Matt Davignon Remix Album

This is a quick update to spread the word about yesterday's release of Matt Davignon’s anniversary remix album celebrating 10 years of his unique approach to drum machines to which I had the privilege of contributing a track.

Meta-trombone on iOS

When I was invited to perform at IMOOfest 2014 as part of the IMOO Chamber Orchestra (featuring Jean Derome and Joane Hétu), festival organizer Craig Pedersen asked me to keep my electronic setup as simple as possible.

There were two considerations that guided the redesign of my meta-trombone. First, I wanted a lighter rig that could be quickly deployed on stage. Second, I had to make changes to adapt from solo performance to ensemble playing.

Lighter is better

I’ve already given details on all the hardware and software that I have been using to date to create the meta-trombone. If there is one problem with this rig, it is the weight of my Gator case (laptop + 2U), While I certainly like its sturdy construction, hauling it through the Paris subway last summer made me question its necessity. It certainly annuls one of the advantages of making music with a computer: not having to carry heavy gear all over the place.

The model I chose to adopt was that of the guitar player: I wanted my rig to consist of a small pedalboard, my instrument and an amplifier. I think this meets IMOOfest’s simplicity requirement as I know other performers will have a similar setup. It will also allow me to play in venues that don’t have their own PA, such as art galleries and house concerts.

Starting with the end of the signal chain, I began to research amplifiers, I quickly excluded guitar amps, since they’re an extension of the electric guitar and add too much tone coloration to the signal to be of any use to me. I briefly considered buying a keyboard amplifier, but ultimately I decided to buy an Electro Voice ZLX powered loudspeaker. The ZLX is inexpensive, sounds decent and is quite versatile. It can output up to 126db, which can easily match the acoustic sound of the trombone. I bought a single speaker for the IMOO gig, but I think I’ll get a second one for solo work to abuse the stereo field.

Moving to the pedalboard, I decided to port my Bidule patch to Pure Data so that I could run it on my spare iPhone 5. I’ve been playing with libpd since it was rolled out, but instead of coding my own iOS application, I went for the simplicity and ease of use that MobMuPlat offers. I quickly created an interface in the MobMuPlat editor and I had a Pure Data patch running on my iPhone in no time (look below for further details on the patch).

The biggest hurdle to making music with the iPhone is that you need to get audio and MIDI through the iPhone’s unique connector. Apogee’s Duet provides an elegant solution as it offers an audio interface (2 inputs / 4 outputs) with a USB MIDI connector. I connected my KMI 12 Step to it without any issue. I’m also using a Yamaha FC-7 expression pedal that connects to the 12 Step expression port. Audio input is through my trusty Audio-Technica ATM350 Cardioid Condenser Clip-On Microphone. All the gear fits on a Pedaltrain 2, which came with a nice carry bag.

(notice extra room for future iPad expansion or stomp boxes)

Working with iOS

Aside from the previously mentioned MobMuPlat, I’m making use of several other apps as well.  First, for pitch to midi conversion, I’m using MIDImorphosis.  There are other apps that provide this functionality on iOS, however this is the only one that has Audiobus support and that made the difference in the end, since it’s the only I’ve found of splitting a audio channel to two different apps. I’m also using Audiobus to route the output of MobMuPlat to Moog’s Filtatron.  Filtatron is a great sounding app that combines an analogue-modelled filter with modulation, a warm distortion and a delay with feedback and modulation.  There’s also an oscillator and a sample player/looper but I haven’t needed those yet.

Below is what the routing looks like in Audiobus:

This is the interface to my Pure Data patch in MobMuplat:

I have a second iPhone 5 strapped to my trombone that can send MIDI control signals over bluetooth (using the excellent Apollo MIDI over Bluetooth app from secret base design).  I created the following interface in Lemur to control Filtatron and send midi notes to my Pure Data patch:

The patch I create in Pure Data is essentially a looping sampler.  Once a phrase is recorded, it can be played back a different rates. When the LOOP toggle is on, the notes sent to the sampler will be held and the sample will loop at the playback rate that corresponds to the given note.  Up to four notes can be held at one time (with voice stealing). 

Additionally, the trombone performance can be analyzed with MIDImorphosis to convert the audio to MIDI notes. These notes can be used with the sampler in one of two modes.  The first is the “Sampler” mode in which the playback rate is fixed at a value determined by an adjustable pitch shift value. The MIDI notes triggered by the trombone will select the starting position within the sample in such a way that a given pitch class will always trigger playback from one of twelve divisions within the sample. The “Synth” mode will trigger playback from the beginning of the sample at a playback rate corresponding to the actual note played on trombone.

Future development

This setup served me well in performance and I’m not looking back. I believe that all future development of the meta-trombone will take on this platform. The next logical step would be to add a looper to this setup. I already have a nice hardware looper I could throw in, but I’ve had a lot of fun playing with a Pd patch created by  Marco Baumgartner called ALFALOOP, which is a well designed delay-based looper that has all the features I need to build from.

TANTRUM!

In 1951 John Cage composed a piece for twelve radios titled Imaginary Landscape No. 4. This piece is a continuation of Cage's thinking from his manifesto The Future of Music: Credo in which the composer defined music as 'organized sounds' and constitutes an early use of sampling in music. However, Cage had another motivation for writing this piece: adjusting to the reality of radios in his environment. 

"Well, you know how I adjusted to that problem of the radio in the environment. Primitive people adjusted to the animals which frightened them, they drew pictures of them on their caves. And so I simply made a piece using radios. Now, whenever I hear radios, even a single one, not just twelve at a time, I think well, they're just playing my piece. [..] and I listen to it with pleasure. By pleasure, I mean, I notice what happens – I can attend to it, and become interested in the… well, what it actually is that you're interested in, is what superimposed what, what happens at the same time, together with what happens before and what happens after. Formerly, when I would go into any friends' home, out of deference, you know, to my tastes, seeing me coming they simply turned off any radio, or even a disc that was playing. Now they no longer do it, they know that I think that I composed all those things." 

John Cage from John Cage and Morton Feldman In Conversation, 1967

By composing music for radios, Cage was able to listen with interest to something he had previously found disagreeable. I've already had similar experiences by utilizing augmented reality musical apps to transform elevators full of chatting public servants or doing the dishes into new and interesting sonic experiences. In this regard, I'm already familiar with the idea and quite happy with the results. 

I've decided to take this idea and compose a new piece to help me adjust to my evolving environment. 

Hello 6502 Assembly

After many false starts (since age 12), I've finally managed to compile and run a machine language program on my Commodore 64. The code below is in ACME assembly language and displays the "Hello World!" in the middle of the screen. Nothing ground breaking, but it's a required first step to verify that I have all my tools setup and working.


Anyone looking to cross-develop for the Commodore 64 on OS X should have a look at Dust. Now, let's see if I can make this thing beep...

2013 World Tour

I haven’t had a chance to say very much on the subject of last year's world tour. My first concert was in Toronto in March. I performed at Synesthesia II at the invitation of the organizers, FAWN Opera. There were many amazing performers that night and I was quite impressed with Sarah Gates’ inspiring performance on saxophone. Video of that concert has surfaced, but the stereo separation was not captured by the video camera, so the sound is not representative of what the audience heard.

Syn 3 - Meta-Trombone from FAWN Opera & New Music on Vimeo.

This was not my best performance, unfortunately. The venue was interesting and delivered lots of ambiance; however, it did not provide a very large stage. Somehow, from the time I setup my equipment to when I made ready to play, my gear got tangled with other performer’s equipment and my headphones were damaged to the point that I was unable to use them. Luckily, the organizers were able to quickly get everything in readiness and I was able to perform the Canadian premiere of my meta-trombone.

In May, I travelled to New York City and had the opportunity to perform at Brooklyn’s Goodbye Blue Monday. This was the first time I performed my meta-trombone in a general setting where listener’s expectation were not biased towards the unusual. Unfortunately, there weren’t that many people at the bar that night and I performed mostly to a group of my friends. I had also been invited to play at ABC No Rio that same week; however that concert was cancelled due to other commitments by the organizers.

In July, I travelled to Paris to perform at the first edition of the Paris Loop Jubilee. This event was masterfully orchestrated by Emmanuel Reveneau and everything about this festival was superbly executed: the artist had free lodging a short metro ride from the venue; the venue was unusual and inspiring; the artist were provided with daily meals that were both copious and healthy; and all technical needs of the performances were met.

Above all, the lineup that Emmanuel brought together for his festival was eclectic and masterful. Not only did I have the opportunity to hear and hangout with old friends such as Rick Walker, Laurie Amat, Luca Formentini and Emmanuel Reveneau, but I also discovered some new performers worthy of a global following.

Luca and Rick getting ready to play in one of the three "voûtes" artists have taken over under the Tolbiac street bridge in the 13th.

I was fairly emotional during my performance, since only a few hours before my set, my wife showed up unannounced to surprise me! We spent a couple days together in Paris before I met up with my fellow travellers en route to Cologne.





The Cologne festival was organized by Michael Peters whom I have known for years through the geographical defiance of the internet, but met for the first in Paris, where he also performed at the Paris Loop Jubilee with Stefan Tiedje.

Michael Peters, Laurie Amat, Emmanuel Reveneau and Rick Walker standing in front of the yellow van that took us from Paris to Cologne.

Michael's backyard

Around town, neat Michael's house

Michael hosted Rick, Emmanuel, Laurie and I at his house near Cologne. Luckily, I had a day off before the concert to unwind and to appreciate the German countryside. I spent most of it reading and walking around the small town near Michael’s house. The next day we went to Cologne early to setup our equipment and to meet the other performers.

Emmanuel, Laurie, Steve Moyes and Amy X. Neuburg getting ready to play.

Cellist Steve Moyes making some last minutes preparations.

Laurie's rig.

Amy's rig.

Rick Walker's fun house.

Michael arranged a wonderful mix of German and international performers to play at his one-day event. We all shared the lofty stage at the Alte Feuerwache and we setup our equipment well in advance of the performances with the brilliant assistance of two highly competent technicians. As a solo performer, this was my most satisfying performance in technically ideal conditions with a large and receptive audience.

After all that travelling, I intend to spend more time at home this year. I’m reorganizing my basement studio to help me create three albums I’ve sketched out. The first will document my meta-trombone in a studio setting, the second will explore the sound of the Commodore 64’s iconic sound chip with musique concrète manipulations and the third will pursue some ideas developed as contributions to the Disquiet Junto. Finally, I will also have the privilege to contribute a track to Matt Davignon’s anniversary remix album celebrating 10 years of his unique approach to drum machines.

New comic book story

I’m finishing up my two-page contribution to Éditions Trip’s upcoming release of Trip #8. As you can see from the page below, it is about an astronaut floating out of control in space. This short piece is the prologue for a longer work I have outlined and it sets the ontological basis for magic in that graphic novel’s universe (more on this as it develops).
An obvious inspiration for the astronaut drawings was NASA’s photographs of the first American spacewalk.
The word captions were removed for this posting to provide further incentive to buy Trip #8 when it comes out in March.

I would like to thank Éditions TRIP for the opportunity to participate once again in one of their publications as it provided the necessary impetus to start this project.

OSCNotation 3.0

Version 3.0 of OSCNotation has just been released on the Apple App Store.

I started working on this update in December when composer Nicolas Fells contacted me about including iPad support to OSCNotation for a piece he was working on. The appeal of working with the iPad is that OSCNotation can be used to display multiple staves on the same screen.  Musicians can all read from the same device and see how their parts interact with those of their colleagues. This is probably the single most requested feature and I had some spare time I decided to dedicate to this task.



The user guide has been updated to reflect all changes.

What I find most rewarding about my work in music technology is hearing the music to which my software contributes. Below is a concert from early 2013 featuring Dan Tepfer and Lee Konitz.  Dan is using OSCNotation to send musical notation to the Harlem String Quartet from his midi keyboard. How cool is that?

My Commodore 64

Lately, I've been obsessed with the Commodore 64.  It all started when I read a fantastic little book that discussed a one line program from a variety of different angles.  After spending a couple hours with emulators running on my MacBook, I wanted to get my hands on the real thing.

My first computer was a Commodore 64.  I remember vividly the happiness I felt that night in December when my father came home with all those boxes.  He laid everything on the floor and we spent hours putting everything together.  All the manuals and documentation were in English and at that age (eight), I had yet to master the language.  This is probably the greatest gift I ever received from anyone.  Not only was the Commodore 64 a fun game system, it was my first introduction to computer programming.  I spent a lot of time deciphering the codes in the manuals and I made little games in BASIC.  Unfortunately, I never figured out how to save anything, so I had to input the code every time I wanted to play one of my games (again, the manuals were in a "foreign" language).

All this reminiscence eventually lead me to acquire two systems.  The first is an early model breadbin C64, just like the one I had as a kid.  I made some modifications to it:

• I added an SD card reader to replace the bulky disk drive; 
• I added some buttons to control the SD card reader; 
• I installed JiffyDOS with a Kernel selector switch;
• and I installed heat-sinks on most integrated circuits.  

I will use this unit to play games and to create my own programs.

Programming the C64 may seem like an odd idea (or a waste of time), but the 6502 CPU on which the C64's CPU is based is still being manufactured and seeing lots of use in certain applications.  Learning program in 6502 machine language may be a very worthwhile endeavour…  these chips are a lot cheaper then the micro-controller development boards available these days and, in some sense, a lot more powerful.

Also, the Commodore Basic language was ported to OS X, Windows and Linux as a powerful scripting language.  As such, it is an interesting alternative to other scripting languages and a nice way of recycling my old chops.

I also acquired a mint condition C64G.  This is a beautiful unit with a C64C motherboard in a creamy-white breadbin case.  I got this one specifically for musical purposes and I modified it in the following way:

• I added a 1/4" audio output; 
• I grounded the audio input to reduce noise; 
• I installed an LCD screen;
• I installed a power plug for the LCD screen;
• I installed heat-sinks on most integrated circuits.

This C64 will live on a pedal board next various guitar pedals. I'll use MSSIAH's mono-synth program as a sound source to be modified by the guitar pedals.  For controller, I'll use my previously mentioned homemade midi guitar controller.  I'm also using a Raspberry Pi running Pure Data to process the midi signals from the guitar controller to the C64.  Here's the signal path I'm considering at this time: