Some events (like the first for example) may be triggered manually … Score following can be engaged and disengaged with the ‘x’ key.

Most of the treatments are done with complex routing and feedbacks. Effects type of A, B, 1 & 2 are variable along the piece ; have a look in effects section in DSP subpatcher. Effects routing can be monitored within the rtctl subpatcher. Global levels can be adjusted but routing can not be modified. 

All events (RT, sequences, pgmchanges, follower gates) are given in the score subpatch (qlists), except Fake RT sounds that are triggered from the sfload&ctl section : some of them are triggered along with events, other are played by pitches from the keyboard 2.

Performance notes

The ensemble should be amplified and reverberated.

Sequences outputs must be well mixed with the synth. 

RT outputs may be reverberated, according to the hall. They already include lots of reverbs !

The flute is the main trigger for the treatments, and is the main source too. A balance must be found between flute + treatments and oboe + ensemble. Flute & oboe are the soloists, but must not be too much amplified. For example, in section VII (oboe cadenza), the oboe may be cut off the PA to mix with electronics. Transpositions should be heard clearly as written in the score, with good presence.

Extra long reverbs are used on direct sound of flute as well as on transpositions, and should be really present in the mix as they are used as a duration modifier more than an acoustical enhancement. Treatments of the ensemble and percussions don’t need to be loud and can maybe be omitted. Important cues have been doubled with soundfiles. Direct treatments are used for the mix, but should be mixed at a low level in order to clarify the global image.

Using fake RT soundfiles is strongly advised. It should not replace the live RT, but be mixed with it.



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This documentation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.


Program note

Congruence, du latin congruere, convenir, est un terme de géométrie : « lorsque tous les points de deux figures superposées coïncident, elles sont dites congruentes », rapporte le compositeur. Le pluriel du titre implique alors un attachement au principe de « degrés de congruence », réactivant ainsi la notion de tuilage, de recouvrement, de stratification, à l’œuvre dans [work:9503][Trace-Ecart], une partition de laquelle Congruences tire sa quintessence.

Créée dans une seconde version pour flûte, hautbois et orchestre, où, à la manière du [composer:2062][György Ligeti] des années 1960, l’orchestre avait à charge de transposer les sons électroniques dans l’instrumentarium classique, l’œuvre découvre, dans sa première version, les expériences du compositeur avec un nouveau médium instrumental où réverbération, retardement, spatialisation, transformation du son et modulation de fréquence engendrent une polyphonie complexe. Emblématiquement, la première note posée par la flûte et le hautbois, dont la complémentarité acoustique et spatiale se donne à voir et à entendre, s’abîme ici dans la réverbération du dispositif électronique, là dans la résonance des flûtes de l’orchestre.

Les notes tenues structurent la partition dans une esthétique du gel, dans une polarité qui oriente la perception ; la flexibilité du vocabulaire rythmique est créée à la fois par l’omniprésence de rythmes non rétrogradables qui contrôlent l’enveloppe du son – et donc l’attaque différée et l’extinction disloquée des harmonies –, et par la superposition de différentes subdivisions engendrant des « cycles réguliers de vitesses différentes ». Enfin, le surgissement d’un bref palindrome dans l’antépénultième section de l’œuvre, mémoire de Trace-Ecart, et la recherche d’une continuité brisée et d’un discontinu interne, résurgence d’une problématique latente depuis [work:9496][Instantanés], apparaissent comme les principes majeurs de Congruences.

Laurent Feneyrou, programme ManiFeste 2015.

Version documentation creation date: 10 août 2015 07:38, update date: 6 mai 2021 15:09