I suppose on the eve of MacWorld, I can take a moment to brag about a recent Mac-related accomplishment of mine:
E-MU® Systems has announced the release of a Beta Macintosh OS X driver (Apple CoreAudio) for its 0202 USB 2.0 audio interface and 0404 USB 2.0 audio/MIDI interface…
…E-MU's new Beta Macintosh OS X driver is now available for free download at www.emu.com.
This is what opening the “can you say” demo patch looks like in the current OSW 2 user interface prototype?
I suppose the new UI isn't quite ready for prime time, but I thought the attempt at auto-converting existing patches looked rather cool. I wonder how some of the aesthetics can be incorporated into a correctly working version…
For comparison with the current release, visit the Open Sound World site – the same patch is used as the front page.
Somehow, I also think the image represents my state of mind at the moment. I'll let you interpret that as you will. Let's just say after a pretty good January 1, things have been a bit weird. I prefer not to delve too much into the personal on this forum, though you can read an interpretation of Luna's point of view on her Catster page/blog. Actually, the most interesting part is a typo I made but left in. Again, I leave identifying and interpreting it as an exercise to the reader…
From m/n/m/l we have a cat under a Serge synthesizer kit. Looks like a comfy little spot.
m/n/m/l has some interesting music available on CD and for download. Judging from the quote on the website, I am guessing m/n/m/l shares my frustration with low CD and download sales:
June 2006
people from all over coming here. USA, Germany, China. But why?? read, look at pictures? download a couple tracks?
sales from downloads and CD's was up during the winter, lately it's dead again. don't really feel like spending all my time doing marketing marketing marketing,too much else going on now anyway.
Well, here's another cat sitting next to an Octave CAT – wonder why that comes up so much.
Actually I am quite interested in the Octave CAT and Kitten synths, I'm trying (yet again) to bid on one on eBay.
In the meantime, I have been trying several methods to emulate them, including building an Emulator X patch. The Kitten is definitely more feasible because it only has one oscillator and thus no FM – FM is nearly impossible to do on the Emulator platform. However, I did one out of MIDI controllers. So the end result is a “Kitten lite” that contains all the oscillator waveforms (Saw, Triangle and Square/PWM), the two independent sub-octave waveforms, square and sine LFOs, filter with realtime cutoff and Q and envelope mod, and of course ADSR envelope.
While not a real Octave Kitten, it's a nice little playable instrument.
Today's podcast release looks to the past. My performance two years ago at the Live Looping Festival in Santa Cruz received a lot of positive feedback from other musicians and audience members,, and it's one of my favorites. But it is largely overlooked by most visitors to my website. I encourage readers and listeners to check it out.
The performance was realized almost exclusively using Open Sound World, with a little backup from the Proteus 2000.
I spent a little time yesterday experimenting with modulated loop selection in Emulator X on a variety of sounds. One sound set that I particularly enjoyed playing was a set of blues harmonica samples at freesound created by TexasMusicForge. For those who are not familiar with the freesound project, it is a great collection of user-submitted samples licensed via the Creative Commons. Anyhow, I created a new EX instrument based on these samples and added multiple loops to a couple of them (actually up to 60 loops in one of the samples!), modulated with random LFOs. The result was quite playable – you can hear an example on the podcast. I would ultimately like to create a full composition with this instrument by refining this improvisation and combining it with other elements. It's not a sound I have used very much in the past, so I'm interested to see what I can do with it.
podcast
synthesizer
e-mu
emulator x
blues
harmonica
freesound
Here is a list of all the New Orleans and ICMC articles in chronological order. New readers are encouraged to use this list as a starting point. Enjoy!
Weekend in New Orleans Part 1: Zip visits the French Quarter
Weekend in New Orleans Part 2: City views and Scultpure Garden
ICMC late concert on election night
Preparing for tomorrow's radio performance and more ICMC
After radio performance
NOLA Night Life
Weekend Cat Blogging #75: Cats of New Orleans
The Other New Orleans
It seems like the radio performance went well, and it was a good experience. In addition to my live performance of the Wooden Fish, we played two selections of the CD and I participated in an interview with regular WTUL electronic-music host Conner Richardson and guest-host-for-the-day Kristine Burns. The show actually took place outside in a courtyard, with our audio feed relayed to the studio via internet:
A small number of people from the conference, as well as one or two other curious indviduals, did stop in the courtyard to watch for a bit.
The setup and soundcheck went smoothly, and as can be seen below, the rig was nicely laid out:
Thanks to Kathryn Hobgood of Tulane University Communications for these photos.
Overall, I was fairly happy with the live performance, nothing went particularly wrong, and Conner noted it was quite an unusual piece. The interview, conducted mostly by Kristine Burns, focused on the pieces themselves, both the musical ideas behind them and the technology used to realize them – of course we talked about the CD – also about my musical background, including my having studied with Ruth Schonthal. Because the next participant was a no show, we had more time for both discussion and music.
Hopefully I will get a recording of the event, and if so will make a link available here.
computer music
experimental
electronic
improvisation
radio
open sound world
In order prepare for tomorrow’s performance on WTUL 91.5FM, I have set up a “compact” system here in a corner of the hotel room with laptop, audio interface, mic, small tablet and keyboard:
The only thing I wasn’t able to get running simultaneously was the Evolver, which is only used for a small part of the performance – the problem was not enough nearby outlets.
Performing live on radio presents some additional challenges because of the time constraints, constant sound-level requirements, and of course the fact than any flaws in the technology or my performance will be part of the broadcast and what everyone listening hears…and remembers. So I have been spending extra time preparing and practicing.
Musicially, The Wooden Fish is not a difficult piece. Basically, it is a guided improvisation based on a few short rhythm patterns in 3/4 and a graphical score. The technologies for this performance are straight-forward as well. The initial delay/loop section and a tablet-controlled loop are programmed in OSW, and other variations of the patterns are done in Emulator X2, including one variation using the Twistaloop feature. Both applications are running simulataneously, allowing me to easily switch between at any given point. So far this seems to be working fine – I am just a little wary after a nasty crash at a performance a few weeks ago.
I did take some time out of today’s preparations to return to the conference for the SEAMUS concert and Max Matthews’ keynote address. Matthews, who turns 80 next week, is considered the “father of computer music” and was received very warmly by everyone. While it is inspiring to hear from giants in one’s field, I couldn’t help feel a little demoralized during his relating of past accomplishments and interactions with others – it’s hard live up to those kind of standards, or even see how one could try given the way the computer-music community has evolved. But on balance, it was inspiring – at the very least I would like to explore some of the books and records he recommended. It was also great to see someone who at 80 can talk at length not only about theories and foundational work on mainframes, but also on the latest laptop technologies (like Mac core-duo) and sensor technologies for interactive music performance.
I also found myself more aesthetically in tune with what the SEAMUS musicians were doing than many of the pieces from the ICMC.
Those who are interested in turning in to the radio performance tomorrow can click here for the live internet stream.
Imagine yourself an ordinary New Orleans bus driver, doing your normal night route on St. Charles. Just two or three passengers, quiet. Maybe even a little quieter than usual given that many people are home watching election returns. Then suddenly you come to stop where twenty or so weird people with laptops and beeds get on the bus. That’s what happened to a bus driver last night when participants at the ICMC conference boarded to attend the offsite late-nite performance at the aptly named Columns Hotel.
The election so far went as well as one could expect at 11PM, with headlines suggesting things are about to change for the better – a takeover of the House, Virginia is the new Florida (with George “macaca” Allen trailing), and social conservatives (i.e., the littering religious right) lost a trifecta on abortion, stem cells and gay marriage. Plus, I get to watch all of this from the home (and district) of William “Frozen Assets” Jefferson.
So what better way to celebrate than with experimental electronic improv music in an old hotel parlor? First on the program was Pink Canoes, who hail from the Bay Area. I was acquainted with several members of the group by name only (and vice versa), so it was quite ironic to meet in person in New Orleans. Musically, they played free improvisation with guitars, effects pedals, analog synths and circuit-bend instruments, similar to some of the group improvisations I have done with friends in Santa Cruz. I get the sense that many of the academics at the conference hadn’t heard much of this sub-genre of electronic music. Personally I would like to see more hybridization among free electronic improv, traditional computer music, and even things like the jazz duo that was also playing in the hotel at the same time.
Pink Canoe was followed by the due Andre Castro + Martin Aeserud, featuring laptop and “prepared” acoustic guitar. I found the guitar quite interesting to watch as well as listen to, and gives me some ideas for projects with the guitar that’s sitting in pieces on the floor back home.
More on the conference later.