Tag Archives: Piano

Consonant Dissonance on Elektramusic.eu

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I’m pleased to announce that Consonant Dissonance, my album of electroacoustic piano pieces is now available on Elektramusic.eu Berlin. It’s is available for streaming and as a 48kHz / 24bit download on Bandcamp and will be available at the usual places shortly. I also wrote about the process of composing and performing the work here.


Sadly this release is happening during a difficult time for much of the world. The video above was taken near my home in France about 90 minutes away from the wild fires devastating vast swathes of the country. It depicts the ominous beauty a sunset tinged by thick smoke in the atmosphere with les tournesols (the sunflowers) in the foreground. If you’d like to aid families displaced by the fires please visit Croix-Rouge Français (the French Red Cross).

Consonant Dissonance out July 27, 2026

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Consonant Dissonance Elektramusic Berlin, 2026. Album art photo by John C.S. Keston.

I am releasing a solo, acoustic piano album titled Consonant Dissonance on Elektramusic Berlin on July 27, 2026. Among the original compositions are several electroacoustic pieces that process the piano through a modular synthesizer. For each of those the piano signals are handled in different ways. These include granular synthesis, looping, pitch shifting, reverse, analog filtering, delay, and reverberation, all modulated via a function generator, low frequency oscillators, and a sampling touch controller which I operated while playing the pieces.

The modular synth I used for the album. Ironically this was photographed at the venue Berlin in Minneapolis​.

The album was recorded at The University of St Thomas, Schoenecker Center, Audio Studio on a Kawai RX-3 grand piano. Gratitude goes out to my former student Alejandro Vega for engineering assistance, and Adam Krinsky for mixing and mastering consultation. Well before I recorded the album I performed the pieces live at a few venues including Berlin, the excellent music venue in Minneapolis that borrows the German city’s name. The irony isn’t lost on me that a label based in Berlin are the ones releasing it over a year later.

The videos above and below were made with a digital piano as a proof of concept for running piano through a modular system to process the signals. I had manipulated piano through processing at concerts in the past (see this article about an electroacoustic piano concert from 2016), but this was the first time doing it with a bespoke modular synth, where the modules and patching were specifically designed for that purpose.

Anthony Cox, Suwal Singh, and John CS Keston at Berlin, Minneapolis

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On May 15, 2025 I will be performing at Berlin, Minneapolis with world-renowned jazz/genre-spanning artist Anthony Cox and Suwal Singh on tabla for an evening of short solos and duets and a full-length trio set. For my part I will be playing the house Steinway though a modular skiff that I have setup to sample/resample and process the piano.

That skiff has changed slightly from what I’ve been using for the first few examples, but it is still yielding satisfying textures for me. More about the event is below or visit berlinmpls.com/calendar/cox-keston-singh. In addition a radio piece by Philip Nusbaum was aired on Jazz88 (KBEM 88.5), Minneapolis and archived here.

World-renowned jazz/genre-spanning artist Anthony Cox will team up with award-winning music technologist John C.S. Keston on piano/modular synth and Suwal Singh on tabla for an evening of discovery. Short solos and duets from the musicians will evolve into a full-length trio set of creative collaboration.

Anthony Cox is an internationally renowned arranger, composer, performer, recording artist, and educator. His career has spanned over 30 years of music education, composition, and performance, encompassing an extensive list of collaborations, performances, and recordings with notable artists in the field of jazz. The list includes Sam Rivers, Joe Lovano, Geri Allen, Kenny Wheeler, Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins, John Scofield, The NDR Big Band, Dino Saluzzi, and Henry Threadgill.

John C.S. Keston’s background in music technology, software development, and improvisation leads him toward unconventional compositions that convey a spirit of discovery through the use of graphic scores, generative techniques, sound synthesis, experimental sound design, signal processing, and acoustic piano. Originally from the United Kingdom, he currently resides in Minneapolis, where he is a professor of digital media arts at the University of St. Thomas. He founded the sound design resource AudioCookbook.org, where you can learn more about his projects and performances.

Suwal Singh (tabla, guitar, sarangi) has contributed to the Minnesota music scene as part of projects such as SitarTabla (Eastern classical), Yeti Steady (avant-garde soundscapes), MoMoSauce (Nepali music), and Jest (pop rock). He has also worked as a session musician with Nathan Hanson, Brian Roessler, Eric Carranza, Colleen Buckman, and Dave Mehling and has appeared at Icehouse, the Varsity Theater, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, Bedlam Theatre, St. Paul Art Crawl, AZ Gallery, KFAI, the Capri Theater, MN Yoga Conference, and Jazz Central Studios.

Electroacoustic Piano Concert via Modular Synthesis

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The last time I performed a series of electroacoustic piano pieces was November of 2016 (click the link for an audio example). However, I am always imagining interesting ways that the piano, one of the most ancient of all synthesizers ;-), can be processed, resampled, or re-synthesized. To that end I was recently offered an opportunity to play at Berlin, Not the city in Germany but the music venue in Minneapolis, on April 15, 2024.

In my previous performance I had used a Korg KP3+ and a Minifooger delay to simply sample and process the piano. While that simplicity allowed me to focus more on composing, this time I wanted to take a more flexible and unique approach to the electronics. Modular allows for this so I pillaged some modules from my main system and purchased a Happy Nerding FX AID XL to make an electroacoustic skiff designed for sampling, resampling, filtering, and processing incoming acoustic piano signals. From right to left the system includes Bela.io Gliss, Make Noise Morphagene, ALM Pamela’s Pro Workout, Make Noise Maths, Shakmat Dual Dagger, Electrosmith patch.init(), Happy Nerding FX AID XL, and Intellijel Outs. Continue reading →

Searching for the Perfect Stage Piano (Part 3: Numa X Piano GT)

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My ongoing search for a stage piano to suit my somewhat unconventional desires has led me in several directions described in part one and part two of this series, but when I came across the details online about the Numa X Piano GT my head was decisively turned. I ordered the flagship stage piano from StudioLogic without even trying it back in February, 2022 and due to chip shortages didn’t receive it until the end of July. It was worth the wait. It isn’t without flaws, but they are easily worked around and overshadowed by the exceptional flexibility, playability, and sound quality of this marvelous machine. This article will not serve as a review, but as an explanation of why this instrument suits me where others might not have.

The first thing I’d like to address is the action. The key bed is Fatar’s new TP/400 Wood and includes realistic escapement, velocity, and aftertouch sensitivity. Many stage pianos do not include aftertouch, limiting controller capabilities, so having it was an important factor in my decision. The key bed feels fantastic and responds better than any other weighted controller or stage piano I’ve tried. Another characteristic of the key bed that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere is the key texture. More often than not electronic instruments have glossy keys that can feel sticky or slippery to your fingers. The Numa X Piano GT has a soft, ivory, grain-like texture on the keys that feels great under my finger tips. In the light the subtle grain appears to be different on each key. The texturing is a thoughtful detail that I never considered, but ultimately helps me connect with the instrument. Continue reading →