Incerta

Incerta (2020) is an 8-min acousmatic multi-channel composition created in MaxMSP with the Fuzzy Logic Control Toolkit (FLCTK). Incerta is a latin word that could be translated into English as vague, in direct relation to the ability of fuzzy logic to handle uncertain data using vague concepts. The gist of the composition is very simple: twenty-one separate tracks of audio are presented in both temporal and spatial order according to a fuzzy logic inference engine.

The fuzzy system handles both the temporal and spatial presentation of the material across time. The twenty-one audio tracks are separated into three different groups, according to their pitch content, ranging from low-frequency textures to high pitches ones. Each group is presented at a given time in a specific spatial location.

Both the selection of individual sound files and spatial position in an eight-speaker system are determined by the selection of a specific Gaussian curve that specifies the amplitudes of a group of faders. There are three curves for each pitch content (low, medium, and high) and three additional curves for the circular spatial position of each group. The mean of each curve is controlled by an angle variable in such a way that the faders overlap circularly. The Gaussian curves can also be made wider or thinner, thus affecting a different number of faders, by controlling their standard deviation.

All technical details of how this composition was made and how to create music with fuzzy logic can be found here: https://doi.org/10.3389/frai.2020.00059