One instrument, one drum machine, one room by the lagoon. Drum programming
outsourced to a machine — the machine had opinions.
02
Saturday, the Haff Freezes Over
Double bass + frozen piano
Saturday, the Haff Freezes Over
0:00
VSTi: FFOSSO Frozen Piano
playing: lo-fi
expression: arctic
// one string goes cold
A frozen piano, a loud lid, a bass played below audibility.
Saturday night at the lagoon is sometimes just this.
03
The Ceiling Is the Drum Kit
Double bass, percussive
The Ceiling Is the Drum Kit
0:00
repercussions on double bass
→ room is reverb →
expression: the world is slow hits
// the wooden ceiling answers
The bass played as percussion: knuckles, wood, the room as reverb.
The drummer would have smiled.
II · The Line
The instrument leaves the house. Field recordings from a regional train,
Mainz to Koblenz.
Placeholder · final shot: rails, Rhine valley from the train window
04
Rail Overture
Field recording + double bass
Rail Overture
0:00
field recording: Loreley → track joints, regional train (-24st)
→ no reverb → lo-fi Deutsche Bahn
expression: the Rhine valley
// steel becomes tectonics
Track joints pitched down 24 semitones until steel becomes tectonics.
No reverb added — Deutsche Bahn is lo-fi enough.
05
Trans Europa Express, Remembered
Field recording, remix
Trans Europa Express, Remembered
0:00
field recording: Loreley → slowed to a drone
→ no reverb → lo-fi Deutsche Bahn
expression: the TEE as memory, not as fact
// the sound of the Trans Europa Express, remembered
The Loreley through a train window, slowed until the Rhine valley becomes
a drone. Steve Reich raised an eyebrow and left the room.
III · The Memory
What the string remembers: vanished machines, old schools, a bridge that fell.
Placeholder · final shot: concrete relic, Peenemünde · old footage / excursion
06
A Synthesizer That No Longer Exists
Double bass + electronics · for the ANS synthesizer
A Synthesizer That No Longer Exists
0:00
a machine more mysterious than the Soviet-engineered ANS synthesizer
expression: Tunguska
// everything sounded different back then
// one string becomes an old memory in space
For the ANS synthesizer — the Soviet machine that turned drawn light
into sound. Tarkovsky knew. It no longer exists.
07
Darmstadt, 1956, Too Much Reverb
MAX/MSP · Realtime Composition Library (K. H. Essl)
Darmstadt, 1956, Too Much Reverb
0:00
KH Essl: Realtime Composition Library → MAX/MSP
→ too much reverb →
expression: Darmstadt Summer School 1956
// one string becomes an ocean
The serialists of the Darmstadt school would not have been amused.
That is rather the point.
08
The Bridge Fell While Tuning
Double bass + prepared piano · tempo: before time
The Bridge Fell While Tuning
0:00
double bass, new strings →
→ the bridge falls while tuning → lo-fi
expression: startled
// discovering the resonant life of the wood
Slow tectonic movement, prepared piano as the dissonance of the world.
The bridge collapsed mid-tuning; the recording kept going.
IV · The Corpus
The string is handed to the machines: SOMAX2 listens, learns, answers.
Placeholder · corpus — one string becomes many (SOMAX2)
09
Corpus I: Fragile String
Double bass + SOMAX2 + string library
Corpus I: Fragile String
0:00
recorded double bass → strings
→ Vienna rooms →
expression: strings make me cry
// can one instrument lead a chamber orchestra?
Acoustic double bass against Vienna Symphonic Library strings in MIR 3D
rooms — a chamber orchestra that exists only as memory.
Dietz would have smiled and said: carry on.
10
Corpus II: Noise Is Always Art
SOMAX2 corpus test · Soundpaint CAGE + prepared pianos
Corpus II: Noise Is Always Art
0:00
VSTi: Soundpaint CAGE library → + prepared pianos
expression: noise is always art
// orchestra noise baseline
The art of untuned sound emerging from the omnipresent spectrum of noise.
11
Corpus III: Nobody on the Dance Floor
SOMAX2 corpus test · percussion
Corpus III: Nobody on the Dance Floor
0:00
VSTi: Soundpaint CAGE library
expression: rhythm is too loud for the ballroom
// nobody is on the dance floor
The DJ smiled and went home. The machine kept dancing alone.
V · The Silence
Reduction. Decay. What little remains is a lot.
Placeholder · final shot: the Haff, winter fog, kayak perspective
12
The Little That Remains
Resonators · reduction to pauses and silence
The Little That Remains
0:00
VSTi: Plasmonic resonators →
→ reverb: inside the sound → minimal hi-fi
expression: the little is a lot
// a sound must be heard
Reduction until only the pauses carry the dramaturgy.
A sound must be heard — which means it must be allowed to stop.
13
One String, Endless, in Vacuum
Double bass · Eventide Blackhole · 7.1
One String, Endless, in Vacuum
0:00
VST effect: Eventide Blackhole → mix: 7.1 Dolby Atmos
→ multichannel reverb → lo-fi
expression: galactic swell
// one string rings endless in the silence of space
A string decaying in the silence of space, multichannel.
The most experimental room is no room at all.
After Luigi Nono: Stille — An Diotima, on fragments of
Hölderlin. One of the essential inspirations behind this record.
The album ends where music ends.
I have nothing to say, and I am saying it,
and that is poetry.
