CNMAT spectral tutorials

Here are the spectral tutorials I showed in class today, written by Michael Zbyszynski. Very interesting!

http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/MAX/downloads/

To make sure everything works, you should download "everything" (about 13MB), from the set of links at the top of the table. The objects are listed individually below.

Possibly the greatest controller ever?

MIDIGUN!!!!

Miller Puckette on campus

Max and Pd author Miller Puckette will be on campus Monday, December 11, giving a talk at 4 pm, probably in Siebel. There's a possibility we can play a gig for him in Siebel, probably that afternoon (if it doesn't conflict with people taking finals). Anyone interested?

Call for auditions/jam session 1/19

For laptop ensemble (Music 499, Spring 2007) I would like to hold auditions for anyone interested. Name of the ensemble, anyone? Guy Garnett and I will be co-instructors for the course.

- First week of class, Friday, January 19
- Siebel room 3113 (Guy Garnett's lab)

We will supply mics, speakers and video projectors; we have computers, but if you can bring your own computers/interfaces that will help.

As part of your audition, bring music that is interactive in some way; it should not be only a fixed-media piece.

- If using Max or Pd, try to use OSC in your patch so you can receive input from another computer; in your audition we will ask you to respond to external input as part of your performance (a jam session).

Live instrumentalists and singers are welcome; in the audition you will be asked either to perform a work of new music (not standard rep), or improvise, interacting with live electronics. Experience with microphones and amplification will help.

DJ's and VJ's also welcome; for your audition please be prepared to perform for 5-7 minutes.

Another controller

LEDS!

Grey Music?

Hey all,

I just came across this and thought it might provoke some interesting discussion about using visual adjectives to describe music. enjoy?

http://www.schoenberg.at/4_exhibits/asc/Kandinsky/Farbe_e.htm

More pictures from the Beckman Gig!

Hey all,

I just made an album on facebook of the pictures I took from the Beckman gig. Sorry it took me so long for the pictures to get up. Here is the link to the album:

http://uillinois.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2143671&id=1900414

If you aren't my "facebook friend" or can't see the album, just friend me and you'll have access to the album. I really just want more friends I guess.

seeking collaborator

Fellow Maxers,

Alas, I missed class last Tues. due to a performance in GA. Is anyone available to work with me for the final project? I am composing a piece for piano and was hoping one of you Maxheads would like to collaborate... it is an otherworldy piece (Io, one of Jupiter's moons) and needs some crazy MAX/MSP patchwork. I need to present stuff in class Thurs., so need someone to rehearse with before Thurs. if possible. IF anyone is available/interested in collaborating with me, please email (gingher2@uiuc.edu) or call (919.260.4178) me ASAP since Thurs. is right around the corner.

Thanks,

Sam

New Orleans ICMC

Lots of interesting pieces at the ICMC this year in New Orleans, and a good showing by UIUC, yeah! Of particular interest was a presentation by Dan Trueman of Princeton, on his experiences with PLOrk over the past year. Their ensemble is made of 15 people all on laptops, sitting on cushions, kind of like Indian classical music. Typically they have an arc of 9 players in the back, a row of 4 in front and a row of 2 in the center. Each player's computer is wired to a hemispherical speaker on the floor, and sometimes they use vocal mics as well (horrendous feedback potential).

One of the issues they have to face is, how to devise something to do for all 15 players? This is an issue I would like us to think about as we keep making pieces. Typically we're only using one or two laptops at a time so for now we don't need to worry so much, but even so I want us to think harder about the role of instrumentalists and how they can best work with laptops, and vice versa. And especially, what is the role of the laptop operator? Are they babysitters? Pressing the spacebar for cues? Interacting with the performer? How much can the instrumentalist directly control the computer? What's the role of live electronics vs. pre-recorded soundfiles? Etc. etc.

Good luck on your final projects, and see you on Thursday!

Music 415

the Cage controversy continues:

"At the actual performance of Imaginary Landscape the hour was later than anticipated before the work’s turn came on the program, so that the ‘instruments’ were unable to capture programs diversified enough to present a really interesting specific result. Members of the performing group said that some of the rehearsals captured much more exciting ingredients for the montage, and expressed regret that a recording of one or two of the practice sessions was not played at the concert instead. Cage’s own attitude about this was one of comparative indifference, since he believes the concept to be more interesting than the result of any single performance"

John Cage: Composer? or Philosopher?

And what's wrong with living in the grey? Why does this bother people so much?

Steve's Obsession with Pitch

For all those lost souls that care about pitch, JMSL!

Word to your mother.

Rehearsal schedule

Thursday 11/16 - Juri, Nathan and Talia; Sam and ???

Tuesday 11/28 - Vincent, Moon, Shane, and Packy; Jin Ho, Sam and Brian; Marty, Vincent and maybe Packy

Thursday 11/30 - Jake and Nathan; Colin w/MotionStar (videolink)

Tuesday 12/5 - (ST is out of town)

Thursday 12/7 - Jimmy and Josephine; Keith and everyone

Final Project

Instruments:
Saxophone - SATB, EWI, clarinet (Nathan Mandel)
Piano / Keys - Brian Gulik, Sam Gingher, Josephine Chang
Cello, Electric Bass, Electric Mandolin - Talia Dicker
Elec. Bass - Vincent Murphy
Percussion - Marty McCrory
"Violin" - Jimmy Bunch
Guitar, Bass, Steel Guitar (elec. Mandolin) perc - Packy Lundholm
Perc - Jake Rundall, Keith Manlove, Jimmy Bunch
Cello, Piano - Juri Seo
Vocals - Shane Wirkes, Colin Holter, Keith Manlove, Marty McCrory

5-6 elec. guitars, several perc, vocal, elec. mandolins

More on phase vocoders and fft

Cycling 74 has posted an excellent article on phase vocoding, complete with new tutorial patches by computer music stars Richard Dudas and Cort Lippe.

http://www.cycling74.com/story/2006/11/2/113327/823

We, like Wu-Tang, are for the children

Just wanted to report in on this afternoon's MTNA gig. Talia and I gave a lecture-performance for a bunch of kids and their parents; I thought it went pretty well. Big thanks to Talia, to Josephine, and to Keeril for buying a bunch of useful stuff.

Paradiso and the Future

Great gig last night at Paradiso! I think it went much better overall than the Beckman gig.

For the rest of the term, I want to use class time for rehearsal as much as possible - and I want to specifically include people who have not yet performed at Beckman or Caffe Paradiso. So bring instruments and come to class on Tuesday ready to work on music: I'll start, Jimmy, with your two pieces from Paradiso.

And I want to start hearing work from those of you who have not yet performed - if you don't mind, I'll post a schedule here of rehearsal time for each of you in class (you know who you are). I encourage you to seek out collaborators!

At the end of the term there is a possibility of doing a gig in the Siebel Center lobby, hopefully doing video work at the same time with people in Guy Garnett's class. Miller Puckette, creator of Max, might be at this gig (!). So I want us to start sounding much better!

Finally, I am inquiring about the possibility of creating a Laptop Ensemble class for the spring, as a continuing class. I'll let you know what happens with this! This could end up being very cool!

Paradiso 11/2

Hey guys, I just wanted to say great job tonight to those who did the Cafe gig! I'm sorry I missed a lot of it, but I had a rehearsal to get to. Anyway keep up the good work everyone (especially with handling all the cable rat's nests and near-meltdowns), and I'll see you all Tuesday!
-Packy

Sorry, here's the link...

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=38697

Compression/The Loudness Wars

Hiya folks, I thought this might be of interest to those who want to know more about our discussion of compression and commercial CDs of the last 10 years. It's a bit long, and not directly connected to the class I suppose, but it's very good. And kinda scary too.

11/2: filters and fft

Thanks to everyone who showed their current work on Tuesday. For Thursday's class Vincent's group is going to do some rehearsing (some just with headphones) for the Caffe Paradiso gig. Also, I'll introduce some other objects that all of us may not know about yet: fffb~ (like the reson~ filter objects in Jake's patch, but it's more efficient) and an intro to Fast Fourier Transform (MSP Tutorial chapters 25 and 26).

See you around 4 pm to set up at Caffe Paradiso!

11/2

My group would like to use part of class tomorrow for rehersal. we can use a headphone amp so that it would not be a distraction. would this be possible?