Requiem for Bob Carter: Ode to Natural Variation


The adapted piece I call an Ode to Natural variation. It uses (without permission) the original “Bob Carter Peal” by Lord Monckton. Please read the eulogy:

A clock tune in honor of a true man of true science

Technical details

The work starts with the original stanza. Then over the next two stanzas I add more  copies of the original with different delays and a few simple other effects.
Except for the last stanza all the sound is just one simple piano playing a single tune**, but if you find the work increasingly difficult to “comprehend” as I overlay first one then up to three additional copies (in the third stanza) – that is what is intended!
Like the tune, natural variation is not distinct from “normal” regular cycles – and so in theory should not be that difficult to understand. But like the music, natural variation is the combination of many many cycles each relatively easy to understand on its own but which come together into one uncomprehendable “symphony”. (Also listen out for the track played in reverse – the noise doesn’t start with a thud as the piano key is hit, but instead builds to a thud and stops short).
The final stanza starts with a flourish – and for a while the “heroic” tune holds its own. But it is increasingly drowned out as the full flourish of natural variation is introduced (now generated pink noise). Then I duplicate this noise, add some reverb,  wow & flutter which causes the sound to evolve into what seems like a heart beat … fading out relatively suddenly leaving the last notes of the “Bob carter peal” ringing out to the final silent pause.
**There are also some chirping sounds which I believe are due to aliasing between the various sample frequencies. I admit I tried hard to remove these unwanted perturbations – but like natural variation – they serve a purpose.

Bob Carter Peal

A clock tune in honor of a true man of true science

By Christopher Monckton of Brenchley

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4 Responses to Requiem for Bob Carter: Ode to Natural Variation

  1. 1saveenergys says:

    3% pure joy …. 97% madness
    just like climate science & the climate muddles.
    Bob & Chris are definitely in the 3%

  2. Scottish-Sceptic says:

    I just wish I had had the chance to meet him.

  3. The heartbeat is clearly the millennial natural cycle which has just peaked in about 2003 and which the establishment scientists foolishly ignore.

  4. Scottish-Sceptic says:

    Yes, it was not quite the effect I expected.
    The original pink noise was quite boring – much like running water – so I thought I’d add something akin to El Nino, AMO, PDO – but the millennium cycle would also fit. These are modulations of the noise, rather than simple additions.
    I think the ending is the finest part – I’m sure I can just about hear some “human” noise (I think it may be lower frequency and in reverse) – but I’m never quite sure whether it’s really there.

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