Gestural Music Sequencer Generative Track Competition

Posted on April 15, 2010 by John CS Keston

Now that the GMS beta has been out since December 2009, I thought it would be fun to start a competition to produce a track using this tool. Unearthed Music has agreed to consider the winning track for a spot on their upcoming compilation, Unearthed Artifacts Volume One.

The rules for the competition are simple. Create an instrumental track using the GMS. Every layer in the composition must be generated by video input fed into the GMS either through a camera, or by loading a pre-recorded video clip. There are no limitations as to what software or hardware is used to interface with the GMS in order to create the instrument sounds and produce the piece.

Editing and looping of the GMS MIDI output is allowed within reason. Please refrain from looping phrases that are shorter than one bar, or shifting several notes to tailor the melodies. I suggest experimenting with the note and duration probability distributions. All the drums and rhythmic patterns must be created using the GMS as well.

Write one-hundred to three-hundred words about how you produced your track and post it as a comment to this entry with a link to a 192Kbps or better MP3 file of the complete track. Links to a bio or videos about your process are great too. The track must be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. The tracks will be judged by a panel of representatives from Unearthed Music and myself. The submission deadline is Tuesday, June 1, 2010. Thanks, and have fun!

Rest Probabilities Added to the GMS

Posted on April 14, 2010 by John CS Keston

A feature that I have been interested in adding to the GMS for quite a while is rest probabilities. Prior to adding this feature the GMS generated a sequence of notes without ever playing any rests. What’s exciting about the rest probability feature is that now you can add space into the generative phrases that the GMS creates.

Each preset can have a rest probability that ranges from zero to one-hundred. At zero notes will play continually just as it worked prior to adding the feature. At one-hundred only rests will play. Elsewhere in-between the probability of a rest occurring instead of a note is based on comparing a random number between one and one-hundred to the user adjusted setting. If the user setting is less than the randomly selected number then a note is played, otherwise the note is skipped and replaced by a rest of the same duration. I have uploaded a new Mac build for the application (beta 0.11) available for download on the GMS page.

Falling Objects Synchronized to Produce Rhythm

Posted on April 11, 2010 by John CS Keston

Gravité from Renaud Hallée on Vimeo.

It has been around for a while, but I just came across this very clever piece by Montréal based artist, Renaud Hallée. His composition uses video and sound from falling objects edited together to produce some nice rhythms with a few unexpected twists. Hint: it’s not all tennis balls.

Experimental Music Mondays Part 2

Posted on March 24, 2010 by John CS Keston

This Monday, March 29, 2010 is the second installment of Experimental Music Mondays curated by John Keston. The line-up this time includes Pawlic (Jesse Pollock) and Terr the Om (Nathan Brende).

Sandwiched between them is Ostracon. This is the name I’m using for the plural version of Ostraka. This instance involves the usual characters, John Keston (aka Ostraka), Graham O’Brien, and the addition of Oliver Grudem who will be interjecting his enigmatic imagery as an input source for the generative musical phrases produced by the GMS.

The venue is the Kitty Cat Klub, 315 14th Avenue SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The music starts at 9:00pm.

Four Oscillator Drone Produced with the WSG

Posted on March 20, 2010 by John CS Keston

What good is a Weird Sound Generator if you’re not using it to make weird sounds? Sometimes it is nice to just hold it on your lap and stroke it gently. That aside, it’s quiet useful once you plug it in and start twiddling the knobs. Here’s a piece I created by tuning the each of the four oscillators on the WSG and then fiddled with the filters. At the same time I made some adjustments to a phaser that I was running it through in Ableton Live and topped it off with ping pong delay.