Monotype MIDI

The software fuses old and new ideas and technologies in order to reveal untapped musical potential in the world of books, texts, poems and stories. Sources of random pitch and gate signals such as white-noise are a mainstay of electronic music production. Whilst this system can be used similarly to the popular eurorack Turing Machine or Buchla Source of Uncertainty modules, MonotypeMIDI excels in creating pseudo-random CV which the performer channels and loops inspired by their interpretation of the text being processed.

Applying the system to favourite poems or stories often reveals hidden and unexpected rhythms and repetitions. This embedded musicality offers wonderful new opportunities to explore the written word in combination through the world of texture, melody and rhythm available through electronic music equipment. A particular favourite with the team has been processing examples of Concrete Poetry where striking visual rhythms and repetitions are instantly translated into musical space to inspire the performer in creating improvised or arranged soundscapes and compositions.