Music
In 1995 Hobbs began integrating his software expertise with music composition, purchasing numerous electronic instruments including a Devilfish (a modified Roland TB-303) and a Kyma (sound design language) from Symbolic Sound Corporation. He was introduced to microtonalist and music theorist Erv Wilson by Carla Scaletti and Kurt J. Hebel. He created many software instruments which implemented several of Wilson's tuning theories such as Moments Of Symmetry, Combination Product Sets.
In 1998 he released his first album From On High under the name Marcus Satellite. Each track features software instruments tuned to a different tuning of Wilson's and lyrics and vocals by American singer and songwriter K Blu. The project was sequenced using Steinberg Cubase.
In 2002 he completed his second album Way Beyond, Way Above, a collaboration with Russian singer and songwriter Masha d'Elephenden. The project featured Kyma software instruments, a Roland MC-505, a Roland MC-303, sequenced on an Apple Power Mac G4 using Steinberg Cubase. The album was released 2007.
In 2004 he completed his third album My Silent Wings, a collaboration with English singer and songwriter Rocket Excelsior. This was Hobbs' first album to use only software instruments, rendered on an Apple Macintosh G4. Hobbs also switched sequencers to Ableton Live. The computation necessary to render the many layers of software instruments required many passes and motivated Hobbs to search for more efficient synthesis methods. The album has yet to be released.
In 2006 he released 9 microtonal singles A Boy Named Peace, A Girl Named Love, The Exquisite Corpses Play Darwin, Full Moon Fire, I Love, I, Marcus, Scaling Lambdoma 6, Stormy Eyes, To The Moon, and Trading Tykes The Magick Words. Hobbs invested nearly 6 months programming software instruments in Native Instruments's Reaktor and purchased a Power Mac G5 to achieve real-time rendering of each of these works.
In 2007 he released The Marcus Satellite Tribute To U2, consisting of 13 electronica cover songs of popular U2 songs. The work is faithful to the form of the original songs, and features dozens of layers of software synthesizers rendered in real-time.
Hobbs has also scored the forthcoming independent film, Desert Vows.
Read more about this topic: Marcus Warren Hobbs
Famous quotes containing the word music:
“The basic difference between classical music and jazz is that in the former the music is always greater than its performance—Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, for instance, is always greater than its performance—whereas the way jazz is performed is always more important than what is being performed.”
—André Previn (b. 1929)
“For the introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state; since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)
“Slow, slow, fresh fount, keep time with my salt tears;
Yet slower yet, oh faintly gentle springs:
List to the heavy part the music bears,
“Woe weeps out her division when she sings.”
Droop herbs and flowers;
Fall grief in showers;
“Our beauties are not ours”:
Oh, I could still,
Like melting snow upon some craggy hill,
Drop, drop, drop, drop,
Since nature’s pride is, now, a withered daffodil.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)