Taming of the CPU 3.0 March 12, 2016

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On March 12, 2016 the third edition of The Taming of the CPU will commence at The Nicollet (now called Reverie), 1931 Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis. Music will begin at 9:00pm. The Taming of the CPU is a series of live electronic music sets paired with live video performances. Chris LeBlanc who was interviewed here recently will provide the visuals for all three musical segments. The musical artists include John Keston (that’s me), Mike Hodnick who recently wrote an article here about his experiments with the Roland System-1m, and Lucas Melchior with whom I produced Dueling Tempests and four Dueling Monotribe videos.

Photo and art by Chris LeBlanc

Each time we organize one of these events we perform new material or new versions of our material. Chris is continually evolving his techniques and refining his approach to the visuals. For this event he’ll be bringing in Michael Lund as a collaborator. Be prepared for a pyramid of gorgeous, vintage CRT displays driven by Machael’s liquid light show and Chris’ state-of-the-art, modular, analog, video gear. I always look forward to these shows, not just for the opportunity to perform, but to see and hear what Chris, Luke, and Mike have up their sleeves. What’s more is that we are planning a short collaborative set at the end of the night. More information about the event is available on the on the Facebook event page. Have a listen to Luke’s (MKR) exceptional set from last time to whet your appetite:

The Taming of the CPU Part 2 at Honey

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On Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at 10pm (in other words, tomorrow) Taming of the CPU is happening at Honey in Minneapolis. I’ll be performing a set of new material using the DSI Tempest, Elektron Analog Four, and Moog Sub 37. This set was only played once before last January. Live coding artist, Mike Hodnick (Kindohm), and Ableton guru, Lucas Melchior (MKR) are also on the bill. All three of us are recipients of the Minnesota Emerging Composers Award (MECA) for electronic music.

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Chris LeBlanc will be performing live visuals at the show in response to the musical performances. This time he will be driving projections and a CRT video wall with an LZX modular video synthesizer hooked up to receive audio, MIDI notes, and/or gate clock in order to respond to the rhythms and amplitude of our sets.

Please visit the Facebook Event Page for additional details.

Zeitgeist Arts: The Taming of the CPU

The Taming of the CPU

I’m am very excited to announce an upcoming concert at Zeitgeist Arts this Friday, January 23, 2014 in Duluth, Minnesota. I’ll be performing a set of brand new material using the DSI Tempest, Elektron Analog Four, and Moog Sub 37. Live coding artist, Mike Hodnick (Kindohm), and Ableton guru, Lucas Melchior (MKR) are also on the bill. All three of us are recipients of the Minnesota Emerging Composers Award (MECA) for electronic music.

Photo by Chris LeBlanc

In addition to the music Chris LeBlanc will be performing live visuals at the event. I’ve had the privilege of working with Chris on several occasions and I’m really looking forward to experiencing his latest concoction of analog video, circuit bent NES, and vintage video mixers. At this event he’s bringing four gorgeous CRT monitors from a vintage 9 x 9 video wall. You can see a still of them in action above.

Facebook Event Page
Zeitgeist Arts Event Page

Slow Phrase on the Moog Sub 37 through Minifooger Delay

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Here’s a short phrase from a slow melody on the Moog Sub 37 that I recently played during a studio session with Lucas Melchior and Chris LeBlanc. The patch is one that I made specifically for performing lead lines and uses aftertouch to apply the vibrato. I also ran the Moog directly through the Minifooger delay. No other processing was applied to this monophonic phrase.

Dueling Monotribes 140BPM

This video features me and Lucas Melchior improvising on two synched up Korg Monotribes. This time with the tempo at 140BPM. The Korg NanoKontrol is being used to apply swing to the sync signal as well as control delays and filters.