Freewheeling

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What is Freewheeling?
Tour of the Interface
Audio
Observations
Areas of Work
You Can Help
Contact

What is Freewheeling?

Freewheeling is a new way to be In The Muse-ical Moment. It is a fluid language for structured improvisation, built judiciously with digital technology. It is a prayer wheel.

Freewheeling allows us to build repetitive grooves by sampling and directing loops from within Spirited improvisation. Freewheeling works because the technology is minimally intrusive: It respects the complete Presence that is necessary to enter trance and reach Art. So, Freewheeling aims to facilitate trance formation in the Present.

Freewheeling has been used--

In solo work, to rapid prototype musical ideas without stopping

Freewheeling provides a minimal interface that allows us to build and dissolve structures from within improvisation. The creative flow remains uninterrupted, even as song ebbs and flows. The resulting loops are saved to disk, striped with the appropriate timing. Further arranging flows easily from here.

In drum circles, jam bands and rituals--

Freewheeling can handle multiple instrumentalists jamming together. We've plugged in a whole band and grabbed loops from different players in the midst of jamming. This changes the dynamic between players. We become conductors, DJs, and improvisers, all together.

Freewheeling draws from, expands on, and diverges from other loop-based tools. I ask myself- From what state of being does creativity flow?

What makes a creative space?

PRESENCE not PAST not FUTURE
PROCESS not PRODUCT
PARTICIPATION not CONSUMPTION
SPONTANEOUS TRUTH not ENDLESS EDITS
WOMBLIKE not WARLIKE
SURRENDER not CONTROL

These are my observations. The process of Freewheeling is rooted here:

- Fluid and intuitive interfaces for instrumentalists

No menus, mouse clicks, or complex modes--
Loops can be grabbed and played like an instrument, from any MIDI interface.
Freewheeling merges seamlessly with the instrumentalist's hat, so we can play, sing, and FreeWheel all at once.

- User interface and backend are separated.

Any MIDI interface can capture, trigger and transform loops.
Multiple MIDI interfaces can simultaneously work in and expand on a common loop set.

- Multiple loops with different lengths can be captured and triggered at once.

Loops with different lengths can be quantized based on a common time axis.
Multiple time axes can exist concurrently.
Polyrhythm, whacky time signatures, go for it.

- Inspired moments are easy to arrange later

Loops are saved to disk.
Live mixdown is streamed to disk in OGG format.

- Multiple inputs and outputs facilitate group improvisation

Input combinations for grabbing loops are easily selected--
Grab loops from vocals 1 & 2 together, or just tabla, or synth and guitar.

Tour of the Interface

Above, this is what the Freewheeling software looks like when first loaded. Clean empty space. In these examples I am using a MIDI piano to grab and trigger loops. You can see the shell of the piano keys at the top. Below is a flat input scope. Floating above the scope are indicators for levels. CPU usage, master and 3 individual input levels, output level, auto limiter level. These are designed to give immediate visual feedback and to be self managing wherever possible. For example, levels are automatically limited to avoid clipping. Gain structure is virtually self managing.

At the bottom, 'rec off' shows that streaming output to OGG is not running. The bottommost line shows the current patch in the attached FluidSynth soft-synthesizer. In my work I have been using mainly vocal percussion, chants, and soft-synth. But I keep grounded in improvisation, rather than getting lost in settings. The interface reflects this.

Above, I've begun to improvise vocals. The scope is full of peaks.

Above, I've already grabbed 4 loops onto 4 piano keys. They are playing away. On the right, you can see the blue pie progress of a meter. These 4 loops are auto-synchronized so that they fit into the timing of this meter. Right now I'm grabbing another loop from my vocal improv, using the footswitch SW. You can see it on the left of the scope. Once it's grabbed, I'll press a piano key and the new loop will move to that key.

Phew, all these loops. Things got a bit dense, so I started to cut and play the loops in and out. Since the loops are attached to the piano keys, I can play them with different velocities like a sampling keyboard. You can see that some of the loops are darkened with no white bar beneath. The bar shows the play volume-- these loops are out of the mix to make space for my voice.

Music is in the space between sounds. I find that when looping it is easy to build up structure, but very difficult to dissolve and transform structure. Freewheeling honors this by allowing us to easily move in and out of the different structures we create.

Above, CUT is active. It means that I am playing volume cuts for the loops, instead of triggering them. The timing stays the same. It's like cutting to different record combinations without moving the needles.

That's the interface in brief.

Freewheeling in Action- Audio

Here are some excerpts from Freewheeling improvisations.

It Takes- Excerpt from a live jam we did at a spring gathering.
with Shaun Friesen (hand drum, didjiridu, spoken word, and voice)
Jan P Mercury (singing bowl, vocal percussion, spoken word, chants, and soft-synth)

Sam Vega- Excert from a live jam with Sam Vega, the band Shaun plays in.
Bass, guitar, and two voices.

The deceivers- Excerpt from a spoken word improv with Patricia.
with Patricia (spoken word)
Jan P Mercury (piano)

Excerpts from Mercury's solo improvisations (vocal percussion, spoken word, chants, and soft-synth):

The Wind
Muppets Picnic
Build (just voice)

LIMINAL

Lately, I have been speculating that Freewheeling is a way into the liminal, hypnotic zone where ritual lives. Could Freewheeling be a way to pray without script or dogma? At Bihar Yoga Bharati in India, I experienced the uniting force of group prayer during repetitive chanting of the Maha Mriti Mantra for world peace. Yet I observed that many people- Indians and Westerners- found the Sanskrit tones alienating. We need a way to express our prayers in our own words, through our own voice and in our own body. And we need a process that creates the trance that goes deep-- to the core of our chemistry.

Of course, Freewheeling loops are no substitute for inspired players. But few people are willing to explore the space where Faerie music dwells. It is my prayer that others will release their inhibitions and join.

Areas of Work

To encourage participation from everyone by creating a womb space for uninhibited vocal release, group chanting, ritual, drum and fire circle, and looping.

To fine tune the process with inspired improvisers.

To incorporate independent pitch and tempo transformations and tempo tapping in a way that allows Freewheeling to integrate with organic grooves better.

To network Freewheeling nodes allowing for collaborative rhythm syncronized ritual improvisation across space.

To incorporate new user interfaces for different instrumentalists such as drummers and dancers.

You Can Help

At the moment, FreeWheeling is unreleased software that runs under Linux. I have been working on it for several years, and feel that it is now robust enough where others might find it useful. Several people have expressed keen interest.

I believe in accessibility- people should have access to inspiring tools. However, I believe in energy exchange. Nothing is made without cost. Programming and making music with Freewheeling have cost me. My inner debate over how to release Freewheeling is yet unresolved.

so I'm running polls:

Current Results

Please vote for each question separately... and thanks.

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