Wobbly - Monitress (2019)

‘Monitress’ is a piece for multiple mobile devices, each one running a pitch-tracking app and a synthesizer. Each is sent an audio signal, which the tracking app converts to MIDI data which is then used to drive the synth. Using an analog mixer, the sounds of one mobile can be routed / cascaded among the others. Feedback loops similar to acoustic or electrical feedback occur when you close the circle. The pitch-tracking apps are prone to errors, especially when presented with complex multiphonics or polyphonies; they get quite a few notes fascinatingly wrong. But more striking is the audible reality of their listening to each other. Unison lines are an elemental sign of musical intelligence; we are entrained to emotional reactions when hearing multiple voices attempting the same melody. These machines may not meet our current criterion for consciousness, but every audience I’ve played this piece in front of quickly realizes they're not listening to a solo.

The result is best heard in live performance, with 3-6 devices singing along. For the album version, studio improvisations on keyboards & touchscreens were recorded and then used to trigger an additional two or three layers of pitch-tracked response. But there's still only one initial human performance, embroidered on all sides by detailed machine listening.