NIME

Title: 

EMIN – Pilgrimage 

Project Description

The Final NIME Project envisioned by Bruce and me revolves around exploring visual art, movement, and music composition in an avant-garde manner. From one aspect of music composition, we intermingled contemporary forms of spacial music with religious music representing more ancient form of music composition. This connection between the two highlights two factors of our composition: the dynamic nature of time and its relation with musical expression as well as the experimentation with integrating the old with the new.

From focusing on time with religion, contemporary and ancient, the idea of pilgrimage arose which contributed to the musical atmosphere of sacred, mysterious, mesmerizing, and barrier associated with pilgrimage. Our project would then have to contain more hypnotic movements to create this type of pilgrimage mood. This would be incorporated in some aspects of the visual components to be more consistent rather than impromptu. Of course, this type of concept of pilgrimage would also affect the technical aesthetic of stage presence where I would create short circuits to resemble chains that contributed to religious commitment and captivity that pilgrimage also encapsulates. 

The inspiration for this project in the musical aspect has many odes to Steve Reich’s additive minimalism as well as Radigue’s simplistic minimalism in which sound modulates. This modulation is a reference to time modulation that was a very abstract concept of our piece. Moreover, there was also external sources of inspiration that Bruce and I each had where my inspiration was more from Hans Zimmer’s Cornfield Chase which is strictly additive and flowing in composition but always returns to fragments of the beginning which was the presentation of time that we wanted to express as something that moves without reference to direction. The inspiration for the visuals of soft circuits was my communications lab photography project where I utilized strings to represent the bondage and captivity of the individual which fit really well with the pilgrimage concept. As for the table installation, I was inspired by Marcel DuChamp’s Dadaism with the ready mades and wanted to innovate the expression of Dadaism for visual captivation from the audience. Combining these two, it becomes more of a contemporary installation in which the captive (me) playing the instrument (soft circuit and knob) shows this pilgrimage practice. 

Perspective and Context

For this project’s connections to the NIME landscape, there are allusions to Tanaka with the visual and sound connection and sound development with Radigue and Reich. With reference to Tanaka, his artistic and stylistic relationship of instrument and stage presence was realized in our project. With his theory of “the balance between logical and intuition”, Bruce and I first devised the relationship of our instrument to have a natural manner to be played to contribute to part of the composition in which my soft circuit chains was essentially used as the object of logical intuition. While the movements for playing the instruments was more natural and repetitive, it was this natural usage of the instrument that contributed to the instrument as logical to the audience to represent this connection. This sort of relationship was designed through experimenting with angles and arm range to show this balance.

Furthermore with reference to Reich, we built upon his compositional relationship of additive noise in which we developed a systematic progression of noise that would be added throughout the composition and subtracted. This would create the crescendo dynamics of our composition that led to the climax before subtracting it for the interpolation part of our composition. This linear progression then mixes in non-linear progression where the composition shows the discontinuity and fluidity of time. When the interpolation part occurs, there is the absence of the linear progression which focuses the audiences perspective on the keyboard tones as well as create the space for examining time physically for them. This interpolation would cause the presence of time to be more “present” within the performance itself as the suddenness of non-linear progression (or regression) instills this idea to the audience. 

Throughout the piece, we also refer to Radigue with the consistency of a harmonic undertone to contribute to the piece as a whole. In particular, we referred to the theory of “a state of uncertainty, of being and not being” for the harmonic undertone where it would appear present throughout the piece but at points in the piece it would become hidden under other musical components of the piece. With a harmonic undertone that establishes a consistent presence but fades, the state of uncertainty is established as the notion of existence is felt, but not always presence. Hence, our piece was able to create that type of mood with this. 

Development & Technical Implementation

For the development of the project, the analog components were attempted with the PCB at first, but the connection felt unstable within the PCB hence the breadboard was used as a more reliable source. Bruce contributed more to the circuit process of developing the project in which he created three circuits that could be used to hear different results although we only used two circuits. Our project was originally imagined to be a clock type of installation, but due to the high quality of the table, modifications couldn’t be made easily hence we utilized the ready-made aspect of the table and folded it to create an object of visual interest to the audience. In this sense, our installation wouldn’t need all the circuits that we initially proposed but could just utilize 2-3 circuits which would allow for easier playing of the instrument as well as easier development in the sense that the quality of the circuit installations could be preserved. Thus we would utilize these circuits to create something that was both visually appealing and informative to the concept of our project. This would turn out to be the soft circuit and the lever. 

For the soft circuit, I focused on the videos that were learned in class and sought to advance this to create the chains that were crucial to the bondage state of pilgrimage in our piece. I tried various types of wires for building the piece and many types of conductive wires weren’t good enough for controlling the signal input to Max8. Despite such, it was still utilized in a manner that contributed more to the harmony generation of the piece. As for the lever, it was developed to be more aesthetic by utilizing fabrication processes. 

As for Max8, a lot of the initial patches were developed by Bruce where he found sources online, where I moreso focused on finding and adjusting effects for the MidiMix to control. This would further be refined by Bruce when he combined all patches together via b-patch and modified the numbers on the effect. Essentially as a whole, our composition had pitch division harmonics, keyboard, and religious choir sound recordings. Essentially, the work division between us for developing the project was electronic and instrument-Bruce, instrument and stage presence-Ken. For the development and specifics of each patch, this can be referred to in Bruce’s post. 

The end of Pilgrimage

As for the gist of the b-patch (there were 5 patches), the documentation can be seen here. 

For the independent patches:

1. Kslider (keyboard) 

This is for the keyboard interpolation.

Reference is Kparker830 with link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2LZdXUO_zo 

2. Harmony

This is a part of the harmony.

Reference David Farrell with link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXlBpC_DLC0 

3. Background 

This is background harmonics

Reference Eric Parren

4. Soft Circuit and Lever

5. Choir

This is the choir machine.

Reference David Cooper with link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYAwtRxZiAY&t=311s.

Documentation: Soft Circuit

For the soft circuits, it was just a repetitive process of completing the pieces over and over again before braiding them. 

Here are a couple photos. 

Essentially, alligator clips were used to connect the ends of the soft circuit where there were connections on various strips of thread of the main resistor which affected the signal variable for Max8.

Performance

For the performance, I felt that the atmosphere of Elevator fit really well with Pilgrimage and our concept of time. The atmosphere provided an essence of mysterious and hiddenness similar to a ritual which enforced our religious concept. This would contribute to the atmosphere of the piece and how its felt by the audience. Furthermore, with reference to the music system of Elevator, the crescendo and decrescendo interpolation difference was able to create that nonlinear mood that was wanted. This was successful in creating that spatial and time awareness for the audience. 

If I were to focus on the visual aspect of it, I felt that the concentration of the performance between Bruce and I was excellent and our focus lead to a consistency within the performance for stage presence via my movements and Bruce’s control of the sound. Having to focus during playing and not look back for visual cues was very difficult and hence that focus that we both had was super important. In this sense, the composition was presented in a holistic manner that was followed fluently by the audience. As for what could go better, I felt that there were small moments that there was a lack of correlation between my own movements and the Max8 patch that Bruce was controlling. Due to some prolonging of some phases of our composition, I would sometimes end the control of my instrument before Bruce ended the phase on Max. Luckily the difference wasn’t super clear, but it’s still something that could be improved. Moreover, I think that I could improve my movements to be more sacred or religious, but that would still need a lot of exploration as that may not appear logical (tanaka reference) for the composition. Nothing unexpected went on which was good as there was full control over most of the composition. 

Conclusion

All in all, I felt like I learned a lot of Max8 and soft circuit instrument fabrication. Firstly, I was familiar with soft circuit making before, but this music production helped me make a functional instrument that could alter the signal to manipulate the harmony. In addition, for Max8 I was making effects that would be altered from the soft circuit which would create the noise that Bruce and I both wanted. Furthermore, I felt that I learned how to integrate religious music and contemporary music with Bruce. We learned how to create that engaging stage presence so that there is visual focus for the listener. In addition, our development of composition also improved a lot for this piece and project. Before, our NIME performances didn’t integrate much of a mid part or climax that was very succinct. In addition, there was never interpolation in our class thus we improved this part of the composition process.

I think that we could improve more with the layout of our presentation. We were very much limited by the space of the stage in which I would be in the front while Bruce was in the back. I think that if we had more space we could be horizontally equal thus there would be more focus on Bruce as well. During the performance I was in front but my movements were very limited due to how close I was to him in the vertical direction. If we had independent space, I think the stage presence would be more equal in one sense. While it may put focus on Bruce who’s fully on Max8 duty, it would also provide him more space to interact with the music and be spotlighted in front of the audience. 

Honestly, I think that I would want to focus on improving my instrument. My instrument could only control some components, but to be very expressive and increase the possibilities, there should be more noise fluctuations, beats, and rhythm possible. In addition, I would want to focus more on Max 8. While I was working with the instrument and stage presence, I didn’t really work with patches too much other than creating the intended effect from basic patches that Bruce had set up through adjusting effects, frequency, metro and etc. 

Lastly, I just wanted to end with the statement that I (and probably Bruce) am very proud of the performance that we did and we felt like we did bring the pilgrimage atmosphere that we intended. I hope that this is a memory for all that listen, at least performing it was one unforgettable memory for me. 

Video：https://drive.google.com/file/d/1udpXd8UZvPCOTuJMY1dIPzwFShs7AYez/view?usp=sharing

For performance 10, there was an unprecedented issue with my Macbook where the battery was inflated and posed an extreme explosive hazard. This led to a lack of computer to complete Max where an IMA laptop was only borrowed on the day. Therefore for this performance, I moreso relied on Bruce to experiment with composition, helping him create samples for Max 8. 

Reflecting on our composition, we begin with a steady tone in which we build upon it with different human voices and instruments to create a religious type of atmosphere. This atmosphere is then supported by frequency echoes that emulate a type of uncertainty and mystery within the composition as a whole. The device is controlled with a potentiometer to change the frequencies while the audio to digital converter can change the feedback delay based on the level of input setting. This as a whole was rather holistic in composition as the intro, middle, and end was all presented in a standard manner in addition to the NIME being utilized with digital.

For the composition, it will be attached here. 

 

For Listening and Reading Response 10, the final focus that was introduced was regarding the aesthetic of failure that has become a focus in the digital music industry. Rather than exploring texturally stable compositions, the digital music revolution explores the unstable, the unplanned, and the unknown of music. From the glitches to the bugs to hacking CDs for creating skips, the exploration of digital music revolved around rebellion against classical music. When I first read all of that, I felt that it was actually very holistic concept about the development of music and art as a whole. Having studied some art history before, the approach of evolving art is to stray away from the standard. This approach of creating the unstable through embracing failure is also something I believe is normal as many art movements that have occurred are a reaction to the past aesthetics that aren’t liked. When I heard the music, I couldn’t help but think that the sounds are very static in nature and that the glitches weren’t really “glitches”. Due to the prevalence of implying glitches, the aesthetic of sound in this case becomes a sound of constant change rather than something that’s truly unplanned. Personally, I think that this style is very dull as the uniqueness of sound qualities just becomes messy without much purpose other than mimicking glitch sounds. Of course, when I listened to this and referred to the readings, I do see the connection between utilizing more fluctuating noises as an aesthetic of glitching, but I don’t find this truly aesthetic when it isn’t unique anymore. Furthermore, I feel that this could also be a reflection on my own work that I have created before where I would be improvising and using strong tones/sound sequences that would appear to busy in the composition. This would create a sort of deflection towards the music as I experienced with this piece that’s too busy. Also, from this final response, I found that I would prefer minimalism style more as it allows time and space for the listener to experience the sound rather than hear and forget everything that happened from the business. 

For Performance 9, I worked with Jiani, Bruce, and Alex, utilizing sensors and Max8. To minimize the busyness that was discussed in my last performance, I wanted to create a simple harmony that would complement the other parts of the performance from Alex, Bruce and Jiani. This would become the bass of the composition that was super low in frequency as it wouldn’t hinder the pitch qualities of the other performers. For Bruce, his sound was additive in nature in which he added tones that could be played in Max8 in a cycle. This would be built throughout on top of my established beat. As for Jiani and Alex, they served the middle tones where they didn’t pop out too much but not too little. This would allow for ample time for the progression of Bruce’s melody to be completed in the additive experience. 

For the composition overall, I think that there may be some inbalance or disharmony from Jiani’s filter tones and the entire composition as the other three of us were more harmonic and rhythm based while the texture of Jiani’s was a bit too unstable. While compositionally it adds depth, it doesn’t create full harmony which could be in some people’s taste to be a great addition, but others to not feel that it’s that additive. If I’m referring to the quality of my part in relation to the composition, I think that mine also has flaws in the sense that the major bang note has a long frame of time before the second bang. This would cause it to be sudden in the composition. Moreover, i think that some notes may not match accordingly to Bruce’s mix which may also cause the harmony to not be that clear. Overall, I felt that while the composition works, it wasn’t too experimental like other groups which could be improved on for the last couple performances. 

For Listening and Reading Response 9, the artist that was provided for us to listen to and explore their philosophy was Holly Herdnon. First, I listened to her piece which I felt was expressive in the sense that she’s using her voice to create a different type of voice that’s heard by the audience which made me resonate with it from a physical sense. I know that there are a lot of limitations to the human voice and by extending it through digital means, the voice is altered to meet the desired voice. This time of rhythm that’s produced by the voice is inhumane, yet sounds so organic through allowing some low frequencies pass through where the voice of the artist can be heard. It can also be noted that she utilizes her computer in her performance very extensively as if it was a part of her as she mentions. This type of laptop intimacy kind of creates the impression that digital and analog can be one and the same. From this, I was also inspired to possibly add this to my final project with Bruce as an installation in one of the hour times. 

Her relation with her computer is also very interesting in the sense that she treats the computer as if the computer has a personal voice. This type of relation was exhibited in using the circuit sniffer to create such noise which was very dynamic in creating the relation between the two. The visuals also added to her performance as she mentions that it’s a part of the voice of the computer which I fully agree with. All in all, I felt as if this was a great instrument, technique, and relationship as the intimacy was developed in a way that didn’t seem to artificial but more personal. 

For Performance 8, I worked with Oliver, Bruce, and Eden where we tried to create a composition that had bass, minor bass, melody, and submelody. I initially created noise that was rather high in pitch which didn’t resonate with the other compositions that they had created. This lack of harmony between my melody and them led me to have to modify my part of the composition where I included more chordlike tones through utilizing midi rather than the more random noise that I originally created. This would create a good bass for the piece which allowed for the melodies to be highlighted. 

Regarding our performance itself, there were errors that were made on my part that caused confusion within the group. The key error was my entry point within the composition as I had entered too early by accidentally pressing on the toggle. This caused Bruce and Oliver to slow their entrance into the composition as I had ruined the rhythm for entry. Other than the mistake mentioned, there is also the composition as a whole where I personally believed that it was rather pleasing to listen to. There was a comment that it seemed to busy in which I would agree as there are a lot of layers to the tunes that Eden, Bruce, and Oliver created which didn’t allow the listener to breathe. If this were to be refined, I feel like the comments about utilizing midi only as a keyboard would be my personal change that I would make. I wouldn’t want to make the MIDI a keyboard, but rather, create drum like sounds that strum the notes as it would create a consistent rhythm to the piece as a background noise that wouldn’t hinder the complexity of the piece. Moreover, as for the other parts of the composition, I think that changing Bruce’s part to be less complex and serve more as a harmony may make the composition better in the sense that it would provide the space to the listener to enjoy the composition. 

For Listening and Reading Response 8, the prompt was to listen to Steve Reich’s works and read his theory reading. From initially reading about it, I felt that there was a couple things unique about his piece which was that it was a development of orchestra like sounds in which everyone contributes a part of the piece that so simple, but creates complexity through number. This was when he gradually creates the musical progressions where characters gradually join and modify their rhythm within their piece to create the synthesized rhythm. Rather than fast progressions, he makes it gradual which allows the listener to follow through with the piece as it progresses which is exactly what he states in his reading saying that he wishes to create gradual progression to capture the attention of the listener where such progression allows for the listener to hear the details of the piece. Of course, this is reverberated throughout his piece, but in particular I found his theory regarding moving from and within the it very interesting and true as his music revolves around sound movement around the “it” of his piece. 

NIME Final Project Proposal — The End of Eternity

1. Perspective and Context

Inspiration for Final Project (Ken): Alvin Lucier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxHlLK3Oyk 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIPU2ynqy2Y 

    The texts and listening materials throughout the semester revolve around the development of sound in various expressive forms. From the beginning of the semester, there was an emphasis on sound production as well as the relation between artist, sound, and stage. For example, artists Dewi de Vree & Jeroen Uyttendaele created an instrument that was based upon creating electric connections during the performance to create different variations of sound. Later, the performance and theories were based on minimalism and creating gradual developments of sound to create music rather than creating fluctuating sounds. 

    Alvin Lucier’s I am Sitting in a Room (link above) provided me inspiration in utilizing sound throughout time to create sound resonance to map out a room. This type of repetitive style provided me inspiration in the sense of manipulating sound with feedback and utilizing times of feedback as the primary source of sound change. While the technicality of this piece and the style of articulating sound isn’t precisely difficult, the development of the relation between time and sound was the key takeaway that informed a style I wanted to be presented within my final piece. This also relates to Marshall McLuhan reading regarding acoustic space and visual space distinction and the cultural distinctions of perception of space where it mentions that the Japanese focused more on the space between objects rather than the objects themselves. 

    Other pieces of Alvin Lucier include “Music for Solo Performer” (1965) where he utilizes the installation of electric components in the performance itself and uses hands as conductive apparatus to create the frequency beats. Firstly, from his practice of utilizing live performance installations, it is similar to the prebuilt installation we proposed. While it’s not connected directly, the practice of creating that connection during the performance is something that struck me where I wanted to also create this visual – audio relationship within the final project. Furthermore, his practice seems like a pre-Tanaka electromagnetic wave transmission to create the sound which connects to utilizing different apparatus for a musical production that’s uncommon to play. 

    Why is this important to my final project proposal? I personally believe that while the physical presence of feedback played in I am sitting in a Room may be lackluster, the acoustic presence that the final project incorporates is one that is able to fill the room through the development of sound resonance and sound feedback where possible playback loops may be incorporated within the composition. This creates a dynamic nature within the piece where the physical/visual is secondary to audio. If “Music for Solo Performer” was considered, I think that the relation between performer and sound would be much richer in that the brain waves resonation is much more hidden, but dynamic control of the instrument can create depth within the piece as the sound qualities aren’t standardly created.

Inspiration for Final Project (Ken): Eliane Radigue 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwHIsZKrZhM 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RrsiGmLp_E 

    I was also inspired by Eliane Radigue, particularly her audio relation for time, sound, and feedback in her pieces. Rather than succumb to a definitive melody, Eliane Radigue utilizes fluidity of tones that slowly transition to ambient frequencies in which the melody isn’t clear. Due to such a style, it has also become a philosophy of her work as a whole. Even in her own writing, she describes her style of continuous modulation to be “a state of uncertainty, of being and not being” which can be seen in her piece where there is no definitive pattern of sound, but rather a continuous motion without boundaries. 

    This contrasts with the style of Alvin Lucier’s I am Sitting in a Room which is more definitive in terms of sequence but indefinite in terms of sound quality. While the quality of sound from Eliane’s work can change and adapt according to the frequency modulator oscillator that she utilizes. Of course, when she modifies such a device, the change may be subtle but also very noticeable. It is without a doubt that this type of articulation of sound through uncertainty throughout time creates resonating effects. It is what can be described as flux within staticity. 

    Some pieces that inspired me can be seen in the links above which develop a sonospheric atmosphere within the composition, utilizing panning, frequency panning, among other techniques to inscribe such relation. From her Jetsun Mila piece, she utilizes the instability of a frequency to create a moving texture that allows the listener to follow it in a fluid manner. This type of instability is paired with the gradual development of subsequent tones that aren’t too clear to create depth within the piece. 

    Such usage of frequency modulation and synthesizing informs the final project for our piece in the sense that we utilize distinct electric installations which build upon each other to create depth within the noise, but still distinct to create a harmonious pattern. In utilizing depth and variance of sound in our piece according to Radigue’s instrument with multiple controls, we hope to create sound qualities that can exhibit our theme of time manipulation.

Inspiration for the Final project (Bruce): Atau Tanaka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ZcsAHVn6A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8CKjmE7zys

    The development of the theme embedded in the weekly reading and listening materials is quite clear. The main theme has adapted from the relationships, conflicts, and coexistence between visions and sounds, to the expressive ability, logic, and further philosophy of the sound. The weekly materials then went on to talk about the minimalism, composition, and stage performance, the relationship between the performer, instrument, and the audience. Now the theme has been the relationship between the computer, the music, and the performer. 

    In this sense, Atau Tanaka was the first artist who gave me some inspiration on the general NIME understanding, as well as how to come up with the final project. He is famous for his use of the muscle electricity sensor to create electronic-like music. I found two videos (attached above) which I think can best describe him and his ideology for NIME performance. 

    In his performances, the sounds and the sounding experience are not that outstanding. DON’T get me wrong. What I was trying to say was that they are not the parts that would refresh your mind when you are listening to his performance. However, the visual part, or to be more specific, the smart and perfect integration of the visual part and the sounds is something that is definitely impressive. He has perfectly solved the long-lasting conflict between the vision and the sound, but he has also done something more. In the course materials, he and his works are also given as examples to illustrate the stage performance and delivery. During the performance, it seems that he isn’t himself anymore, but a part of the performance itself. 

    Tanaka said in an interview that there is a balance between logic and intuition in his art form. When he is performing, I can get the feeling that he is not actually performing the instrument to make it sound. Rather, he is expressing himself using the media of music. In this way, he has successfully made himself a part of the performance. The genius part of the whole process is that there is always a CONNECTION between the audio outcome and the expressive media in the general performance. 

     This part is extremely important in our performance. I said before in my documentation blog that this part was also the key idea in my last semester’s interaction lab final project, and the realization of this idea yielded some good results. This idea, the connection, and the balance between logic and intuition will also be included in my NIME final project, and this idea will mainly influence the analog part, or in other words, the instrument part of our performance. When Ken and I are designing the instrument, we are consistently drawing ideas from this ideology, that it must include the balance, connection to make the performer a harmonious part, but not the dominator, of the performance. The design of the instrument is still at the initial stage and will be discussed later. 

Inspiration for the Final project (Bruce):  Steve Reich

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgX85tZf1ts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXJWO2FQ16c 

    Well, Steve Reich has already definitely become one of my favorite artists, and one of the reasons is that I have gained a lot of inspiration from him. Minimalism is the main theme of Steve Reich’s artworks, but there is more of it. Honestly speaking, if I were to define minimalism, I would say that Eliane Radigue’s masterpieces are definitely minimalism. 

    However, Reich’s a little bit different. In Reich’s minimalism, I can always find some static beats, sequences, and their variations. On the other hand, I would also get something else when listening to the whole piece. It is a sense of numerousness. When I listen to Radigue’s pieces, I hear the simplicity, get the idea of the simplicity, and enjoy the simplicity. When I listen to Reich’s piece, however, I hear the well-controlled and managed simplicity, get the idea of the minimalism, and enjoy the feeling of the numerousness. It is a strange feeling. 

    I found two videos of Reich’s works that can best describe this kind of feeling. The primary sequences and feelings in his performance rarely change. However, the frequency, amplitude, and filter constantly change. The overall delivery is well-rounded and gives the audience a feeling beyond minimalism. 

    The biggest connection from Reich to the overall course theme is composition. Since his primary components are largely unchanging, his choices and design for these unchanging sequences and beats are rather elaborate and well-controlled. Therefore, this results in the overall harmony of the music process.  

    I firstly wrote another impression Steve Reich gives me by his music, that the note-note details and the overall form are well integrated. In other words, the individual style from the single notes is consistent with the general style delivered by the music process. This is realized by perfect control over every aspect of the piece and as a result, a perfect harmony has been created. This even creates a state that wherever the music starts or ends, it sounds like a whole and harmonious. 

    This ideology will largely influence the design of the Max 8 patch. Max 8 provides many possibilities for music design, and it can easily adjust frequency, amplitude, and filtering effects. The design of the Max 8 patch is still at the initial stage and will be discussed in the following section. 

2. Project Description

    The name of our project is The End of Eternity.

    Our theme for the final project revolves around the broad concept of time, specifically creating time manipulation through analog control of clock hands, interpreting the sound of time fluctuation, and exploring temporal loops of time. The physical presence of our project will be an 80 cm circular table that’s hacked to include our electronic installations for playing. We will be utilizing bought metal clock hands in the center as a basis to create the connection with the electrical installations that are throughout the piece. 

    These electronic installations include the frequency modulator, oscillator bus, conductive sniffer, etc. This will be created by buying a premade table that will be deconstructed by utilizing the fabrication lab’s woodworking material. There will be a hole drilled in the middle of the table in which our clock hands will be implanted. On the areas that display the numeral for time, we plan on engraving or painting the time with materials such as conductive paint. We will 3D model, 3D print and laser cut components that hold our electronic installations which will be drilled to the table to ensure a stable connection, in which the wires for such components will hopefully be underneath the table for clean performing with the instrument. As we will be utilizing multiple installations, the electric components will be bought from the electronics market and attached to created containers from 3d printing.

    This instrument will be played by manipulating the direction of the clock hand to connect with different electric installations in which sounds will be fused from various sound combinations. Moreover, Max8 will be utilized to convert some analog readings of the electric installations into fused beats as well as supersonic motion sounds. There may be potential sounds that are created from the distance of clock hands to one another which will be controlled by the two performers. As we will be utilizing both digital and analog modes of musical production, our composition may begin with the digital modes of time expression in which sounds will be distorted through our analog performance means of manipulating sound. From the initial distortion, we plan on creating our interpretation of time fluctuations through extreme movements of the time in which we enter our climax. After time reaches an extreme in terms of interpreted movement, we will slow down the pace of our piece gradually to fabricate the control of time. Afterward, the piece will incorporate slightly rapid movements to escalate the scene of time to a pendulum state where it will conclude with an infinite loop to portray the eternalness of time. Throughout this process of exerting control over time, we want the audience to experience our interpretation of manipulating time as flux. We want to create the impression that the end of eternity, of time, is a state of constant change in which the end is indeterminate.

3. Production Schedule

• 04/20: Final Project Proposal Due            

• 04/21: Proposal Feedback / Discussion + Working out the general plan of the purchase of materials

• 04/22-04/29: Analog parts production and installation + Working out the basic sequences and background music needed in Max 8 (Including researching information and exploring Max 8 )

• 04/29: Update on Project

• 04/29-05/06: Working on the synthesis part, paying special attention to the Max 8 patch + analog instrument installation. In this stage, the fabrication process should be done or at least worked out a plan

• 05/06: Review + Work Day

• 05/06-05/13: Keep polishing the Max 8 patch and the analog installations + Completing any kind of leftovers from the last stage. In this stage, the Max 8 patch, and the analog instrument installations need to be done. 

• 05/13: Rehearsal and debugging (In Class) – Final Project Show (~21:00 @ Club Elevator)

For Performance 7, the focus was on completing an interaction between Arduino and Max8. I used the Force Resistive Sensor where I controlled the sound with the force of my fingers. This could be manipulated to create a consistent deep background tone or a melodic high pitch varying tone. Moreover, when I was working with my group, I also experimented with utilizing filtercoeff~ to create wind sounds through modifying the frequency of the white noise. While I had no idea how this works, I found that it was actually somewhat of an accurate depiction of the sound of wind. Regarding the sound quality of the group, we did have variation, but the depth and rhythm of our composition was limited in the sense that there wasn’t consistent beat of switching of beats. This caused the overall harmony of the piece to be weaker than for example the group of Eden, Bruce, Jiani, and Alex. Moreover, our group partially had a lack of control for controlling tones where Ryan’s was more automatic and didn’t change. This could be improved by adding more characteristics of randomization to the piece. 

For the performance, this was my patch. 

For the reading and video for this week, the focus was on Atau Tanaka and how he uses the sensorband to create different frequencies. At first, I found his performance very interesting in the way he expresses sound with movement of his wrists and arms to alter the sound. I found the wind sounds most expressive as it appeared that he was actually moving the air around him to create this sound. In addition, there was depth to the wind as it could be altered by how close the sensorbands were to one another. While the article doesn’t really mention it, I think that there may also be a tension sensor within the sensor bands as Atau seemed to have tense arms in the 3rd part of his performance to create the crackling sound. From this, I think that they are reinnovating how our body can be used to create sound. In accordance with his approach of postmodernism towards his music, it can be seen that the sound he creates is less expressive in the sense that it’s smooth tones, but rather it’s sharper tones. The transitions are also more abrupt where there isn’t wind and crackling combination for transition, but an immediate crackling. This essentially shows the postmodern style that the text mentioned for designing his music.