Understanding Slow Controllers
"Slow Controllers" are software controllers where the user's momentary gestures lead to events extended in time.
For example, a particular gesture can trigger a whole arc of algorithmically generated notes, or a sweep of a filter and other effect parameters.
A slow controller, then, occupies a space somewhere between an instrument and an algorithmic composition technique. A player is launching and / or interacting with an ongoing, unfolding process, which in turn leads to the musical effects.
A simple example would be a Slow Slider which, when triggered, moves a parameter from one value to another over period of time. The player clicks within a 2D rectangle to inform the slider both of the new desired target value, and also the speed to arrive there. The slider may then take anything from 1 to 100 seconds to take the parameter from the current start to the destination.
A more complicated example might include a simulated world or automata which the player occasionally perturbs or re-configures during the performance, but which generates a series of ongoing musical events, unfolding according to a combination of its own logic and the player's hints.
Of course, the most common example of time-displaced control known to musicians today, is the looping sequencer. But the concept of slow controller is meant to generalise beyond looping, and my exploration of them in my practice is intended to move beyond loops and towards music with more long term narrative structures. I want to provide musicians with the ability to construct larger, more complex musical structures over time, in an improvisational setting.