Audio Cookbook » GMS

Experimental Music Mondays Call for Entries

John Keston — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:18:55 +0000

I am curating a series of Experimental Music events hosted by the Kitty Cat Klub in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The first installment is Monday, March 1st, 2010. Subsequent installments are scheduled for the last Monday of every month. For the first show we have three performances.

Ostraka (myself) with Graham O’Brien on drums will be performing using the GMS. Terr the Om (Nathan Brende) will also be performing his distinct breed of electronic music, melding the output from his circuit bent toys with looping and real-time arranging in Ableton Live. Thirdly, Dialsystem consisting of brothers, Graham and Casey O’Brien will likely mesmerize listeners with their ethereal mix of bass, drums, and electronics. Music starts at 9:00pm.

I’m in the process of booking the upcoming events, so if you are a performer of experimental music and would like to get involved, please send your name, artist name, contact information, links to a biography, and links to audio examples to emm [ at ] audiocookbook [ dot ] org.

David Cope’s Emily Howell

John Keston — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:01:59 +0000

I’ve just read a fascinating article about composer, David Cope, who is known for creating music in the style of Bach, Mozart, and others with software he developed called Emmy. I first heard David Cope’s work on Radiolab, and was intrigued by his approach. The article, Triumph of the Cyborg Composer, discusses his latest application titled Emily Howell. Cope is using the computer in a more collaborative way to compose music is his own style with the help of his program. A couple of audio examples within the article illustrate the musical results.

Cope has received a lot of criticism regarding his work, including statements that his music lacks soul because it was written by a computer. But was it really written by a computer? I think a better term is generated. Cope wrote the software, so I would argue that the music generated by the software was ultimately written by the software developer. In this case Cope himself. In other instances I might argue that the music was created by the user of the software tool, rather than the developer of the software. It comes down to who is at the controls. What decisions are being made, and by whom, or perhaps what?

Since I’ve developed and am currently using software to perform and record generative music, I am curious about your opinions. You may have heard pieces on this site generated by the GMS. Perhaps you listened to the excerpts in the article. What do you think? Does music generated by computers lack soul? Does it diminish the human, communicative qualities contained in the work? Or, are we using computers simply as tools? Perhaps, as computers and software evolve we might begin to collaborate artistically with them rather than just use them slavishly. Based on Cope’s work and others, I believe that we are closer than we think to this becoming a reality.

Bicycle Converted into a GMS Input Device

John Keston — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:15:10 +0000

Checkout this video made by Chris LeBlanc. Chris is using LEDs attached to a rotating bicycle wheel as an input device for the GMS. Chris and I had a session recently where I showed him ow to sync the GMS up with Ableton, and the next thing you know he’s come up with a new way of using the software. Nice one, Chris!

Google Nexus One as an Electronic Music Device

John Keston — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:26:06 +0000

With all the Android devices appearing recently, I’ve decided it is time to upgrade my four year old Sony Ericsson K800i to a Google Nexus One smart phone (I think I’ll hold off on calling it a super phone for now) and perhaps consider using it as a controller as I have been with the iPod Touch. Another consideration is attempting to do some music software development on the Android platform. Perhaps porting the GMS, developed in Processing.org, may even be possible with the Nexus One’s 1 GHz Snapdragon (Qualcomm QSD 8250) processor and the built in video camera.

I currently have the phone in hand and will write about my impressions once I’ve had time to familiarize myself with it. It’s definitely going to take some getting used to, but so far I can say that the display is gorgeous and for the most part the functionality is wicked fast.

Music applications for Android under development include TouchOSC, and I’ve read several articles on CDM highlighting others that are available or in progress. I’m curious about Android music or sound based projects and applications that are either currently available or under development. Please comment if you’ve encountered articles or examples on this topic. After doing some research, perhaps I can start experimenting with some of the apps and writing about them here on ACB. Thanks!

GMS Video Experiment with Reason

John Keston — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:05:05 +0000

GMS Video Experiment w/ Reason from Dane Messall on Vimeo.

My student, Dane Messall, has been experimenting with the GMS over the break and just posted this video experiment. He imported the video into the GMS and then interfaced it with Reason’s Thor synthesizer to generate the sound. Nice one, Dane!

Almost 300 GMS Downloads, Responses Needed

John Keston — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:04:25 +0000

As the GMS approaches three-hundred downloads, I’m starting to get a few questions regarding technical problems. It’s exciting that people are starting to use my software, but as an individual developer, who is also a composer, instructor, performer, and student, I don’t have time to diagnose and troubleshoot every problem on every system.

Therefore, I am asking for your help. If you have downloaded the GMS, please post a comment here describing your success stories or problems. In either instance, please include details about your environment including the operating system, computer specs, camera in use, and if you’re using internal or external sync.

I’ll do my best to respond to Mac issues, but I don’t have consistent access to Windows. If you’re up and running on Windows please respond to questions if you have ideas on how to fix the problem. As always, I’m interested in hearing what you do with the GMS, so post a link to your tracks, and thanks to everyone for participating.

GMS Now Available for Windows

John Keston — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:46:27 +0000

GMS v0.10 beta binary distribution for Windows is now available, thanks to Grant Muller, who compiled the latest source code for the GMS under Windows. Please visit the GMS page to download the Windows version. If you’re interested in the source code for the GMS you can find it at http://code.google.com/p/gestural-music-sequencer/.

Live Music by John Keston at the WBSC

John Keston — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:12:43 +0000

This Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 7pm – 10pm I’ll be performing music at the West Bank Social Center. The space can be found above the Nomad Bar, 501 Cedar Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is accessible by an exterior door on the north side of the building. These events are entertaining mash-ups of creative ideas from a variety of artists producing interactive projection pieces. Checkout the video documentation from the last event where I played. I’ll probably be using a combination of vintage Hammond organ through laptop, gestural generative sequencing, and custom grain table madness, all arranged in real-time in Ableton Live.

GMS as Open Source on Google Code

John Keston — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:05:29 +0000

The GMS source code is now available on code.google.com. I’ve still got loads of idea for improvements and feature additions, but I’m also interested to see what input other developers might have for the project. Therefore, the code is now officially released and available as Open Source under the GPLv3.

Please let us know how you are using the GMS. I’ve been informed that Grant Muller will be using it experimentally on a jazz improvisation project he’s involved in. Rocky Rosga is producing some work with the GMS. Finally, my duet project with Graham O’Brien on drums has recorded an album (it will be a few months work to edit and mix, so don’t look for it anytime soon) of GMS improvisations with live drums.

GMS Beta Release, September 28, 2009

John Keston — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:54:56 +0000

I have decided on September 28, 2009 as the release date of the GMS, coinciding with my performance with Graham O’Brien, and my birthday. We can call it a combination Ostraka with Dial System and DJ Zenrock show, GMS beta software release, and birthday party. Currently I am releasing a binary version of the software for Mac OS X only. A windows version is in the works, with no prediction of when it’ll arrive.

The GMS is a Gestural Music Sequencer that I developed in Processing (processing.org). The application samples video and displays it either normally or inverted so it looks as though you’re looking into a mirror. Each frame is analyzed for brightness, then the X and Y data of the brightest pixel is converted into a MIDI note. These notes produce a non-repeating sequence based on movement within the range of the capture device.

For more details, including audio examples and video produced using the GMS, checkout the
GMS category. There’s also a Gestural Music Sequencer Documentary Short produced by Josh Clos, that does a good job of illustrating what the software does.