Experimental Music Mondays Call for Entries

Posted on February 28, 2010 by John C.S. Keston

I am curating a series of Experimental Music events hosted by the Kitty Cat Klub in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The first installment is Monday, March 1st, 2010. Subsequent installments are scheduled for the last Monday of every month. For the first show we have three performances.

Ostraka (myself) with Graham O’Brien on drums will be performing using the GMS. Terr the Om (Nathan Brende) will also be performing his distinct breed of electronic music, melding the output from his circuit bent toys with looping and real-time arranging in Ableton Live. Thirdly, Dialsystem consisting of brothers, Graham and Casey O’Brien will likely mesmerize listeners with their ethereal mix of bass, drums, and electronics. Music starts at 9:00pm.

I’m in the process of booking the upcoming events, so if you are a performer of experimental music and would like to get involved, please send your name, artist name, contact information, links to a biography, and links to audio examples to emm [ at ] audiocookbook [ dot ] org.

GMS Now Available for Windows

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

GMS v0.10 beta binary distribution for Windows is now available, thanks to Grant Muller, who compiled the latest source code for the GMS under Windows. Please visit the GMS page to download the Windows version. If you’re interested in the source code for the GMS you can find it at http://code.google.com/p/gestural-music-sequencer/.

Monophonic Step Sequencer Max Patch Download

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

Here’s an archive that contains the patch and a standalone application (Mac OSX only) of the step sequencer that I built in MaxMSP a few days ago. The sequencer works pretty well sending MIDI, but I haven’t really fine tuned the internal synthesis. Currently it uses a function object with an adjustable domain to adjust the amplitude envelope of a sinusoidal, but if the note length (function domain) is either too short or too long, clicks occur between notes. What I need to do is ramp up or down to the proper level for each new note. I’ll post an update here when I come up with a solution. If any Max veterans out there have any suggestions, please feel free to post a comment.

MonoStepSequencer.zip

MAW Outing GMS Excerpt

Posted on May 15, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

Here’s a segment of audio from Wednesday’s MAW outing at Art Institutes Minnesota in downtown Minneapolis. I’m pretty happy with the arpeggiated, melodic loops I’m able to achieve with the right settings and a good light controller using this application. For video documentation of what was happening at the event, please visit minneapolisartonwheels.org.

This video shows me using various light controllers, including a string of patio lights, bike lights, and LED spinning tops to construct compositions using the GMS.

MAW Outing GMS Excerpt

Track Built Around My Favorite GMS Melody

Posted on May 13, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

inverted_top I was going to hold off on posting this piece until I had had a chance to produce it a little bit more. I did cheat and added a four-on-the-floor kick drum pattern to drive it along, but otherwise every loop was generated with “light controllers” using the GMS.