MARCH
12 SXSW, Austin, TX [music]
13 SXSW, Austin, TX [music]
17 Plaza Club, Vancouver BC [music]
18 Aladdin, Portland, OR [music]
19 Neumo’s, Seattle WA [music]
21 Slims, San Francisco, CA [music]
22 Club Mercy, Santa Barbara, CA [music]
24 Casbah, San Diego, CA [music]
25 Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA [music]
26 Clubhouse, Tempe AZ [music]
27 Chandler Gilbert Community College, Phoenix AZ [spoken word]
28 Estrella Mountain Community College Phoenix AZ [spoken word]
29 Launchpad, Albuquerque, NM [music]
31 The Loft, Dallas TX [music]

APRIL
01 Warehouse Live Studio, Houston TX [music]
03 The Parish, New Orleans LA [music]
04 The Loft, Atlanta GA [music]
06 Ramshead, Annapolis MD [music]
07 930 Club, Washington DC [music]
08 Paradise, Boston MA [music]
09 Irving Plaza, NY NY [music]
11 Trocadero, Philadelphia PA [music]
12 Iron Horse, Northampton, MA [music]
13 La Tulipe, Montreal QC [music]
14 Mod Club, Toronto ONT [music]
16 Blind Pig, Ann Arbor MI [music]
17 Grog Shop, Cleveland OH [music]
18 Martyrs, Chicago IL [music]
19 Varsity Theatre, Minneapolis MN [music]
21 Fox Theatre, Boulder CO [music]
22 Belly Up, Aspen CO [music]
23 Kilby Court, Salt Lake City UT [music]

Just got these tour dates in my inbox. Though I’m attending SXSW, it looks like I’ll be leaving before his shows on the 12th and 13th. Hey Saul, any chance of adding Fresno, CA to the list?

thumbuki20080126.csd

The Csound Blog
Issue #12

Today’s blog is on SineBox: a “music box” like instrument that plays itself. Once a user starts SineBox with a single i-event in the score, SineBox creates instances of itself, generating multiple sine tones over time. This may not be the most musical piece of Csound technology ever conceived of. It can, however, be molded to fit a wide range of uses, musical and otherwise.

Topics

• P-Fields
• if
• schedule

More at The Csound Blog. For more information about Csound, please visit cSounds.com.

Posted to YouTube by newyorknewyokNY

Official video for Saul Williams’ cover of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” from the album “The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust.” Produced by Trent Reznor

In case you are wondering what I think about this album…

flickr photo by Lawouach
Photo snapped at the Burp Castle in NYC

The Brain Machine assembled by potatono

Btw, that’s me wearing the space goggles.

click for full size

There is currently a discussion on the Csound mailing list about how to emulate a theremin waveform. I put together this chart that displays the output from the Big Briar Etherwave with various settings. As some of you already know, Big Briar is Moog.

Catch up with the Thumbuki 13:

• Major Developments in the History of Computer Music
• Mail Art by cornp0ne
• Plan B Heisenberg Generator
• The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!
• a colorful shower
• Plan B Model 24 Heisenberg Generator Demo
• Empty Chairs II
• Musiques Pour Cultes
• Sounds from the past
• Synthesized Bach in W. Carlos Style - Stereo
• Csound Mode for jEdit
• Hyperwerk 033 Lenny Laser cut
• State Variable Vactrol Filter

Editor’s Choice:

The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!

Reason:

Not since 1999 has an album had such an impact on me.

I’m implementing a new blogging feature today I call the Thumbuki 13. Quite simply, I list the headlines of the last 13 posts. And why call it the Thumbuki Thirteen? Because it rolls off the tongue better than Thumbuki Seventeen or Thumbuki Eight. And Thumbuki Thirty is just to many damn posts for a summary.

Today, I’m doing this twice, to reflect all the new blogs I’ve posted since resuming operations on December 27th. Here’s the list in chronological order, oldest to newest:

• Nine Inch Nails Decoder Ring
• Empire Noir
• Csound Journal Issue 7
• one record
• Safe Don’t Crack
• 07xx05-Suppoz010-s
• cSounds.com Gets a Face Lift
• Iowa Caucus Tomorrow, Please Go Stand By the Stairs.
• The Infamous mcseq
• Check out my new Bass
• One drumulator, One Tenori-on, one Four voice
• Rain
• Barack Obama and Tolerance Fatigue

Editor’s Choice:

Barack Obama and Tolerance Fatigue

Reason:

The internet has given us our voice back. This vlog, whether or not you agree with the message, is a wonderful real world example.

Here’s an interesting alternate controller I’ve not yet seen: a step sequencer where one composes a pattern by placing ball bearings onto a grid.

Though I don’t exactly have one in front of me, I would imagine the sensation of manipulating the device would be similar to patching a modular synth. There must be something entirely satisfying interfacing with music in this manner, akin to eating with a well-balanced set of weighted flatware.

A tangible rhythm sequencer. Ball bearings are used to trigger drum sounds. Visual feedback is displayed from underneath to indicate the current time and the state of each ball bearing.

The brainchild behind the Beat-Bearing Sequencer is Peter Bennett.

Video posted to YouTube by peterdbennett.
Thanks to PAgent of PAgent’s Progress for sending me this link to technabob.com.

flickr photo by me

Laser cut by Lenny, one of my students at Hyperwerk.

flickr photo by watz

I created a jEdit syntax highlight mode for use with Csound. If anyone is interested, you can download from here.

Video posted to YouTube by Elhardt
Link discovered via matrixsynth.com

Here are some experiments I did in trying to mimic the style of Walter/Wendy Carlos’ synthesizer technique and style of timbres. Carlos was using a 1960’s era patchable modular Moog synthesizer with a different architecture than that of the Alesis Andromeda synthesizer. Each one has some advantages and disadvantages over the other but both use analog circuitry.

All I can say is Bravo! As many of my friends can attest to, I’ve listened to a lot of Wendy Carlos over the years. Elhardt has managed to perfect the sound design, arrangement and performance stylings of Carlos. Be sure to check out the Scarlatti piece, too.

flickr photo by Rune T

I just wanted to announce my latest release, Musiques Pour Cultes, written with composer Severine Baron and realized almost entirely in Csound. Musiques Pour Cultes is a collections of abstract music and soundscapes attempting to establish a connection between music and spirituality, between sound and the physical space that surrounds us.

Musiques Pour Cultes was released on Al’s Records and is available for download on iTunes.

- Jean-Luc Cohen (aka Jean-Luc Sinclair)

You can also listen to Musiques Pour Cultes at MySpace.

I have personally listened to multiple iterations of this piece over the years. Musiques Pour Cultes is full of both rich complexity and subtlety. I highly recommend you to sit in a dark room filled with candles and incense while listening to this beautiful illustration of computer music. It is an experience.

flickr photo by michaelbehlendotcom
Visit michaelbehlen.com.