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.
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.
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!
My experimental music project, Ostraka with Graham O’Brien on Drums, is performing on January 27, 2010 at Big V’s in St. Paul, Minnesota. I’ll be on laptop using my custom developed application, the Gestural Music Sequencer (GMS). I’m also using my iPod Touch controlled grain-table glitch generating Max patch for another layer of texture. Chain Fight and Juhyo round out the bill.
It’s also about time I mentioned that I’m in the process of producing a new Ostraka album that features Graham O’Brien on drums. We recorded it recently at Masters Recording, formerly Flyte Tyme of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis fame. The studio was just sold again and from what I understand will be called Madison Media Institute. In any case it was an amazing facility to lay down tracks. Here’s a shot of our setup in Studio A.
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!
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 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/.
I will be presenting and performing at the Minneapolis Ableton Live Users Group on December 8, 2009, 7:00pm at the Nomad in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In my presentation I’ll be showing what I do with custom built applications and Ableton Live, including the GMS and my new Wavetable Glitch Machine. Currently I interface my custom built applications with Live, using MIDI via the IAC drivers in Mac OS X, and Soundflower for audio. Soon I’ll be converting my audio based Max patches over to Max for Live, so I can use them in Live directly.
Also appearing is Ali Momeni who’ll be showing some of his Max for Live patches, and JP Hungelmann who also organizes the event. Last time the group met it was held at IPR and there was an excellent turn out. The speakers were terrific and they gave away Ableton demo discs and t-shirts at the end of the event. If you use Live, have any interest in it, or electronic music in general, I highly recommend attending.
My new experimental music project with Graham O’Brien, Ostraka with Dial System, will be performing on December 20, 2009. Originally I had written that we were performing on December 8, 2009 as well, but that performance has been canceled due to a prior engagement.
Ostraka with Dial System is myself on laptop using my custom developed application, the Gestural Music Sequencer (GMS), and Graham O’Brien on drums. 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.
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.
If you contribute $10 or more you will receive an album download of your choice from Unearthed Music. If you're unable to donate, please consider visiting one of our sponsors to help support AudioCookbook.
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. 
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 
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. 
My new experimental music project with Graham O’Brien, Ostraka with Dial System, will be performing on December 20, 2009. Originally I had written that we were performing on December 8, 2009 as well, but that performance has been canceled due to a prior engagement. 
I have decided on September 28, 2009 as the release date of the 