HYPÉRION

Notice

The work was produced on Cemamu’s Upic machine, a graphically controlled sound synthesis computer. The first part superimposes a rhythmic sequence of low-pitched percussion and a continuum of ascending sounds. The second is a study of vibratos and fluctuations in timbre within a harmonic framework. The third sequence is above all a play on superimposed rhythmic cells at different tempi and with different registers and timbres. The microforms are often identical to the macroforms, with quantitative changes (in duration and pitch scales) translating into qualitative changes for the listener.
All the material comes from natural sound models, which (animal and instrumental sounds) have been analysed, after analogue-digital conversion, by the machine, which has extracted characteristics of dynamic form and timbre, in the form of envelopes and periods, which have then been recombined, not to synthesise the original sounds, but to create new sound hybrids. The rhythmic cells in the last sequence, for example, are inspired by birds (ptarmigan, stork, etc.), amphibians (rana capito, etc.) and insects (dectica, etc.). ), insects ( dectica…), mammals ( walrus…), while the timbres were extracted from various ancient or ‘exotic’ instruments such as santur, Sardinian launeddas, crumhorns, bombards etc… In the absence of commercial samplers, the Upic allowed then this type of sampling, if you used this synthesiser upside down, as it were.