Cymatics Test: Mustard Seed and the WSG

Posted on February 11, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

I recorded this sound during a cymatics experiment that I conducted with Pramila Vasuvedan of Annichia Arts to see if patterns in mustard seed would emerge. To generate the tones I connected my WSG to a simple amplifier and then to a twelve inch speaker with a platform suspended above the speaker cone. Mustard seed was poured onto the platform as we tested different frequency and amplitude combinations. This experiment was not quite successful, probably becuase the WSG has multiple oscillators, but we learned a few things in the process and created some interesting sounds, as well as some unbearable ones that I’ll refrain from sharing. Listen for the hiss of the mustard seed vibrating on the one eighth inch thick panel of plywood that we used as a platform.

Cymatics Test: Mustard Seed and WSG

Ostraka at The Somethin’ Else No. 9

Posted on February 11, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

Tonight I’ll be performing a solo Ostraka set at The Somthin’ Else series curated by Jon Davis. This month the theme is “Frankenstein’s Day Monster Pizza Party, an electronic music potluck”. From the blog:

“It’s alive! Come celebrate Frankenstein’s Day with The Somethin’ Else on Friday, February 11th at the Love Power Building! Music, dancing & PIZZA!!!!!!” featuring: Mkr/Marx, Speakthrone, Dark Lord of Rhodes, (Alans), S/M, The Eclectic Ensemble, Ostraka, Jackie Becky/Jonathan Kaiser/Naomi Joy/Ryan Billig, Patrick Voller, Surface Vains, Self Sound Ochestra, Camden, Jesse Whitney & Tim Glenn, Littlefoot, MKR, and more. 9:00pm. All ages. $5 or free with a potluck contribution.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2011
LOVE POWER BUILDING
1407 WASHINGTON AVENUE SOUTH
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

Arpeggiated Self Resonance Part 2

Posted on February 10, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

Here’s another example of arpeggiated self-resonance from the Juno. This time instead of adjusting the settings on the synthesizer, I made adjustments to the arpeggiator. Basically I adjusted the style, steps, and distance in Ableton Live’s arpeggiator. It includes a total of eighteen unique arpeggiator modes or styles. I used “Pinky UpDown”, “Thumb UpDown”, “Random Once”, “Random”, “Chord Trigger”, and “Con & Diverge”. Perhaps a couple of others as well.

Arpeggiated Self Resonance 2

Arpeggiated Self Resonance

Posted on February 9, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

This sound was programmed on the Juno-106 with the oscillators off and the VCF resonance all the way up, which puts the instrument into self-resonance as was discovered in the article Eerie Pseudo Oscillator Microtrack. Right around 0:42 I turned on the sawtooth wave and manipulated the LFO, then at 0:57 I turned it back off again.

Arpeggiated Filter Self Resonance

Korg MS2000 Granulated Prickly Synth

Posted on February 8, 2011 by John C.S. Keston

To get this prickly texture I ran the Korg MS2000 through Grain Delay and Auto Pan in Ableton Live. I forgot to mention that the track was going through the usually reverb and delay sends as well.

Prickly