Programming basslines on paper. A practice-based notation and archival system developed within the Italian proto-EDM scene

The advent of electronic music instruments in the XX century has also given rise to the development of new notation systems devised by WAM composers to conceptualize and ‘control’ their work. However, there is a paucity of examples of written composition in the domain of electronic dance music. While EDM and notation may indeed be worlds apart, there can be a few notable (pun intended) intersections. This presentation examines the use of written/visual composition and transcription systems developed programming bass lines on the Roland TB-303 sequencer. This paper focuses on a system developed by Florentine producer Alexander Robotnick (Maurizio Dami, b. 1950) on squared notebook sheets, which he used for both composition and as a contingency plan in the event of sequencer internal memory failure or depleted batteries. His ability to master the TB-303’s unforgiving sequencer, allowed him to work early in his career as a 'bassline specialist’ programmer for other artists and his 1983 track Problèms d’Amour is often cited as an influence on everything from Chicago house to Detroit techno and early noughties electro-clash. Still active in composing and touring at the age of 74, Robotnick's approach is in some ways opposite to that of the stereotypical EDM producer, in which one “Plays with something that runs” (Butler 2014) by performing or modifying a pattern repeated in real time. Instead, he writes his 303 sequences first on paper and, only when he is sure they are “correct,” transfers them to the sequencer. His simple notation system can be used for archival purposes, providing communities with a means of disseminating an accessible methodology for devising and recreating patterns on a notoriously diIicult hardware sequencer.