Debut Performance notes

We performed Terry Riley's "In C" on Friday, with some success. Not only was this our live debut, it was also the first time we ever actually played together as a group. The patch is written in PureData and is available for anyone who wants to work with it. Some issues came up that can be heard in the recording; managing the "pulse" of the piece with various effects caused some difficulty finding the right rhythms, but in the end the looseness of the performance didn't ruin the integrity of the overall sound. Some things we are going to try if and when we perform this piece again will be to run the pulse on a different audio signal, bypassing effects. Also the patch uses a numbering system that differs from the original score, which was only made this way out of convenience. If we continue to edit the software, we will work on a better form of visual organization. The recording was made with a Tascam 464 4-track tape recorder, with both direct inputs from the laptops and mic inputs from the room. The tape built up some friction toward the end of the performance, so the recording ends early and there is audible wow and flutter during the last few minutes of the tape.

The recording can be heard here.

Musicians:
Jackson Graham - Xylophone
Chris Mackie - Laptop and effects pedals
A. P. Vague - Laptop and digital xylophone effects
Hugo Zelada - Laptop and effects pedals

The schedule for the evening worked out for us to have some extra time, so Hugo performed an impromptu solo piece, which was also recorded to 4-track tape. That recording can be heard here.

Performance at Shift Space

We will be performing a software-based version of Terry Riley's "In C" at WSU Shift Space on April 21st, 2017. We are currently refining a PureData patch for the piece, and finalized versions will be made publicly available soon.

WSUSE Waveform Bank project and getting things started

My vision for this group is for it to remain open to anyone who is interested and dedicated to contributing under the general mission statement of creating and presenting high-quality computer music (broadly defined). Members with all levels of expertise are welcome, and may contribute in whatever fashion suits their skillset. For instance someone who studies theory and composition may develop scores and strategies for performance, even without any experience with software. Likewise members with no experience in music may offer programming, sound support, or video and multimedia ideas. If anyone is interested in participating, please send me a message or email and I will add you to the list of administrators on the blog as well as an email group. This ensemble is intended for WSU students and faculty, but others may participate if appropriate. I also only chose Blogger because it easily allows for multiple administrators. We can move the group to a different type of webspace once we get off the ground.

The first project that I have started for WSUSE is a bank of custom waveforms that can be implemented in digital compositions. Everything is built in Pd and is intended to be an open-ended collaborative project.

The first issue I ran into concerns how best to share Pd patches with the group. I uploaded a folder to archive.org that contains the waveforms and readme file, but archive.org isn't the most convenient platform for sharing odd collection of files. We could still set up a WSUSE account with archive.org for sharing audio recordings, which they do well and there aren't many limitation on what kind and how much audio you can upload.

If anyone has suggestions please share your ideas. We could create a Dropbox or use Google Drive, or potentially Github if that proves useful.

I'd like to meet periodically in person to discuss the direction of the group and share patches with each other. On campus seems like a good place to start, but we can discuss meeting anywhere that works for everyone--we could even meet at Kirby's if everyone who wants to come is over 21 and is ok with going to bars.

Thanks to everyone who has already expressed interest. Until soon,
~A
apvague@gmail.com

Under construction.

In the meantime please direct inquiries to apvague@gmail.com