Here’s an OT collaboration I was thinking about yesterday when I couldn’t sleep - but I need some help figuring out some of the logistics of it. Read on if you’re interested.
I’m sure you’ve all tried an “exquisite corpse” at some point in your life, but maybe haven’t caught the name before (I only learned its name a couple of years ago).
What is exquisite corpse?
It’s basically a creative/playful practise of collaboration where one person starts part of a work (usually writing or drawing), say write an opening paragraph of a story (or in drawing - usually the head of a person/monster/whatever), and the second collaborator only gets access to the very last piece of information written (or drawn) by the last collaborator, in order to improvise or elaborate from that. Then a third person does the same to the second person’s input, etc, etc.
Read more about the technique here;
Here’s an illustration showing a drawn exquisite corpse, you can clearly see the creases where the different artists work has overlapped;
Exquisite Corpse OT Collaboration
It would be awesome to try out something similar with the Octatrack to create a sort of sound collage. I’m not sure on what is the best way to share content between users, however, so would very much like input on this.
I’m thinking something along these lines.
- The first person creates a 4-bar loop. Content is completely up to the creator.
- He/She renders this loop as an audio file for the final “piece” and keeps it somewhere on his/her computer, or uploads it to a Dropbox or something.
- He/She also saves the project as a new project, copies the 4th bar of the 4-bar loop to a new pattern, deletes the 4-bar long pattern, and saves this new project (containing only the 4th bar of the original 4-bar loop).
- This project can now be shared with the next collaborator.
- The collaborator who takes over the project must now create a 4-bar long loop, with the former collaborator’s one-bar loop as the starting point (so he/she is basically creating 3 bars of original content).
- He/She passes on his/her fourth bar loop to the next person, etc.
Rules
- The 1 bar loop inherited from the collaborator before you MUST stay intact, 100% as it were, including all effects settings.
- All audio files used in the project must be put in a specific folder within your Audio-folder, named “Exco”, so that it will be easy to share between users.
Logistics
I’m not sure my way of sharing the loops with one another is the smartest way. Maybe it would be wiser to just share audio stems, for instance. I’m very open for suggestions on this.
Participants
We need a list of participants to start out the project. Let’s say 10 people. If you sign up, you must be able to chip in with your collaboration on a relatively short notice, or you will be crossed off the list.
So, I’d like some input on possible best ways on how to share projects/audio-files between users, and participants!
If you want to sign up for this project, just write a post with your username in bold, and I’ll add you to the list.
If enough people show any interest and if we’ve figured out a decent way of sharing projects/audio, we’ll start this Monday May 4th. And as long as people are interested, it will be possible to participate. It’s got potential to be a never ending track. 
