GMS Ensemble Live Performance Segment #2

Posted on June 26, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

Here’s another segment of video from the Flashbelt after party on June 8, 2009. The music is still Graham O’Brien on drums and me using the GMS.

However, the visuals shown are mostly part of an excellent piece on gender transformation by Sinan G. of minneapolisartonwheels.org.

I think this short chunk of video is an accurate illustration of the spirit of the party.

In my mind the best parties are always in alleyways, sometimes in warehouses, and once in a while in apartment kitchens.

Click to view a 640 x 480 version of GMS Ensemble Live Segment #2.

GMS Ensemble Live Performance

Posted on June 24, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

Nils Westdal shot this video of myself and Graham O’Brien on drums performing with the GMS during one of the Flashbelt after parties on June 8, 2009. The party was held in the back alley of One on One bike studio, considered the bike Mecca of the Midwest.

Recorded using the internal mic on the video camera, the mix is chatty and pretty drum heavy for the first half, but you can hear the GMS sequencing a little better toward the end.

The setup consists of a MacBook Pro running the GMS synced to Ableton Live 7, an M-Audio Firewire 410 interface, a Mackie 1202 mixer, my Korg MS2000 for external control of the GMS, a Casio projector, and a variety of bike lights and spinning LED tops as “light controllers”.

Click to view a 640 x 480 version in a new tab.

Gestural Music Sequencer Documentary Short

Posted on June 23, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

Josh Clos produced this documentary short about the GMS recently. He and his colleagues Julie Kistler and Brian Smith shot video during my performance in Downtown Minneapolis with Minneapolis Art on Wheels on May 13, 2009. Later Josh interviewed me in the audio studio at Art Institutes Minnesota where I teach interactive media and audio production. As a student in my audio production class, Josh edited the sound and video together with minimal input from myself. His short illustrates what the GMS does and how I’ve been using it to compose music in real-time. Thanks, Josh, for a job well done!

Speaking of the GMS, I have recently slowed down its development, and I’m considering releasing a beta version of the application in a few months. Soon afterward I plan to release the code as Open Source so that the application can be developed further by artists interested in creating music through gestural input.

Eerie Awkward

Posted on June 7, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

This segment of audio from the GMS is an unused section from Chromatic Currents Part II. I had slowed the durations and focused the video stimulus on low frequencies for this part of the piece.

Eerie Awkward

Name My New Project

Posted on June 5, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

light_controller Here’s a segment from another jam session using the GMS with Graham O’Brien on drums. This was our second attempt, and performed at a slower tempo than the third piece that I posted excerpts from recently. I’m looking forward to the next session because I’ve done a bit of refining within the GMS code, including some optimization and bug fixing.

I was going to name this project “Particle System” (as in particles of light that drive the GMS), but then I learned that there’s a popular band called “Particle” and decided against it. I’m horrible at naming things, so if any of you ACB readers have any brilliant ideas, let ‘um fly.

Jam 2 Segment