Rock Music: Granular and Stochastic Synthesis based on the Matanuska Glacier

Geological data from measurement of sediment granulation over a 24 hour period in a lake formed by the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska was applied to synthesis parameters. The parameters measured include time, grain size and grain frequency. Several mapping strategies were employed to generate different types of additive and granular synthesis sound materials: 1) time to event grouping, sediment grain size to grain duration, grain frequency to grain frequency, 2) time to time at the event level, grain size to grain frequency (in equal temperament or harmonic series systems), grain frequency to amplitude, 3) time to waveform, size to partial frequency and frequency to waveform amplitude, and 4) grain size vs. frequency to produce a waveform. The data was also applied to control parameters of the STK Toolkit physical modeling stochastic instrument Shakers, to create percussive sound events. Two compositions, “Matanuska Etude,” and “Bathymetric Voyage” were composed from this sound material and a multimedia presentation from aerial photos was created.