Xenakis had this piece called Concret PH, it was a piece realized on 1/4" tape, and the only sounds–the only source material for the sounds–was burning charcoal. The clicks and pops you hear when something's burning. I think about this all the time, as an austerity measure when I'm composing. "Imagine I only have this one sound as the source." It's a good challenge in an age where there are really no constraints like this if they're not self-imposed.

I've been playing with different systems for manipulating sounds - Csound, TidalCycles and Ableton - with different results. They really are their own instruments. I'm a totally beginner with TC but comfortable with the other two, though lately there's little time to prep my minutes since it's packing week (we move out of our house next week Wednesday). SO! I'll be playing with a long sample of the rotary sander I was using a few weeks ago at least two, if not three, ways. Today is Ableton Live, and mainly about laying big blocks on a grid as a result - it's all I do in Live so far. Here's the picture of Xenakis that's been on my wall the past year. He may be a cold fish to some, and one of my profs at UW told me "y'know, most people don't consider him a composer". Bullshit, I say.