Water Dripping Sample in GrainMachine

This evening I have been working on the user interface for GrainMachine, a Max for Live instrument I developed for personal use in October of 2009. In the process of tonight’s testing I came up with this sound. I started with a sample of water dripping, loaded it into GrainMachine and then chose a very narrow grain at a fairly low frequency. Finally I swept slowly through the position of the sample creating the result heard below.

Water Dripping Sample in GrainMachine

Oscillator Sync Mode

I created this sound on the Roland MKS-80 by putting the oscillators into sync mode, then manually sweeping the frequency of the second oscillator as a sequence of notes was played on the synth. This looks like another good example for the oscilloscope.

Oscillator Sync Mode

Czeslaw’s Loop and DKO

Art-A-Whirl is considered the largest open studio and gallery tour in the United States and it happens right in my fair city of Northeast Minneapolis. Along side all of the art are dozens of simultaneous musical performances. This year I have three Art-A-Whirl appearances.

First and second are daytime movements for the second and fourth acts of Czeslaw’s Loop (click for times, location, and other details). On Saturday this includes a five-channel sound art installation (essentially a variation on my piece Fives) that initiates “Act Two: Epiphany”. On Sunday, music performed under my Ostraka moniker contributes to “Act Four: Decline”.

Sunday evening is the debut performance of our post DGK trio, DKO (Davis, Keston, O’Brien). The venue is the Honey Lounge in Minneapolis at 10pm. Stop by to participate in an opulent evening of improvisation featuring Jon Davis (Bass, Bass Clarinet), John Keston (Rhodes, Pro-One, and electronics), and Graham O’Brien (Drums).