Gestural Music Sequencer Generative Track Competition

Posted on April 15, 2010 by John C.S. 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!

Experimental Music Mondays Part 2

Posted on March 24, 2010 by John C.S. 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.

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.

WPaudio and SoundManager 2

Posted on November 27, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

sm2visual While redesigning my portfolio site at johnkeston.com I decided to research some of the latest audio plugins for WordPress. Prior to today I was using a fork of Audio Player called Anarchy Media Player (AMP), which was nice for several reasons. One being that it automatically converts MP3 links to the player in posts. Unfortunately the player has not been updated in sometime and after upgrading the the most recent version of WordPress the admin panel for AMP stopped working properly, forcing me to hack my wp-options table.

The alternative that I have put in place is called WPaudio. Wpaudio uses the SoundManager 2 sound library that works by wrapping and extending the Flash Sound API, and exposing it to Javascript. This technique allows the Flash component to be hidden and transparent to both developers and end users.

SoundManager 2 is what’s used by mix sharing sites like SoundCloud and 8tracks. I have yet to find any difficulties, other than some alignment issues that I was able to resolve via CSS. Here’s an example of the player in use. Please comment on how it works for you.

Panopticon
– One Day to Save All Life, Keston and Westdal (Unearthed Music, 2009)

Audio Technology Research Funding

Posted on November 17, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

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After nearly two years free of advertising, I have decided to include sponsorships on AudioCookbook. This was not a decision that came easily, but I concluded that advertising was not bothering me on other sites, similar to ACB that I visit regularly, so perhaps it won’t bother me here. In any case, all the funds that are collected from sponsors and donations will go into an account that will be used exclusively for research projects that will be featured on ACB. The cost of the equipment and software that I purchase for these projects will surely exceed any income by these means, but perhaps it will help offset the expense.

What helped lead me down this path was an offer from TuneCore to participate in their affiliate program. I am one of the partners of Unearthed Music and we have used TuneCore for digital distribution since September, 2006. We have used other distribution and licensing agencies before, and still do (until we can get out of our contracts), but what makes TuneCore unique is that they do not take a percentage of your royalties. Instead they charge a one-time delivery fee, followed by affordable yearly storage fees. Our label has had much better returns with TuneCore than other services, so I feel comfortable endorsing them.

I hope the advertising on ACB does not turn anyone away. I plan to keep the ads discreet and the content of the same nature as it has been for the last year and ten months. No reviews, just continued experimentation and research into whatever weird and wonderful sound discoveries we make or find along the way. If you have thought on this, please share them. Reader feedback, comments and opinions are one of the main reasons why I continue to create content for ACB.