Author: catsynth

getting ready for tomorrow's performance, part 1

Well, it's time to stop fooling around with pictures and get back to using Open Sound World for what is was intendend, making sound. In preparation for my performance tomorrow at the Skronkathon, I have selected a couple of patches that have worked well for me in the past. They are quite robust, and provide a variety of musical gestures and timbres that complement the sound generated by Ron Lettuce on his PVC wind instrument.

First there is my sinusoidal timbre space based on bifurcation diagrams from classic chaotic functions, controlled using my Wacom graphics tablet. If that sounds really complicated and weird, just accept for the moment that it sounds really cool, and that I will post a more in-depth article about it along with sound clips in the near future. The second patch uses a WX7 wind controller to control a set of resonance models and the excitations used to drive them – essentially, a metallic chamber that one plays like a wind instrument (clarinet, saxophone, etc.). Both of these programs were used in my performances with ELSA Productions last year.

Before today, I had been a bit worried about using my Dell laptop for the performance, as it had a tendency to start running the fan at full blast and slowing to a crawl, especially when running a CPU-intensive program like OSW or Emulator X2. Things would get even worse running a program like Poser or Bryce that is both CPU and graphics intensive. I installed the fan control software and cleaned out the internal fans and heat sink as described in this article and others, and while this has helped, it hasn't cured the problem, particularly with respect to graphics. I fear the root cause of the problem is simply that the laptop, which is nearly three years old, is simply nearing retirement.

In any case, I am also the planning to use the Evolver and the feedback+filter technique I described in a previous article. I generally have both a hardware synth and computer running simultaneously during live performances, so that if the computer and software crash I still have something to play. This has paid off on numerous occasions.

And that's pretty much it. It doesn't sound like a lot, a couple of very focused synthesis techniques, but by listening and playing them like traditional instruments, I expect to get a ful musical performance – I often advise such a “simple” approach to live electronic performance when asked by other musicians.

So that's it for now. I'm off to San Francisco for my one “rehearsal,” taking a leisurely trip up Highway 1 to Half Moon Bay and then cutting over to get to the city. More later.

shades of luna

As I was writing the previous post, Luna poked her head out the glass door leading to the patio. I can't help it, just had to snap a pic:

Cell phone pics aren't particularly high quality, but they're creat for moments like this. Plus, the image inspired a few variations. Enhancing the reflection of the patio in the glass gives us a cat as mirror to the world:

And I also like this highly processed version in red and black, done with some of the new image-processing tools I've build for Open Sound World:

moring walk and sea lion

Was out for my morning walk along the ocean, armed as usual w/ a large cup of coffee and a cell phone. I often encounter a lot of cats in the residential blocks between my house and the ocean, but today I came a rather different critter: a young sea lion on one of the little beaches here. Nothing unusual about sea lions in this area (I often hear their barking from my house), but I never saw one in this beach before. Upon closer look, it seemed rather sick and ematiated and in quite a bit of distress – and the poor little guy seemed to be getting worse.

Fortunately, we have a local group, The Marine Mammal Center, that operates a 24-hour rescue hotline. I gave them a call, hopefully they can help.

As I sit out on the patio writing this post, I can hear more barking sea lions off in the distance.

Update on cats in war

This is a follow-up to my previous posts about cats in Israel and Lebanon.

First, the following update from BETA in Lebanon:

On the 28th of July, BETA team re-entered the Beirut southern suburbs (one of the war zones) to feed the stray and abandoned pets. On the way, we encountered an abandoned pet shop and were able to retrieve some of the surviving animals – four cats and one puppy .

On the 2nd of August, and for the third time, BETA team, accompanied by a PETA representative who came all the way to Beirut to help our animals, have been able to enter that same area. Again, we put food and water for the strays and fed the rest of the animals at the abandoned pet shop -pigeons, birds, and turtles- We will come back to pick them up as soon as the pet shop owner unlock the cages.

We also visited the small zoo and made sure that the worker is still there feeding the remaining animals.

People are working to help cats and other animals left behind during the evacuations and attacks in northern Israel as well. A reader of this forum responded with the following information about current situation and the groups active there:

Bashan Shelter is located in Israel near the Lebanese border. They are
taking in animals abandonned by people who fled south in search of safety.
At great risk to their own personal safety they are also making the rounds
surrounding communities distributing food and water to the animals that
remain behind and to people also. This totally volunteer organization has
no income outside private donations.
liz at shay.co.il
http://bashan-dogs.org

Haifa SPCA is taking in large numbers of animal war refugees and like with
the above organization their expenses are growing while their income has
almost stopped. Contact info at
972-4-8729696
hspca at netvision.net.il
http://civilsociety.haifa.ac.il/orgDet. … ;orgid=149


Israel Cat Lovers Society is located in the Haifa area. They have been
affected by the war situation here as many pet owners or homeless cats
feeders fled towards the center of Israel leavingthe animals in horrible
conditions. As so we are in great need of fosterhomes for kittens and
massive food donations as well.
www.isracat.org.il
972-4-8244724

Yes, I am partial to kitties that look like Luna…

One of the things that struck me, in addition to the photographs of the animals and the people with them, was the reference to “civil society” among the resources. I fear the civil society on both sides of the border is one the things in danger in this conflict, and indeed in other conflicts as well. The Civil Society of Haifa describes their mission as “to ensure and further participation, solidarity, tolerance, social mobility, basic human rights and honesty [as] a goal that can contribute to the general welfare of all members of society,” including in this case our small and furry members of society. Sadly, such goals seem quite lost in the tribalism, fear and focus on base needs and emotions that seems to dominate much of the fighting in the Middle East and elsewhere…

DSI Evolver legal again in Kansas public schools

After the recent electoral defeats of Creationists on the Kansas school board, students are now free again to use the Evolver synthesizer from Dave Smith Instruments. Was the Evolver an unintended victim of the continuing assault on the theory of evolution and scientific reason, or part of an orchestrated effort to eliminate all electronic music in Kansas except for the DX7 electric piano patch used by wedding and bar-mitzvah bands?

Speaking of music spawned by the devil, I have been experimenting a lot lately with the use of feedback as the primary sound source for the filters instead of the starndard oscillators. The instability combined with the filters and multiple conversions between analog and digital in the signal path make for some very interesting results. I have posted an example here for your listening pleasure. Be forwarned, there are a lot of harsh high frequencies in this example, though the MP3 compression does help soften them a bit. Enjoy!

Cat Welfare Society of Israel


As a follow-up to my earlier post about cats in Lebanon, I present the Cat Welfare Society of Israel. They provide the usual cat-welfare services, including spay/neutering for strays, adoption, advocacy programs and a sanctuary for cats.

I did not see any news or information about the current conflict, although they do have some about the withdrawal from Gaza last year. There is a bittersweet story as well as a video about cats left behind in the Gaza settlements.
Although video is in Hebrew, it still pulls at heartstrings.
While the story of cats left behind doesn't change my view that evacuating the settlements in Gaza was the right thing (one wonders why Israelis would live there in the first place), it does leave some questions. Were people ordered not to take their pets with them during the evacuations, or were these simply communal animals left behind? Did the violence and chaos caused by some of the more militant settlers and activists make an orderly rescue of the cats more difficult? Did any of the people who poured into Gaza to protest stop to help? Very naive questions, I admit. This article about CWSI and its founder Rivi Mayer discusses a prevailing view among many in Israel of cats as “pests not pets”, and though changing, this article from CSWI documents more recent animosity to cats. I can't say I've really done a lot of independent research on any of this. Nonetheless, for those who support Israel, whether for nationalist or reglious reasons, or something a little more enlightened, a little soul searching never hurts. Especially now, given the recent tragedies surrounding the current war.

I end this post on a more upbeat note, with a photo of this little resident from CSWI's sanctuary:

Luna and table in black and white

Tonight, I just have a photo of Luna to share. I am pretty sure the original was taken by my dad last July (i.e., 2005). I was just playing around and did some work with the contrast and lighting, and converted to black and white. I am quite pleased with the results. Quite the artsy urban kitty, don't you think?

It's been a nice evening. Quiet and clear, and warm – it usually doesn't stay this warm at night around here. A great night to go for a walk…and then come home, sit on the couch and manipulate digital photos.

Ethiopiques – Funk and "60s" music from Ethiopia

Heard a really cool filler track this morning on NPR, it after a follow-up comment to a story about
Jazz from the Horn of Africa, but the song on the radio was more funk ala James Brown 1970 (i.e., with the JBs, not the original band). The track was from Ethiopiques Volume 8: Swing Addis.

Happily, the entire series is on emusic, and I immediately downloaded the entire volume 8 album. In addition to funk, there are tracks reminiscent of 60s R&B and British/American movie soundtracks of the era.

There is something quite amazing about some of these old recordings. Like western releases of the time, the gritty low-fi recordings blend with the unmistakably “modern” quality of the music that overproduced contemporary artists can't seem to duplicate (think of how contemporary dance and hip-hop can't match the sound of old disco and R&B). It's music you can play late at night in a retro pad with low colored lights while chilling out with your girlfriend and enjoying the psychoactive substance of your choice.

More specifically, this series suggests a lively and sophisticated scene in Addis Ababa of the early 1970s before decades of dictatorship, starvation, poverty, war and now Islamic fundamentalism at its doorstop. You can read an interesting interview with the producer of the Ethiopiques series.

I am curious to review and explore more of what was going on the world at that time culturaly, as compared to where we find ourselves now. Collectively speaking, we're just not as cool as we used to be. But that's a project for another day…time to light up, groove out and tweak a few knobs (so to speak)…