Ka [disquiet0040-kirschnerplus1]

The source audio for this track is part three of the Kenneth Kirschner album June 5, 2012, which features Kirschner on piano and Tawnya Popoff on viola. The album was released in September 2012 on the shskh.com netlabel, where it is available for free download.

More on this 40th Disquiet Junto project at:

http://disquiet.com/2012/10/04/disquiet0040-kirschnerplus1/

More on Kenneth Kirschner at:

http://www.kennethkirschner.com/

More details on the Disquiet Junto at:

Disquiet Junto/

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I wrote a Csound program to read in the original track and generate a "double" using a waveshaping process based on Csound's "chebyshevpoly" opcode. This opcode allows control over individual harmonics, and I used prime harmonics 2, 3, 7, 11, 13, 17. Each generated harmonic is controlled by an LFO whose frequency is inversely proportional to the number of the harmonic; e.g., the second harmonic's LFO has a frequency of 1/2, or .5 Hz; the fifth harmonic used 1/5 or .2 Hz, etc. The shape of the waveform I used for the LFOs, combined with the very slow frequencies, results in an envelope that can sound percussive or plucked. This track also has a bit of reverb to help it somewhat match the ambience of the source track. Finally, I took the "double" and combined it with the original track in Audacity, and this piece is the result. The elapsed time of the project (including writing these notes) was about three hours.

The intent was to add new timbres with a contrasting texture (striated in comparison with the smoother surface of the source material), but to try to do it in such a way that the subtle and delicate beauty of Kirschner's piece was not obscured. I hope that the end result can be heard as an organic extension of the original piece.

The image is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hor and is a statue of the ancient Egyptian king Hor. On his head is the symbol "ka", an Eqyptian word that denotes vital essence, soul, or double.