EJ Posselius :: iEEEj :: EJP4

Basement Instrument Repairs

2013-02-25T17:43:00.003-07:00


Yamaha CS-50

As so many of us do, I have some vintage instruments hanging out in my basement. I played with these as a child, but actually understand how to use them now, so I was definitely interested in bringing them back up to spec. The first of the three is circa 1977 Yamaha CS-50 Analog Synthesizer. All I could do with this as a child was make garbage noise, but I had a feeling I would know what to do with it now that I understood what all those little markings like VCO, VCF, and LFO mean. I was very excited to get this awesome vintage synth up & running again.

The second instrument is also very exciting. It is a Hohner D6 Clavinet... like the kind Stevie Wonder uses. This really cool instrument has a keyboard that frets a note on one string for each of the 60 keys. After a quick soldering of the battery connector, and a fresh 9v, I had this thing making funky noise immediately! But there was definitely still something wrong, a few of the settings weren't working and not every key worked. Fortunately I found a very good resource to fix these things. More on that later.

Hohner D6 Clavinet

Finally, and I think this one has the least hope, there is a Chinese Hammer Dulcimer or Yangqin rotting away in a case that is falling apart. The finish is cracking and all of the bridges are starting to separate from years of mis-tensioned strings. The hammers are missing and one of the bridges has entirely detached from the body of the instrument.

This should keep me busy for a while. What I just described is where I started... as of today, none of these instruments make any functional noise. I think the Yamaha has a bad transformer which can be replaced, but am not entirely sure yet. The Clavinet is looking quite promising, and the dulcimer has yet to have anything done to it but to be inspected for the scope of the damage. Like I said, this should keep me busy for a while.

Clavinet Tuning Pegs

More coming soon!

The Onion Code

2013-02-14T18:50:00.001-07:00

"The Onion Code"
Algorithm based analog print series

I'll pick up right where I left off. Using the Perlin Hatch Code, I developed a while back I created a series of analog prints. Unfortunately my printer just can't seem to communicate with the my system properly so I tend to get partial images and misprints and all kinds of other errors.

So I embraced this and made a small 11 series run of prints ranging in size from 5"x7" to about 1.5"x3.5". I overprinted blue and green variations of the code overlaying and altering ink densities. I also cut out smaller pieces and taped them to larger prints to achieve interesting overlays and angles.

Additionally, some of the pieces had tape residue from the overlays, which I attempted to remove with 70% rubbing alcohol. This caused an interesting fading effect with the ink and I embraced it and 'washed' two of the pieces.

All in all, I was very satisfied with the outcome of this quick and dirty project, considering I just wanted a few prints of the originals. But technical errors must always be approached with an optimistic eye and as a result, I now have a series of (what I think are) very interesting prints. If you are interested in acquiring one, feel free to email me!

"The Onion Code"

Algorithm, CMYK, Photo Paper, [Rubbing Alcohol]

10 print run ranging in size from
5"x7" to 1.5" x 3.5" to a 6" square

Code: 12.01.18 :: Print: 13.02.13

Processing: Saving Images

2012-01-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Saved Frame (Perlin Noise based)

So you made something cool in Processing... now what? Whats that you say? you haven't made anything cool in Processing yet? Here are some tutorials to get you started with this versatile and fairly easy to learn programming. Additionally, Processing has excellent documentation describing how to utilize the most commonly used objects.

Now that you've begun to create digital art using code, you may want to share it with your friends. Actually, that was probably one of your goals to begin with... There are a few options that Processing offers right out of the box that allow you to make images and movies from your sketches. Saving images is actually quite easy and only requires a small bit of code. The object we will explore in this tutorial is called saveFrame().

//the basic code to save a picture is as simple as...

void draw(){

//...drawing code...

 

  saveFrame("picture.jpg");

noLoop(); //this bit of code is helpful if you are only saving one image

You are not restricted to making *.jpg files; *.tif, *.tga, and *.png are all compatible file-types for images, and you can name the file as you please. There is one drawback to this method concerning creating transparencies. I will address this in a future tutorial, or you can jump ahead and start exploring the createGraphics() object.

There are also a couple of more advanced ways to save pictures. If you are running an animated program, you may want to save multiple frames and decide later which you like the best.



//to save multiple sequential images

void draw(){

//basic 'for loop'

for(int i=0;i<100;i++){

//...iterative drawing code...

saveFrame("pic-####.jpg");

/*note that the object appears within the 'for loop'

This option will sequentially number the image

each time the loop runs (pic-0000, pic-0001, etc.)*/

}

}

A final option is to program a function that saves a picture. This involves creating a command that recognizes an input and saves the image when it receives the proper input. This section is slightly more advanced.

//to selectively save images, one option is to create a class that recognizes human imput

void draw(){

//...drawing code...

if(press){

saveFrame("pic-####.jpg");

//will only save if input is detected

}

//class to determine if mouse is pressed

boolean press() {

  if(mousePressed) {

     press = true;

/*sends indication that input is detected

and to save frames while the mouse button is held down*/

}



   if(!mousePressed){

     press = false;

     //these commands can be replaced by keystrokes, or other inputs

}

It is important to note that all of these images will be saved in the folder for the sketch you are working on at the time. You can access this folder with command-k on a Mac and ctrl-k (I assume) on PC. Images will be saved at the resolution of your draw window. Additionally, running the script back-to-back may conflict with files named in a similar fashion. With that in mind you should examine your images after each iteration, choose the ones you like, or change the way files are named.

This is my first tutorial, I hope it was helpful, and would appreciate any feedback or debugging. I truly enjoyed writing this up, and plan to do many more in the near future. If you end up using this code, please share your work with me, I would love to see it!

CCRMA Tour

2011-06-19T10:26:00.001-06:00

20110615

Foyer Exhibit/Study Area

While I was in California, I happened to be very close to the Stanford Campus. Stanford has a program within their music department that I have been interested in for quite a while. So I set up a tour of the building and the program, CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics), pronounced "karma". The building was relatively empty, as this was the first day on campus after the spring graduation.

The center is located in the old governors mansion at one of the highest points on campus and has a fantastic view of the buildings below. Right as you enter the building, you know that you are in the right place. There are various keyboards, speakers, and other things I would bet are instruments, but not like any I've ever seen. There is also a reel to reel, next to a pyramid shaped speaker array, and a giant machine that appears to be one of the earliest GUI based DAWs.

Cabinet of CCRMA History

After climbing the stairs you come across a modest lounge complete with Foosball machine and balcony taking full advantage of the amazing views. There is a small cubby showcasing some of the research that has been conducted at the center over the years. In it, there is a Balinese Gong, a metronome, a variety of xylophones, and of course Ge Wang of SLOrk's work on the hemispherical speaker array originally developed at PLOrk and used in BLOrk... yes that's a lot of ORKs. Above these glorious pieces of history are complete archives of the AES Journals and a variety of other historical resources.

Control Room for Recording Studio

During my tour I was shown a number of very interesting spaces. Everything from a private 8 channel mixing room to a ~100 person performance space with 24+ channels of spatialized and modular speakers. There is a full recording studio complete with a ProToolsHD system and most amazing of all, a "spherical" room that allows experimentation with the entire sphere of sound created by a 24 channel speaker array. This is apparently one of the most popular spaces for projects as you can begin to create "holographic" sound. (i.e. You can walk around an intangible point to act as a sound source... think QSound on steriods). Finally, I saw a well stocked Electrical Engineering lab which contained, among other things, a familiar red box from SparkFun.

Spherical Speaker Array Floor - Tension Grid Style

The campus is beautiful, and spread out... it is easy for a first timer to get lost, even with a map and gps. CCRMA's building is amazingly beautiful and boasts some of the best views of campus by far. I wish there had been visitor's parking at the top of the hill, but that's not that big of a deal. The research I heard about (including spatializing and making audible the sequences of DNA for various species of animals) all seems interesting and, most importantly, cross-disciplinary. I very much enjoyed touring these facilities and will be keeping them on my radar as new research comes out of the school.

Tyrannosaurus Sex (and other truths) :: Ira Liss

2011-06-15T11:07:00.002-06:00

20110603

Ira Liss is the director of communications for the ATLAS building, and a brilliant musician. I have been close friends with him during my time at ATLAS and was very happy to find that he was given the opportunity to perform for all his friends and family. Also, a number of my friends were heavily involved with the show.

I have always been a fan of Ira's music. It is witty and rateable, and most importantly, entertaining. It was also very nice to hear his normally solo piano playing accompanied by bass, guitar, drums, and saxophone/clarinet. His show was comprised of his songs (including my favorite about an acorn... who wears a little hat) intermingled with short theatrical vignettes by Katie Cross and Graham Emmons (who has been involved with many of my previous productions), and very well choreographed segments by Katie Cross (the producer of UNA).

The story progresses through the concepts of a relationships, from childhood romances to teenage hormones to old age. All the while, Cole Ingraham added Tyrannosaurus roars at amusingly appropriate times. The flow was very smooth and the combination of dance, music, and images (taken by Ira himself) was very nice.

I was hoping to be more involved in this production, but my workload prevented me from being able to contribute :( Regardless, I think that Ira did a fantastic job, and I was so happy to see and hear his vision come to fruition. I'm very proud of him, Katie (choreography), and everyone involved in the production. It was especially touching to hear Ira mention during the talk-back that this was, in fact, his dream come true.

Convergence III

2011-06-13T09:49:00.005-06:00

2011.05.28

It's been called the "festival in a building." Get free body work, participate in salon discussions on various topics, sample local wine, see performances, dance all night long and meet new, interesting and beautiful people.

The Convergence is born from the conscious collaboration of a community.

Join us as we bring together shamans of the electronic arts, ancient technologies of embodiment and sophisticated salons of wisdom.

I was really lucky to be invited to VJ for this event. I've done a couple of gigs like this, but this was by far the biggest show I have done visuals for. Also, there was a typo on the flyer... I normally go by iVVVj as my VJ name, and iEEEj as my DJ name, but vEEEj was printed on the flyer... I actually like this a lot more and have decided to keep this as my VJ name!

The night started off with shamanistic blessing of the space and African style dance and drumming... very Boulder. The night then kicked into full gear and there were workshops, salon style panels, and of course music all night long. I met lots of new and interesting people and had a really great time providing visuals for the music the night.

I thought I was only going to have a couple of hours to VJ for, but it turned out we were taking the show till 3 in the AM!! I had to scramble and assemble a little extra footage (and a little recycling :) but was able to fill the night. In case you don't know, my VJ style involves refracting and reflecting my projections around the room to create abstract light patterns that encompass the entire audience. The was especially useful because we didn't have any lighting for the venue. Here is a (very) short sample of what the venue looked like. Keep in mind there is only one projector ... the images and light are being refracted with prisms and other glass objects.

Convergence III SCHEDULE
Sky Lounge
7-9pm Opening Ceremony and African Drumming with Ahva (Rhythm Sanctuary)
9-10pmDJ Rolf (Rhythm Sanctuary)
10pm-11pmDJ Jypsy (Pink Mammoth)
11pm-12pmDJ Ryel (Pink Mammoth)
12pm-1amDJ DublD
1am-2amBird
2am-3amDJ AY

The Convergence is about conscious collaboration. There is this deep knowledge in each of us that something new is being born in our community. Sometimes when I hear the word "conscious", my eyes roll back and I want to make a joke about the Boulder bubble. Yet, awakening is happening and I see its tendrils dancing in the collective dust swirling around us. Whether it is indigenous elders sharing secret traditions thousands of years old or an emergent authenticity in the communication among my friends, I do feel it. I feel it when I lose myself in dance and when I commit myself deep in a practice of embodiment. The Convergence is a beginning and an inquiry into what is possible when our community collaborates on something greater....

This was an exciting and unique event to close out my time in Boulder (I will be moving to Denver in August and going to DU's Digital Media Masters program). I look forward to doing more VJ gigs like this, and hope that the the Convergence crowd will invite me back for future events!

Carnivals and Snowstorms

2011-06-06T22:10:00.006-06:00

Better late than never...
20110429-30

I've had a hard time coming up a way to summarize the experience of working on this show. That's not a bad or a good thing. For over a year, I worked with Daniella Vinitski (a CU PhD. Theatre candidate) helping her to execute the technical aspects of her production Carnivals and Snowstorms. I thoroughly enjoyed working with her and the team, and we executed a complex show with relatively small amount of rehearsal time within the Black Box Space.

The production played through four different scenes (I. Brilliant Silence, II. Carnival Barkers, III. Apotheosis, IV. Memory) carrying an avant-garde pacing, with multi-disciplinary collaboration throughout. There were dancers, actors, music and a violinist with live audio processing, alongside a complicated curtain-rigged system juxtaposing a relatively simple set. All in all, there were a few mixed reactions, but it was very well received. I really enjoyed the outcome of the final show despite some last minute delays in production, and am proud to put my name alongside these fantastic artists. In fact, it was one of the most pleasurable shows I've had to work on, as our run and production crew was extremely professional and creative (with a few exceptions, as always). Videos below and more pictures here!

Brilliant Silence

This piece unfortunately had to be reworked during our tech week. The upside of this is that I was able to compose the music to be used during this short dance sequence. It is accompanied by a dancer, Cindy Brandle, who provided excellent improvisational dancing. The story that is told is about a group of circus polar bears that learn to dance when there is a full moon. It is a beautiful piece, and I have included an alternate video version of the recording.

Carnival Barkers

Travis Mouffe is by far the most professional and productive filmmaker I have had the pleasure of working with. He created the video and projection design for the show and did a fantastic job. This portion of the show combined the dancers moving in a butoh-inspired manner through the space while Travis' short film played. It was put together brilliantly, and built perfectly on the Carnivals and Snowstorms theme. Here is the full length version of this video.

Apotheosis

Hannah Leland is a CU Masters graduate in Violin performance. She performed a beautiful piece composed by Nathan Wheeler that incorporated live electronics with amplified violin. As the Carnival Barkers end their piece, they approach the screen and crack it open to reveal that there is something behind it. They then reveal Hannah in a golden dress performing a beautiful, swelling piece that shook the theater. It is an absolutely beautiful piece, and by far my favorite portion of the show.

Memory

Daniella wrote this piece and had it professionally workshopped. It is about a couple lost in their own memories trying to figure out who and what they are. As they explore the depths of their lost memories, Autumn Bjugstad designed beautiful lights to accompany the subtly intricate projections Travis had designed. Projected onto the revealed curtain, it created an amazing, multidimensional and immersive setting. As the two lovers remember eachother, they embrace and a snow machine that we managed to acquire from the CU Theatre and Dance department splayed snow across the actors as they took their curtain call.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this production, and hope that Daniella will be able to continue to take certain aspects of the show and take them to their fullest potential, as she is an excellent playwright and collaborator. While there was some last minute drama, we were able to overcome the challenges and put on a production like nothing I have ever seen in the Black Box. This was particularly special for me, as this was also my final show working in the space... for now (although, I don't know if I'll be doing too many more shows down there). All in all, this was a difficult process to pull off directly after Commuinkey11, but I had confidence throughout both in our lead production team and Daniella's vision. I hope to work with her and other members of the team again soon!

Shpongletron

2011-04-28T16:32:00.002-06:00

201104
The Boulder Theater

So I'm pretty much over this acid-techno type of music, but I am still interested in seeing what these artists are doing visually as well as with their music. Simon Posford is a world-famous DJ from the UK and tours under many monikers, such as Shpongle and Hallucinogen.

Shpongletron

Simon Posford as Hallucinog

This show, Simon performed as Hallucinogen. In this setup, he manipulates various effects devices and mixers to de- and re- construct his tracks. I was very impressed with this set, and it was a surprise for me... as I didn't know he was going to be opening for himself :)

From Zebbler's Blog

Shpongletron is Simon's latest incarnation of a DJ booth. Zebbler, a VJ and artist was commissioned to help build and bring the booth to life. It houses a recessed stage for the DJ booth, two platforms for dancers, a number of projection surfaces, lasers, and a sculpture that has 3D projections mapped to it. This is a very complicated setup and it is all run off of one projector!!

From Zebbler's Blog

The "Shpongle Face" is my favorite part of this setup, as the projections use light and dark to make the mask appear as if it is moving, making faces and blinking it's eyes. Another fun thing is that his tongue appears from time to time. While much of this video is fascinating... much of it is actually sourced from the community. All of the maps and masks are available for download, and the content you see at the shows is actually contributed by fans! This is an incredible way for the community to be involved in new media, and I hope it encourages more collaboration across all disciplines.

Massive Projector - I didn't catch how many lumens or the resolution,
but they are running a DVI input and I'm sure the information is on his blog.

More pictures here!

Cirque Voltaire

2011-04-28T16:01:00.005-06:00

20110422
The Meadowlark

So, While I have been focusing on the liminal space between the digital and analog world, I was asked to VJ for Narwhal Birdskull, my friend Maximilian Shiffman's metal band. The event was called Cirque Voltaire and I was on a constant quest to see who could qualify what kind of an event this was. I thought it was Steampunk, but the masses have me calling it Bizarro or something along those lines. Regardless, not my typical scene.

There were some very interesting groups performing as well, ranging from A 5-piece band with a tap-dancer to fire-dancers, arial dancers and plenty of art and sculpture.

For the Narwhal Birdskull performance, I was able to play with the liminiality of space between the projector and and my projection surface... the ceiling above the band in this case. I have long been interested in breaking the frame that is inherent in projections... so using a series of glass objects, mirrors, prisms, and water, I throw the projected light around the room creating a more immersive projection environment. Needless to say, this was a crazy, interesting, and bizarre... experience.

If you are interested in having these kinds of projections done for a production, concert, or show please feel free to contact me at posselius@gmail.com.

Communikey11!!

2011-04-21T20:39:00.002-06:00

20110413-20110417

Opening Night at Bombay Bistro

Wow, it was only a week ago, but time is just flying by. Communikey, for those of you who don't know is Boulder, Colorado's Festival of Electronic Art and Music. Check out past year's festivals. I've been involved for the past 3 years, and attending for the past 4. This was the fourth edition of the festival, and it was a tremendous success. My role is to act as technical lead at various venues and assist with tech issues as they arise.

Normal Ones and Jason from offthesky in the ATLAS Black Box

This is a fairly media heavy post, so please bear with the loading times :) And there's lots more after the break and on Flickr and YouTube.


Pulshar at the ATLAS Black Box


Eric Singer's Arduino Workshop

Normal Ones sound check

This year I helped out with the workshops at ATLAS, providing sound and projection assistance as well as running sound for the Dub Visions show in the Black Box. We hosted workshops on Arduino and Ableton and held film screenings with artist panels to answer audience member's questions. The amazing Dub Visions showcase featured Taylor Kuffnor on the Gamelatron (to replace Mr. Projectile :(), the Normal Ones (with Jason on visuals from offthesky), and Pulshar. This was an incredible show and there were intricate projections and awesome music.

Gamelatron installation at ATLAS Black Box

Laura Goldhammer and the Silver Nail

I was also fortunate enough to testrun my new projector at the Odd Fellow's Lodge downtown for a screening of Floodtide Remixed (with a live score by Dark, Dark, Dark). My new best friend :) Laura Goldhammer and the Silvernail also performed with her robot friends... a very cool speaker as input and output, octopus driven microcontroller device. I ran the lights for the show off a very simple 4 channel DMX controller.

J.L.Kane tearing it up at Catacombs

For the rest of the festival I was a participant... not a volunteer. This was enjoyable as I was able to attend some of the bigger shows (Atom TM and Monolake at the Fox -- this was a big deal by the way, if you didn't know :) as well as the after-parties at Apex Movement. And of course my favorite event every year is the Sunday party at the park. It is our final opportunity for our little community to gather in daylight and congratulate eachother on a job well done. Not to mention there were dozens of other events I was unable to participate in :( Make sure to keep an ear out for the festival again this time next year.

Audiopixel installation at Apex Movement

CMKY11 Park Party

This was an amazing year, and I am already looking forward to next years festival! Congrats to Kate Lesta, Jahnavi Stenflo, Nathan Jantz, Chris McNaughty Erika Dixon, Lauren Higgins, Kate Flynn, all the DJs, volunteers and everyone else I forgot to mention. Also there's more pictures here and videos here!

World Famous Naughty Sliders

CMKY11 - communikey.us

Noisefold at DAM.... yes the DAM again

2011-04-05T23:49:00.000-06:00

20110402

Noisefold - triple projection

I can't believe I got to go to the DAM 3 weeks in a row for free! And this time was.... cranial-y disintegrating, but in a good way. In fact, I'm still processing some of the things I saw. Congrats to Lindsey Housel for putting the show on and getting me on the guest list :) Read on for some great setup pictures... I prefer to keep the pictures of the work to a minimum... the magnitude of the experience can't be captured on film, especially on iFilm. Plus you can always go to their shows, or check out their website...

Cory (left) and David (right)

Noisefold is comprised of Cory Metcalf and David Stout. I had the pleasure of working with them during their last performance in the area at Communikey09. Back then, the standard setup was that each artist had a projector correlated to their visuals and sounds that met in the middle. However, Noisefold has been evolving.

Cory's two-system setup
(one for each projector)

They now use three projectors. Cory and David both have their respective projectors, but there is now a third in the middle that can be a separate or conglomerated version of the two other projections. Another direction that I am ecstatic to hear they are taking is the addition of live musicians! While they did not do this here, (I'm actually glad I got the more traditional experience) I do look forward to seeing what comes from this cross-collaboration.


Noisefold creating incredible, real-time generative graphics... WOW

Cory prepping, and David explaining

On to the tech details! Using MAX/MSP/Jitter :) the duo create generative visuals that are directly correlated with noise. The noise is not what you normally expect when you describe this kind of music. There is incredible dynamic range and timbral interaction. Additionally, they use a wide variety of controllers, pedals, and my personal favorite, a set of infrared sensors which detect the height of their hands, which they then use as 'instruments'.

Many of the patterns and shapes are created using mathematical equations which generate 3D shapes and forms. Variables within the equation allow each set of projections to be manipulated by the program. This results in a dynamic and exciting performance.

David's Setup - noitce the infared sensors in the corners

While the majority of the work is improvisatory, there is structure to what they are doing, and the perform what a band would call their 'set'. I've said it many times before; Noisefold creates, hands-down, the most interesting and interactive real-time graphics. I don't know how they maintain such an incredible frame rate, and their knowledge of mathematical architecture and programming manipulation is beyond the capacity of most of us. If you ever have the opportunity to go to one of their shows, I highly recommend it. Even if you are not a fan of noise music, the graphics will have you contemplating your existence for a good 72 hours. No kidding.

Standing Ovation

Wordle!

2011-04-02T23:13:00.000-06:00

So while procrastinating things you should be doing, check out this little applet called Wordle. It lets you input text from a file or a website and then creates a great collage of the most commonly used words. You can find a nice random arrangement, but you can also tweak the settings to your tastes. I've made a few, and they look really cool when printed out onto 4x6 photo paper. Anyway, procrastinate on!

DAM TYPO! :: Tara Rynders & Maximilan Shiffman

2011-03-26T19:16:00.002-06:00

20110325

"In 'Typo', Tara and Max use text to generate movement, imagery and sound. 'Typo' brings together several disciplines in a dynamic environment. Text drives the performance, controlling video, sound art, and coreography. While 'Typo' is a technological performance rooted in its time, Tara and Max push the limits of text using it to communicate on numerous levels."

Golan's inadvertent contribution

Tara and Max were given the opportunity to perform alongside the Blink! exhibit this past Friday. This is such an honor to be invited to help out and document, and I was very proud of Max and Tara's performances. Max performed music and text that was both planned a improvised based on text messages from the audience.
Tara was able to interact with both a Jitter patch (framesub), and an installation by Golan Levin. This interactive projection creates noise and colored shapes as you cast shadows on the screen. The shapes are created by closed spaces, like if you made a circle with your thumb and forefinger, for example. This is a very fun part of Blink! and was a cool addition to the performance.

Ok, so there's a really awesome video at the end here, but you're only allowed to watch it if you read the whole article :)

Tara interacting with her projection

When considering projectors, the DAM (Libeskind) has incredible angular walls that span great distances. This creates for some very interesting projection surfaces. We were able to take advantage of the angles (and our short cables) by projecting Tara's live feed at an extreme angle that looked aesthetically pleasing with the architecture. We were able to square Max's projection for the text portion, so there was a variety in our throws.

Max makes some great music, and it is for this performance, he made a very cool control/instrument/thing that he hung around his neck. On it he had his MIDI controller, a keyboard (remember, this was text based...) and and iPhone to receive the text messages the audience sent in. His text input would display it on the screen and change the color and noise it produced. He also had control of the font and size. Max made an incredible dynamic range of music and noise that kept the audience enthralled. He is also a fearless performer and played while standing on 'bucket stilts' and wearing steampunk goggles.

TYPO at the DAM

Be sure to check out Blink! at the DAM, it only runs through May 1st (my birthday :).
Plus the first Saturday of each month is free for everyone!
Also on April 1st there will be a Noisefold show at the DAM as well (see this post about the last time I saw them), be sure to check that one out, it will be AWESOME.

And now... the amazing video of the performance!

A Digital Media Explosion

2011-03-24T03:24:00.007-06:00

Well, the end of February and beginning of March certainly kept me away from my creativity time. Fortunately, now that my employers are all on Spring Break, I've had the chance to work on some music, video, patching, and all kinds of art.

A sample from one of my Glossom collections...
I suggest you try it for at least give it 1 second,
it is interactive and is a unique concept.

My main goal has been to continue to increase my net presence... to I've added quite a few social networking sites to the mix. Twitter (@iEEEj), Scribd (a site to publish papers), and my personal favorite, Glossom. This site lets you create a collage of your work (video or picture or text w/ links) in a grid you must conform to. It is a very interesting concept, and I suggest checking it out if you have any things you want to share on the microwebs.

Additionally, I've been making lots of digital art, both music and video. I even overloaded my Vimeo upload limit, so I have to wait a week to post "Digital Paint : in 2 movements" (the second video). So here are a some of the videos that I made over the past few days... I'll give some details after each one.

Fact of Life

This is a sound responsive physical and digital melding. The video is of TriLEDs (LEDs that can output any combination of red, blue, and green). They are controlled by filters that respond to the music being played. There's a little editing at the end, but it was just to keep the piece short.

... Yes there's more; I figure if you're interested I might as well just keep it all on the same page...

Digital Paint:
I.Saturation
II. Fullscreen

This is a long time collaboration with Maximilian Shiffman with both digital video and art. Thus the name Digital Paint : in 2 Movements : I. Saturate & II. Fullscreen. I actually never ran these names by him so I maybe they'll change.
The video was made about a year ago and was mixed by Max (in Jitter) and shot by EJ (mostly feedback loops). The sound was recorded recently and features laptop and Ableton synths/effects. Max announces when the two movements change over :)
The main instrument is a Theremein processed and synths from Max's Ableton patch.

aWaKe

This is a Jitter self-portrait. I'm using my usual jit.wake manipulation, but am also playing with some hue things. For the most part I'm beginning to find my color pallet... this one's close, but I'm not quite there yet. The music is Eliot Lipp's "Shereton"

D'Fix

This one is from a little longer ago (about a month), but I never posted it to the blog, just Facebook... and Vimeo... and YouTube... so it exists everywhere except here. I'm playing with some more digital feedback with footage from an airplane. The presentation is somewhat sporadic, but so was the creation... so whatever.

Thanks for watching if you actually spent the time to watch my work. Of course, all my videos can be found on Vimeo, my papers on Scribd, my audio on SoundCloud, now all the rest of my art on Glossom. Also please share links to your work in the comments, I love discovering new art as I'm sure you do as well !!

iVVVj

2011-03-15T23:56:00.003-06:00

I was invited to this online portfolio site called Glossom... I was skeptical at first, but it is actually very cool. If you check it out, when you mouse over each image, you can watch the videos they came from. Check it out!

Sneak preview of Blink! at the DAM

2011-03-11T17:28:00.002-07:00

20110310

Blink! - Light, Sound and the Moving image

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the opening reception for Blink!, at the Denver Art Museum (DAM). The exhibit, which opens on March 13th, is an exciting new media exploration with works ranging from the mid 80s through 2011. A wide variety of works are shown including digital and analog film/video, new media sculpture and projection art. There are even a few interactive pieces.

The Denver Art Museum

This was a fairly exclusive showing, and I was very lucky to be invited to see the exhibit with such a controlled group size.

3 of 10 DLP Projectors on shinbusters

Some of the highlights of the display include an entire gallery covered with projections of words describing our life cycle courtesy of 10 DLP projectors strategically placed throughout the room. This was by far one of the greatest undertakings of the exhibit and one of the more impressive accomplishments. It is reminiscent of Catherine Havasi's Analogy Space. and truly takes advantage of the DAM's high angled walls.

Other memorable exhibits include Steina Vasulka's incarnation of Of the North, a stereoscopic, film- based texture exploration and Nam June Paik's new media sculptures, which I was shocked to find were conceived and produced before the turn of the 21st century. I was also impressed with the sheer number and variety of projectors implemented. Everything from beefy and bright DLPs on shinbusters, to floor facing projectors, to handhelds, to devices which shoot one way, but use a mirror to reverse the throw. If you are in Denver in the near future, be sure to check out this exciting new exhibit... the first Saturdays of every month are free!

Projection wall (Resolume) at entrance
shot from the 4th floor of the DAM

Tim Eriksen and the Batteries Die Media Ensemble

2011-03-08T13:12:00.002-07:00

The Batteries Die Media Ensemble

20110305

Over the weekend, Michael Theodore held a reincarnation of the What I Saw at the Apocalypse show from February of 2009. He brought Tim Eriksen, a "shape note" or throat singer, back for the very special reunion. The Apocalypse show was one of my first shows to work on at ATLAS, and this reunion was, by far, one of the most complex audio patches I've built in the space. We routed about 30 channels to the FOH mixer and about 24 channels into the ProToolsHD system. Additionally, we documented the concert with a live-mixed three camera shoot.

Here is an edited video from my Zoom Q3-HD:

More info and pictures after the break...

Tim Eriksen and The Batteries Die Media Ensemble

Tim opened with a solo acoustic set on banjo, fiddle, and bajo sexto. He was joined midway through by Michael Theodore on the saw and bodhran and Sam Gathman on the fiddle. The Batteries Die Media Ensemble is comprised of Tim and Michael on their respective instruments and the addition of the electric guitar leading Lina Bahn on violin, Curtis Broome on drums, Janet Feder on prepared guitar, Sam Gathman, on bass and guitar, Mark McCoin on lap steel, Glen Whitehead on trumpet, Cole Ingraham on laptop/iPad (supercollider via OSC), and Ryan Wurst doing live projection mixing (with Michael Theodore's source material). Greg O'Brien ran the 3 camera live mix for documentation. I had the pleasure of routing the two primary reinforcement zones, surround reinforcement, six monitors, and effects processing for the Tim and his ensemble. We will continue to work on this project, mixing the audio and editing together various pieces of video. This was such an incredible experience to be a part of!

Tim trying out different banjos during soundcheck


Tim on the Bajo Sexto

Feburary bLOrk-taculair

2011-03-06T14:44:00.002-07:00

20110225/6

Last weeks bLOrk concert was an amazing collaboration of musicians, dancers, and digital artists. Here is a full video from the uStream copy of the Saturday concert if it is still being hosted (It starts around the 20:00 mark), try this link. Keep reading, I also have a high quality, edited version of the Friday night show, and a few pictures.

I was fortunate enough to perform alongside new and returning members of bLOrk, and even performed my piece about tuning and calibrating the laptop orchestra, 'Tuning Up'. This time, I included a malfunctioning computer which is designed to give me troubles throughout the piece. We were also excited to have Trace Reddell and a couple of his students from the Digital Media Studies program at DU showcase Jitter patches they have developed.

New levels of interaction

We broke new ground with this concert. Not only were we joined by some fantastic jazz musicians to play electric Miles Davis compositions, but both nights we also had a different arrangement of dancers to add dimension to our performance. The pieces by Miles Davis are from his 1969-70 albums–Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way – the first recordings where Davis used electric instruments and electrified sounds. Cole Ingraham performed two excellent compositions, Digital Tuvan and GUI Madness. Digital Tuvan features laptops synthesizing harmonics over the sounds of Cole's throat singing, and GUI Madness is a noise exploration piece that has the laptop operator furiously clicking buttons and moving sliders as they pop up on the screen.

Electric Miles - Hugh Ragin on Trumpet

Darwin Grosse graciously joined us again and utilized the power of the dancers and musicians for his piece, Leg Work. Each laptop recorded a small, random section of a score onto a cheap handheld recorder. Then this was looped by simply holding the play button down with a clip. These recorders were then distributed throughout the audience, creating a surrealistic surround soundscape of the score. John Drumheller and John Gunther also provided a number of interesting and unique compositions to the table, as they always do.

Edited, High Quality Video

Special thanks to John Gunther, John Drumheller, Darwin Grosse, Cole Ingraham, Synthia Payne for documenting, Hugh Ragin (Trumpet), Darren Kramer (Ableton - wow), Ed Breazeale (Drums), Stephen Thurston (Bass), Cody St. Arnold (Ableton live looping, electric trombone, Lemur - wow), Sabrina Cavins, Katie Key, Skye Hughes, Julie Murphy, plus other members of the CU jazz and dance departments.

Feburary Pendulum

2011-02-27T15:21:00.004-07:00

20110223

Wow, what a week. Pendulum followed by blOrk only two days later. The Pendulum New Music Series showcases new works from composers at CU, and this month's performance had a very eclectic bill. This installation of Pendulum included these world premiers:
Kari Kraakevik - Canyons Leading Home: Los Angeles to Lost Angel (2010)
Keane Southard - Two Symmetries for Disklavier (2010)
Cole Ingraham - Chaos Geometry (2010)
Leanna Kirchoff - The House Explodes
Hunter Ewen - Invasion of the Monkey Mind (2010)

Also featuring "Open Score," an audience-participation piece with Paul Miller and Jeff Nytch.

Poster

Breana Cowart conducted Kari's ensemble of prepared piano (Liz Comninellis), flute (Maria Mandico), clarinet (Jacqueline Leclair), violin (Rachel Wilkinson), cello (Sarah Mathews), trombone (Mary Mixter), bass trombone (Kiel Blauer), sax (Luca Munce), and electronics (Ryan Wurst). Additionally Kari sang soprano with Fred Peterbark (tenor), in her composition about moving from LA to Boulder. Her piece aimed to find similarities between the sounds of each location and show how one sound really evolved from the other. I was quite impressed with this analogy, and her ability to pull it off. Her themes were melodically interesting and the tension and release in the piece was composed fantastically.

Keane's studies for the Disklavier (digital player piano) were very interesting to develop. I helped him to arrange the piece and we pushed the limits of Disklavier, blowing two of the 7 amp fuses during rehearsals. I have used this piano many times for different projects, and I learned an incredible amount about how to push the limits of the piano. We ran MIDI signals from Sibelius into the piano. Unfortunately, we had issues with the first dozen or so notes of each composition, so I added a chromatic wash at the beginning of each piece. I liked that this actually provided a common thread between the two pieces, and interestingly enough, each wash came out different each time. That was a bit disconcerting, but we pulled it off without a hitch. Here is a bit of video, sorry for the poor quality... I just got a Zoom Q3HD, and the digital zoom isn't as good as I was hoping.

Cole's piece, Chaos Geometry is a 5.1 surround sound with animation. Sounds were created with an old analog mixing console and a theremin. The animations were rendered in Blender and I believe Cole said some frames took as long as 7 minutes each to render. (I also believe he went for the full 30 fps). A full video and stereo mix is available on his Vimeo Page.

The House Explodes is a piece composed by Leanna Kirchoff for Hsing-ay Hsu. Leanna's focus was on 10 note patterns and chords. She bases this off of the fact that we are (normally) born with only 10 fingers, despite having a 12 note scale. Hsing-ay did an excellent job performing this (see the video for an excerpt) and the lighting changes were a welcome addition to the performance.

Another very interesting concept piece was presented next. Paul Miller performed an improvisatory piece on Viola and Viola d'Amore (unfortunately not at the same time :). His improvisations were based on a score created by the audience as they entered the space. I really love this concept, and think that Paul did an excellent job under such immense pressure.

Copy of audience composed, Open Score

Finally, Hunter's composition (in MAX/MSP) featured CU professor Terry Sawchuk on trumpet. Using a foot pedal, Terry would trigger changes in the software, while Hunter subtly monitored the levels and made sure everything ran smoothly. I have to say I have been continually impressed with Hunter's work, and each new piece I see that he has composed I find shows a new level of maturity and conceptualization. This one in particular was quite spectacular and I think has tremendous potential to be one of his best works. Here is a short excerpt... Hunter will be posting a YouTube link soon. It's worth noting that there are no pre-recorded sounds in this piece, everything is generated in real-time.

Catherine Havasi: Digital Intuition through Natural Language Processing

2011-02-22T15:45:00.003-07:00

ConceptNet Map describing
relationships between concepts

20110221

As my faithful readers will know, I have recently become very interested in data processing. This season's ATLAS lecture series has been excellent so far, and I couldn't pass this one up. Catherine Havasi conducts research at the MIT Media Lab in the field of Natural Language Processing or NLP. This is the field that is defining the way we use computers to analyze data, specifically in the linguistic realm. For the past 12 years, she has been working on a research project, Open Mind Common Sense, which shifts the focus towards Natural Language Understanding. Using assumptions about how things work and the connections between objects and concepts, conclusions can be made about very large data sets. She presents these conclusions in a three dimensional vector space known as AnalogySpace (built in Processing) and a database known as ConceptNet.

AnalogySpace

A few common themes of the year have been emerging in this lecture series. For one, analysis of linguistic principles has become more and more prominent. This makes sense as the majority of our programming experiences and interactions rely on concepts like NLP and the simple idea that coding requires grammar and syntax. Rules of language apply here just as much, if not more so than in 'real world' interactions.

The other theme I have been noticing more and more of is the use of video games to conduct research. Ian Bogost's lecture on Art and the Constraints of Programming utilized video game platforms to examine their limitations and place within art and society. Catherine uses video games themselves to collect data and have it analyzed by real human beings. The project does this in half a dozen languages and processes in about 150 different dimensions.

Cat vs. Dog vs. Airplane

The program that is the 'face' of her research is called AnalogySpace. This program analyzes shifts in language relationships (along up to 150 dimensions including time) that occur on the internet through sources such as Twitter, blogs, and other sources of internet conversation. The program then takes each vector, which describes an object, idea, or concept and compares it with another. For example Cat vs. Dog or Cat vs. Airplane, or the big picture: Dog vs. Cat vs. Airplane. The features which describe the object and the relationships it can make define its vector. Simple (if you understand it) vector addition gives a final representation of the comparison in question. Remember, this goes up to 150 dimensions... so displaying this information in a 3D space (which is actually 2D on a computer screen) is difficult, if not impossible.

The best example she gave is presented here. Along the y-axis is Good vs. Bad, along the x-axis is the feasibility of each action occurring. Examine the picture for a while, and you will see some amusing relationships, as well as begin to understand how AnalogySpace works. For example, "know everything" or "die in war". The goal of all this research is to build a system, based on human input, to make sense of everyday life.

Good/Bad (y-axis) vs. Impossible/Possible (x-axis)

The dataset relationships are merely representations of life, but they provide key sociological and cultural insight into what is happening in the world. NLP has been in use by companies like Google and Yahoo for years, analyzing the way we use language to find information on the internet. However, projects like these are designed to evolve the system beyond processing into understanding. In other words, Catherine is developing the search engine of the future. What it will look like, I cannot say, but for it to be successful, computers must understand the ever changing way in which humans communicate.

"The goal is to find the signal in the noise."

Upcoming Events!!

2011-02-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

There's lots of cool things happening in the Black Box in the next few weeks or so... be sure to get your free tickets, a lot of these will reserve fast. However, if they do get a full list, still put your name on the waiting list. Most of time, people on the waiting list still get in. Do this especially for the blOrk show, because I'm performing a piece I wrote!

Pendulum New Music Series
Wednesday, Feb 23. at 7:30 pm
This installation of Pendulum includes these world premiers:
Kari Kraakevik - Canyons Leading Home: Los Angeles to Lost Angel (2010)
Keane Southard - Two Symmetries for Disklavier (2010)
Cole Ingraham - Chaos Geometry (2010)
Leanna Kirchoff - The House Explodes
Hunter Ewen - Invasion of the Monkey Mind (2010)

Also featuring "Open Score," an audience-participation piece with Paul Miller and Jeff Nytch.

I've heard most of this program already in rehearsal, and it's going to be one heck of a Pendulum. Reserve tickets here.

Boulder Laptop Orchestra
Friday and Saturday Feb. 25/26, 7:30 pm
For this Spring's blOrk concert, I will be performing my piece "Tuning Up" about the ridiculous notion of tuning a laptop orchestra. I've added some more ideas and had more time to rehearse than last time, so I'm excited to show this piece again. So make sure you come and get your tickets early!

Tim Eriksen solo acoustic set folllowed by Batteries Die Media Ensemble with Michael Theodore - Tickets will go for this show so reserve em!
Saturday, March 5, 8:00 pm
Tim will do some acoustic playing, and then we go electric, reuniting some the "What I Saw At the Apocalypse" folks (Michael Theodore on guitar, Curtis Broome, Sam Gathman), and a bunch of special guests, including Janet Feder, Mark McCoin, Lina Bahn, Glen Whitehead, Cole Ingraham, Ryan Wurst, and others tba. One show only!

Ian Bogost: The Material Constraints of Art and Programming

2011-02-17T20:36:00.001-07:00

Double Plus Good... I was planning on attending this lecture, and then was asked to work the event. Score. I got to get paid to go, and had a few extra moments to speak with Ian. Not only that, it was amazing.

Ian Bogost at ATL&S' Black Box Theater

Ian Bogost is a media philosopher and designer who focuses particularly on video games. He is a professor at Georgia Tech and accomplished author. This afternoon Ian gave an excellent presentation about the evolution of not only video game media, but also some of the theory behind material constraints. For example, he programs for an Atari system, but is limited not only by the amount of RAM he can use, but also the number of addressable sprites and objects is 'limited'. These boundaries, Ian poses, help to define the creativity that goes into the utilization of these types of tools. This goes for older systems like Atari, or even newer platforms like like the XBox360 or PS3.

First of all, I was so glad to see someone who knew how to use PowerPoint effectively. Ian's presentation was fluid and his slides complemented what he was saying rather than repeating it. Right out of the gates, he was technical and concise, something I truly appreciate in lectures (assuming I understand the subject matter). When his first few sentences assumed that the audience knew what bits were and how they could be addressed, I knew this would be interesting.

Ian, showing a system that
instead of storing data on the
cartridge, the cartridge changes
the position of several DIP
switches, making the changes
on the platform.

Ian presents that a problem in our approach to analysis in video games and other media is that we forget to look at computation. This is the crucial element that defines the way any sort of technology can be utilized. In other words, this is the component that gives programming its limitations... the limitations which define the scope of art that can be created. The goal is to push the boundary where the creativity of the artist and constraints of technology meet.

An important chunk of his lecture was about the use of materials. I like that instead of talking about even remotely digital technology, he reverted to what we now take to be commonplace technologies such as bookbinding and photography. Furthermore, he explained a few things about lens flare, and ISO (again in nonchalant technical verse) that I didn't understand before. I've already started applying this knowledge to my photographs... check out this nighttime exposure I took tonight with the two different ISO settings. I won't go into detail of the science behind the difference, because I'm still new to the topic, but I'm sure the internet knows...

Low ISO (600) 2" exposure

High ISO (~4500) 2" exposure

Finally, Ian talks about the 'materials' of computers. He breaks down the different levels of programming that can be examined. Mainly he studies by platform, examining the different systems which can have games programmed one them. Pong, for example was only one game within itself, so it had no repeat customers... once you had Pong, there was nowhere to go from there.

PONG

So platforms evolved to accept different forms of media or 'cartridges' in the case of the Atari. The technical limitations of the Atari system defined the look and feel of these early video games, and ultimately pushing this boundary was a method of creating art.

Ian's memorable quips include "consumerism vs. cartridgism", "Material constraint or aesthetic?", "Make materials as effective as their messages."

Let's make some hip-hop... why not?

2011-02-10T22:38:00.001-07:00

So my friends Mike and Morgan have been making some hip-hop songs at their cabin up in the mountains. This inspired me to mix some lyrics to a couple of my songs. The first is a combo of Five25 (an acoustic song of mine) with Method Man and Redman. The second (after the break) is an old Latchkey Kids song spliced up with ODB lyrics.

These aren't the most kosher lyrics in the world, so if you offend easily, just don't listen.

OGcheebacheeba (feat. Method Man and Redman)

OGcheebacheeba (feat. Method Man and Redman) by iEEEj

Tragic Flaw (feat. O.D.B.)

Tragic Flaw (feat. O.D.B.) by iEEEj

Oh, and I've got lots of other different kinds of tracks here on Soundcloud.

World premier iEEEj video right here...

2011-02-07T03:26:00.000-07:00

Having ProTools on my own computer really changes things for me. I've been able to edit samples I've brought in from my turntable with a deadly efficiency. And, I finally got around to making a recording that I like, of this song that never really had a name. Adam called it Zelda Come Home once... I'm calling it Five25 right now until someone thinks of something better. I also took this opportunity to stitch some jitter stuff together to make the world premier iEEEj (my DJ/musician/electronerd handle) music video. If you want to download the song or just listen to it without the video, click the link after the break.

5.25.11.02.0506 by iEEEj

Video from back in high school... The Chase Sequence!

2011-02-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a video from back in high school of a chase sequence we did. Funny story, we did two days of filming, and forgot the box on the second day... so had to come back and film a quick shot of Alex throwing it away... Still looking for our Maxwell's Silver Hammer music video, crossing my fingers.

Jon Swihart, Alex Mencer, Madden Swan, and myself.