Music

Preparing for tomorrow's today's performance, part 2

Things were looking pretty dire yesterday afternoon, with major audio problems on both the PC and Mac. Without going into details, I was getting intermittent pops, clicks and stutters on the PC, and the Mac was simply outputting something wrong. Eventually, I was able to get the mac working with clean audio, so that became the computer for today's performance, together with an E-MU 0202 | USB and an Xboard.

Basically, the mac is running Open Sound World, more specifically, the latest version that works with my new Python interface. Without the pesky graphical interface, the system is rock solid and a lot more efficient to program. It's more akin to SuperCollider or the practice of “live coding”, if you are familiar with either of those. So with this setup, I was able to get things up and running for today very quickly. And it is rock solid, though I don't want to jinx the actual performance too much by describing all the things that didn't happen.

The “instrument” for today allows two live recordings to be played back at various rates, controlled by the MIDI keyboard and knobs. I will be playing several of my Indian instruments to feed the recordings, in particular the ektar (single-string instrument) and the gopichand (also single string, with a bendable neck for pitch modulation).

Of course, the ketzela wants to get in the act again, too:

One last-minute change was dealing with my Xboard killing itself (something stupid on my part, really). Fortunately, I also have the Novation keyboard as a backup, and although the keyboard itself isn't as good, the controllers are a better fit.

The setup is also extremely compact. This is all I have to carry:

Well, actually, this and the folding table I usually bring. Still, it will be very light and relatively easy to set up (especially as the mac boots very quickly).

New podcast: Cell-phone feedback 070807

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This was a little bit of fun some friends and I had a picnic today with cell-phone feedback. Basically, one person calls the other in close proximity, and both parties set the phones to speaker-mode. What happens then is what you will here in tonight's exciting podcast release.

Yes, this is the sort of thing that can happen when you have too many electronic-music geeks and too much alcohol, but hey, it's fun for the whole family. It's true, whole families were having fun, or at least some members of whole families…

I am also launching the new improved CatSynth Channel website at http://www.ptank.com/podcast. It should be a lot cleaner and more obvious (i.e., it now says “CatSynth Channel” in big letters), plus you can listen live on site to any podcast episodes you want, no need for a portable player or iTunes/Windows Media Player, etc. Of course, you still subscribe using the feed icon above. In any case, enjoy the crazy music.

New podcast: POK-A-TOK-3 by deCouto

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Tonight's podcast is another track from expire(ments) in patience bythe band DoCouto. From their page at the Internet Archive:

recordings made between 1995 and 2006. ocations include texas,new orleans,seattle and new york.

The track “patty hurts” was featured on a previous podcast.

This work was made available under a Creative Commons license that allows for free sharing and distribution. Click the icon below for license details:

You can subscribe directly via our FeedBurner feed at the top of this post, or for more info and options, click the CatSynth Channel icon in the upper right corner. And as always, enjoy!

Theremin Cats

From Brian Sacawa: Sounds Like Now:

The context for this picture is Sacawa's lament that early theremin virtuosi concentrated on trying to get the instrument to play traditional western tonal music, rather than exploring the radically new ways of organizing pitch and structure afforded by the instrument. This is indeed something that concerns me about many of the efforts going on to “de-experimentalize” computer music and simply turn it into another tool for traditional classical or popular forms. The great promise of electronic instruments is to allow people to break with the traditions of acoustic music. But Sacawa concludes:

Maybe if more cats–unlike humans, who are so grounded in western tonal music–played the theremin we might witness the instrument's full potential.

And thus we have theremin-playing cats.

Check out this feline thereminist from YouTube:




CatSynth Correction: The Cats of 5lowershop

Like any publication, we make errors and when appropriate publish corrections. This is one is several months overdue, but I found myself thinking about it tonight. Last September, I played at the headphone festival in San Francisco at the club 5lowershop. It was one of the best live performances I did in the past year. In writing about the experience here at CatSynth, I mentioned a couple of cats I ran across while I there:

I immediately thought they were strays or perhaps neighborhood outdoor cats wandering through, and regular readers know I have a soft spot for such creatures. I am happy to say that I was wrong, as I learned when I received this comment at the end of February:

just an fyi : those kitties are pets too, and very loved. the grey kitty is momma to 6 of those black and white kittens. the kitten in your picture still lives at 5lowershop with mom's identical sister. mom lives with a friend of the family now. the other kittens all found loving homes with close friends. we live a few blocks from 5lowershop and have one of the kittens. they aren't feral, and they get along pretty good with the dogs (only 2 dogs hang out there, and they are quite nice when you get to know them. they pretty much ignore the cats)

seeing that you are such a cat enthusiast, i just wanted to let you know that these cats get spoiled rotten with love and attention. no need to feel bad for them!

It's good to know that those cats are loved, and if anyone associated with 5lowershop is still reading, I would love to come perform there again. I really enjoyed the gritty edge-of-the-city vibe, the people, and of course the cats.

New Podcast: Remix of Ninjam sessions June 15/17, UCSC DANM exhibition.

Well, it's another Sunday, and another podcast for the CatSynth Channel.

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Tonight's podcast features some live internet improvisation using NINJAM, a system that allows people to share live audio in real time and thus jam together over the internet. To overcome network latency that has stymied most systems for online collaboration, NINJAM actually adds delay so that everyone's audio conforms to a particular meter and tempo, i.e., everyone's down beats are in sync though they may be a measure or two off from one another. This leads to either simple “groove” jams on one or two chords and a steady beat (think of the 70s jazz classic Chameleon), or freeform improvisation.

The particular sessions used in this remix were from June 15 and 17 featuring several performers live at the Digital Media Factory in Santa Cruz California as part of the MFA Exhibition for the Digital Art and New Media (DANM) program at UC Santa Cruz. Though I am not a student, one of my best friends is, and so I had the opportunity to perform in several of the jams with local musicians as well as others over the internet.

Out of several hours of material, I made a 30-minute “remix” of several of the jams. The feel ranges from free-form to driving funk/jazz rhythms to a relaxed fusion/lounge feel (this happened when most of the musicians turned out to be keyboard players) and more.

All recorded mixes from the NINJAM AutoSong Archive, which are the sources for this track, are released under the Attribution, Noncommercial, Share Alike Creative Commons License v2.5..

Collaborators on the various jams include synthany, mvollrath, dbkick, tbfx, Funkify, leftyf, Oubien_ke, ekinox, hotdog, and chazz. (Sorry if I missed anyone).

Synthany is Synthia Payne and friends at the DANM exhibition, where I played as well. For my parts, I used E-MU Emulator X2 on my PC laptop, doing keyboard/piano, rhythms (using TwistaLoop), and even some bass when it was needed.

As always, comments are welcome. I'm not sure my brief discription really did justice to the topic or this particular example of online music collaboration, so feel free to ask more about it, or research the topic for yourself. In the meantime, enjoy.

Charles Mingus Cat Toilet Training Program

Speaking of Mingus and cats, I might as well post this surprising article from the legendary Jazz bassist himself. Here is the Charles Mingus Cat Toilet Training Program. It ends with the following:

It took me about three or four weeks to toilet train my cat, Nightlife. Most of the time is spent moving the box very gradually to the bathroom. Do it very slowly and don't confuse him. And, remember, once the box is on the toilet, leave it a week or even two. The main thing to remember is not to rush or confuse him.

Good luck. Charles Mingus

Yes, I wasn't sure this was for real, either, but it does appear on an official site that includes information about the Mingus Bands as well as the life and activities of his wife Sue Mingus following his death in 1979.

As one other bookmark on del.icio.us states, “I respect Mingus even more now.”

Worthless Kitty Interlude: Rathergood.com chillin' kittens

From rathergood.com original home of the “Viking Kittens”, comes this cool “chill-out” kitten combo. It's actually grown on me a bit, and it's been a nice diversion playing on the iMac in my office while I toil away on a nearby PC. Yes, it's been a pretty rough couple of days…

The music is “We Like The Music (latino remix)” by John B.

Thanks to our friend jellypizza for calling this out. Not sure I quite get the Soprano's reference, but ok…