Weird Message

Posted on June 12, 2009 by John CS Keston

adapter Every so often I save certain voice messages. Usually because they are entertaining, strange, or sometimes infuriating. I eventually end up deleting them after a while. I decided to preserve this weird message from a friend who might identify himself after hearing this, because he is a regular reader and is also not the shy type.

I had not tried to preserve any sort of voice messages for a long time, remembering that it had been arduous process. However, I had purchased an adapter to listen to FM radio with normal headphones for my Sony Ericsson mobile phone. All I had to do was connect the adapter to the mic-in on my MacBook Pro and record away. I was even able to attenuate the levels via the volume adjust on the phone itself. Here’s the recording. I’ve left some of the sounds around the message in place to put it in context.

Weird Message

External MIDI Control via XML

Posted on May 27, 2009 by John CS Keston

After a few performances live looping with Ableton and the GMS, I have found it cumbersome and frustrating to have to repeatedly swap between the two applications. To solve this, I have added he ability to control the GMS with an external MIDI device. I achieved this by creating an XML document with the parameters included as tags with a CC attribute to designate what control change value to use for each setting here’s a few lines out of the XML document.

<GMSMidiController>
    <MIDIControllerName>Korg MS2000</MIDIControllerName>
    <MidiChannel CC="31" type="knob" />
    <TopOctaveIncrement CC="82" type="button" />
    <BottomOctaveIncrement CC="78" type="button" />
    <Preset useProgramChange="true" />
    <ToggleFreeMode CC="77" type="button" />
    <StartStop CC="89" type="button" />
    <Sustain CC="64" invert="false" type="pedal" />
    <SetDuration CC="30" type="knob" />
    <ToggleDotted CC="92" type="button" />
    <SetScale CC="29" type="knob" />
    <ToggleMirroring CC="86" type="button" />
</GMSMidiController>

As you can see I’m using knobs to adjust some settings and buttons to adjust others. It’s really fun to turn a knob on my Korg MS2000 and see the sliders in my software start to move in response. Program change for presets and note on for transposition will work from any old controller, but the rest of the parameters need to be mapped to knobs, sliders or buttons. In total I have around thirty-six specific parameters that are now adjustable with a controller.

GMS Performance Excerpt #4

Tonight: MAW at the Mobile Music Symposium + GMS

Posted on May 22, 2009 by John CS Keston

inna Tonight (Friday, May 22, 2009) MAW will be projecting at a party for the Mobile Music Symposium outside of the Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis from 9:00 PM to midnight. The artists include Jenny Schmid, Ali Momeni, David Steinman, Andrea Steudel, Rachel James, and Robin Schwartzman. I’ll be providing musical accompaniment using my gestural music sequencer, perhaps creating something similar to the following segment.

GMS Performance Excerpt #3

ACB Reader Involvement Requested

Posted on May 19, 2009 by John CS Keston

I have agreed to release my solo album with Unearthed Music on July 28, 2009. This will correspond with exactly one years worth of entries in the One Sound Every Day category on ACB. Since all of the pieces included in this work were inspired by my almost-daily-sound-experiments, it’s a fitting date to release the fruits of my labor. The album is nearly finished and will be released under my Ostraka moniker. Before I master the album I would like to involve ACB readers in the production process by polling you for suggestions.

What are your favorite sounds or micro-tracks that I’ve shared with you during this period? I plan on including four to six pieces from the ACB archives on the release. If you have an opinion about what should go on the album, please respond with a link to the post that has the sound in a comment to this entry. Thanks!

Here’s my latest mix of Blitzen Machine to give you a taste of what to expect from the album.

Blitzen Machine

GMS Performance in Downtown Minneapolis

Posted on May 8, 2009 by John CS Keston

I’ve been scheduled to perform live using my GMS this Wednesday night, May 13, 2009. I’ll be projecting against the Western wall of Art Institutes International. The reactive music will be amplified along with the projection as it is produced in real-time. Here’s the publicity statement that went out about the event.

John Keston will be performing using his gestural music sequencer or GMS on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 in the parking lot next to Art Institutes International Minnesota, 15 South 9th Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The GMS was written in Processing.org by Ai instructor, Unearthed Music recording artist, and AudioCookbook.org founder John Keston. His tool analyzes video input and converts it into a sequence of musical information in real-time. The live video image will be projected on the building while the musical response to the images is amplified through a sound system. For more information about the GMS visit audiocookbook.org/tag/gms/. All Ai students, staff, alumni, and the public are welcome to attend this free performance. A drawing will be held (for WDIM students only) giving away two passes to this years Flashbelt conference.

Here’s a segment from a practice session today to give you an idea about what sort of output the GMS can produce. All of the percussion, melodic lines, and bass were generated by the sequencer, then live looped to produce the results.

GMS Practice Piece in C Sharp