Over the past two years, I’ve become more and more interested in audio as a medium. I’ve always been interested in synaesthesia, the combination of multiple sensory inputs, and reflected this in my video and VJ works.
In addition, I’ve built a number of electronic musical instruments, that have seen some acceptance in live performances!
Rhythmic Synth (osci)
This simple instrument is built into a salvaged CD-ROM drive case, and contains 4 tunable sound generators that can be modulated at different intervals. It can construct surprisingly elaborate rhythmic patterns – and all this without any kind of microprocessor or computation.
Osci - the Rhythmic Synth
My friend Nancy Garica has used Osci extensively in concert, including performances with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Here’s a video of a performance at New York’s Knitting Factory:
Weather Radio
Using a simple polyphonic synthesis circuit I developed, I made a device that fetches weather data for a selected city from the Internet and turns it into a simple tune. I worked with Lesley Flanigan on this project.
Weather Radio
Mutation Synth
This instrument incorporates my polyphonic synthesis circuit, and uses it to play the resutls of a genetic algorithm that produces simple tunes. Rather than being “performed”, the instrument is “guided” by turning knobs that adjust the parameters of the algorithm. At any point, the current state of the mutation can be saved or restored.
Mutation Synth