Eurorack modular, Granulator III, Ableton Live, and processed recordings from Suchen Unsichtbarkeit

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4:41

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2018

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Chrono Utopia imagines a futuristic metropolis governed by time itself, a place where temporal logic shapes space, culture, and memory. In this imagined world, mechanical precision coexists with fragmented echoes of human expression. The composition reflects this tension: modular sequences pulse with mechanical regularity, while digitally fragmented piano motifs hint at a forgotten human presence and nostalgia filtered through the lens of technology.

 

The piece explores the intersection between electronically created sounds and acoustic elements carrying traces of past memories. It began with hands-on experimentation on a Eurorack modular synthesizer, primarily using the Intellijel Metropolis sequencer in combination with several analog oscillators. These sessions generated evolving rhythmic and tonal fragments, which I recorded and later reviewed, selecting a few as self-contained "sound objects."

 

Using Ableton Live’s arrangement view, I positioned these modular sound objects to define the work’s structure. To complement and contrast the electronic textures, I incorporated excerpts from an earlier solo piano piece I composed and performed, Suchen Unsichtbarkeit. It was recorded at Berklee College of Music in a professional studio, engineered by Miguel Barriga during our student years.

 

Selected piano fragments were further transformed using Digital Signal Processing (DSP) techniques, such as stretching, inversion, and other manipulations, to create new layers and iterations of the original material. A key tool in this phase was Robert Henke’s Granulator II, a granular synthesis device used to reimagine both modular and piano-based sources. Through this process, I expanded the palette of sound objects and shaped them into a concise narrative driven by curiosity and personal sonic intuition.