MUSIC
Magic Square
Experimental Electronic · Composer
The magic square
The composition is based on this 4 × 4 magic square. Each row, column, and main diagonal adds up to 34. I used these number patterns to develop the pitches and arrangement.
| 16 | 3 | 2 | 13 |
| 5 | 10 | 11 | 8 |
| 9 | 6 | 7 | 12 |
| 4 | 15 | 14 | 1 |
| 52 | 39 | 38 | 49 |
| 41 | 46 | 47 | 44 |
| 45 | 42 | 43 | 48 |
| 40 | 51 | 50 | 37 |
From numbers to music
I composed Magic Square in Ableton Live with sounds from Omnisphere. Different patterns in the square supplied material for the instrumental tracks: rows and columns for the background texture, diagonals for melodic movement, and smaller squares for percussion and fills.
To turn the numbers into pitches, I added 36 to each value and used the results as MIDI note numbers. This moved the notes into a higher register while keeping the intervals between them unchanged.
Building the arrangement
| Layer | Use of the matrix |
|---|---|
| Drums | The kick outlines the structure; tom pitches follow square patterns. |
| Texture and soundscape | Row and column patterns form the background texture. |
| Granular synthesizer | Diagonal patterns guide the melodic and granular parts, with square patterns used for fills. |
| Effects | Corner values determine selected effects parameters. |
Phrases 3 and 4 reverse material from Phrases 1 and 2, following the symmetry and rotation of the arrays. The later phrases return to the same notes in a different order.
Sound design
The soundscape combines sustained textures, percussion, and granular sounds. Omnisphere provided the source sounds, which I arranged and processed in Ableton Live.
Some of the numbers also became effects settings. In FabFilter Saturn, I used a 160 Hz crossover, 13% mix, 4% drive on the second band, and a level of +1 dB. This carried the matrix into the processing as well as the notes.