Hyperplexia | norient.com

Back in early 2023, the composer and pianist Stefan Schultze sought to rethink norms in his own artistic practice and explore long-held questions and ideas such as: How has the piano’s design evolved and what are the possibilities for remapping it? This led to the exploratory and collaborative performance project Hyperplexia. It involves various musical and technological elements, including two grand pianos, one with a self-playing mechanism, virtual pianos, sample libraries, AI agents, controllers, and visuals, all interconnected via MIDI. This Special is an extension of the performance project and, first of all, documents and reflects the Japanese subgenre Black MIDI which has been a major influence on the project from the beginning.

The Phenomenon of Black MIDI: An Introduction
Blog Post by Stefan Schultze
In this blog post, you’ll discover the origins and evolution of Black MIDI, a Japanese subgenre that layers millions of notes to create complex auditory and visual compositions. It is an introduction to the genre’s roots, progression, and the challenges it has provoked.
Exploring Black MIDI: Resolutions, Techniques, and Thresholds
Blog Post by Stefan Schultze
In this blog post, you'll learn about Black MIDI’s complexity and the technical challenges involved in creating these dense musical compositions. Discover insights into MIDI resolution in DAWs like Ableton Live.
Black MIDI as a High-Density Remix Skill
Blog Post by Stefan Schultze
In this blog post, you will explore the intricacies of Black MIDI, focusing on how dense note structures can reveal hidden patterns and how «blackers» aim to find the «sweet spot» where melody remains discernible.
The Aesthetic Qualities of Black MIDI and Its Relationship with a Distinct Community
Blog Post by Stefan Schultze
In this blog post, you will discover how Black MIDI aligns with the Touhou gaming community through remixes and shared aesthetics. Read about how the challenging note structures in Black MIDI mirror the complexity of bullet hell games.
Black MIDI: Notes Like Bullets
Short Essay by Raffael Dörig
An average pop song counts around one thousand notes, while a typical Black MIDI track is several millions. Black MIDI composers – called «Blackers» – try to challenge computers, ears, and eyes with enormous numbers of super-short and dense notes.