Sidrassi-Tom v3 Finished
So I’ve been working with what I call the Sidrassi-Tom for just over two years now. It’s gone through several revisions over the years including how the electronics/contactmics are setup, to switching a new drum, to most recently incorporating a whole new circuit and speakers.
Here is the dedicated page with info/pictures/video on the current (and older version of the Sidrassi-Tom).
I ran into several snags along the way, but in the end I’m very happy with the build.
Towards the Beat of a Different Drummer: A Journey into the Loss of Fidelity in Drums and Electronics
I wrote a paper on my evolving drum+electronics setup entitled “Towards the Beat of a Different Drummer : A Journey into the Loss of Fidelity in Drums and Electronics”. It was accepted in the end, but as a poster length paper, meaning that I had to cut the eight page paper down to four pages. There were lots of pictures/diagrams so after removing that and trimming some footnotes, I only needed to cut out a paragraph or two to make it fit.
Here is the full length paper version of the paper:
The published version, as mentioned, is a bit shorter and is available as part of the ICMC2011 published proceedings.
STEIM Workshop
I recently spent a week and a half at STEIM and it was amazing. This is the blog I posted for their project blog.
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I’ve known about STEIM, in one way or another, for almost 10 years now. While living in Miami (currently in the UK), it existed as a faraway place where amazing, almost magical, things happened.
After moving to the UK I always had, in the back of my head, a thought that I would go and see it in person. After starting my MA (in Electroacoustic Composition at the University of Manchester) I decided to apply for an orientation workshop.
Now backing it up a bit. Zoom and enhance. Zoom and enhance.
The Party Bus Finished
Finally finished building this little box. It’s a Where’s The Party At 8-bit Bendable Sampler and a buffered 4 to 1 mixer, all in one. It took months to finish, mainly due to problems discovered during my poorly functioning first build. I had to solve clock bleed, a noisy mixer, and other tasty details.
Electric Whisks Finished
Finally finished another new instrument. This one isn’t a self-standing ‘instrument’ per se, but more an instrument to play other instruments with.
It’s basically a regular whisk, just made from scratch so that every prong of the whisk is isolated, and connected to an alligator clip on the other end of the cable, so that I can make connections by striking surfaces, or touching the whisks together, or grabbing them with my hands etc…
They are particularly useful with my Ciat-Lonbarde Kitten-Nettiks, but they can be used with any electronic device that can be driven by making/braking connections (nearly everything).
For more pictures and detailed info click here.
Sidrassi-Tom Finished
After over a month of planning, and building I finished this new instrument. What this does is let me play the Sidrassi from my floor-tom, by mounting four piezo pickups inside the tom itself. I’ve already used the Sidrassi as part of my drum setup in a recording context, this only makes it easier to do live. The first performance with the Sidrassi-Tom will likely be in May, at my next solo gig.
For more pictures and detailed info click here.
PA Tremblay Recording Session
After sharing a stage with PA in December, and being invited to speak at the GEM Days festival in Huddersfield, we booked some studio time at Huddersfield University.
I took my ‘drumset’ setup, which as you can see by the pictures is hardly a drumset at all. PA used his 6-string fretless bass + laptop setup which I saw him perform with originally. We improvised for just under two hours and seemed to cover everything from subtle, texture-scapes, to blasts of lo-fi meets hi-fi noise, to stuttering glitch/sludge hip-hop. I look forward to hearing it back, and seeing what will become of it. Continue reading »
Speaking At GEM Days Festival
I was invited to speak at the Max/MSP symposium by PA Tremblay after sharing a stage with him in December. I did a power-point presentation on my “lo-fi meets hi-fi” setup of Ciat-Lonbarde electronics (Rollz-5 and Cocolase specifically) and Max/MSP.
It was my first time doing a PowerPoint presentation, and all in all I felt it went extremely well.
“The Ocean’s Like Right There” Recording Session
More ‘Two Point Owe’ recording with “The Ocean’s Like Right There”. Another duo with Serg but this time we are on Namasitar and Banjo. Nearly through with the ‘acoustic’ half of the CD. Continue reading »
SOUND Festival Performance
Just got back from performing in Aberdeen as part of the SOUND festival. Did a solo set with Angela doing live painting, and Serg joining in on a couple of pieces, including a great performance of “The Oceans Like Right There” from an upcoming CD. Continue reading »
In The Studio With Takahashi’s Shellfish Concern
With Serg moving back soon, and a recent performance firing us up, we decided to do a studio session. We setup all the usual mics/equipment, and five video cameras and let it roll.
Expect a CD/DVD , currently titled “The Sans of Gilbert”, sometime in early 2009. Continue reading »
Got My Radio Zither!!
So what is it?
This is what Peter Blasser, the designer/builder has to say:
“RadioZither is wireless technology, in marriage with a fine wooden casket carved from Baltimore City logs. Modeled after the pan-Asian tradition of plank zithers (guqin, gayageum, koto), its form reflects upon ancient heritages. Its function is to transcend traditions through radio, to inspire global thinking physically as well as ethereally. This instrument sonifies plucks as well as movements between plucks, it is played / meta-played.” Continue reading »
Rodrigo Constanzo : Live at Fuel
I got a last minute message from Blank Media about doing a solo gig for them. I accepted and planned my set. With Serg having recently come to stay with us I decided to include him, and premiere one of the tunes from ‘Two Point Owe’, “The Oceans Like Right There”. This was also my first performance using the Namasitar.
I bookended this piece with free improv on the Specto and guitar pedals.