...or: How I Spent My Summer Non-Vacation:

What follows is my outline from a talk I gave today @ STEIM

"the manDrum"
9.7.04 @ STEIM
2pm

1. How this all started
- playing in bands, going to conservatory, playing in bands
- working with DJs
- discovering "jungle" and "drum n bass"

2. How laptops and DJs have affected musical "performance"
2 (broad) types of people (who like music):
People who LOVE music, but don't care how it's made
People who are fanatic and want to know everything

3. Playing on your body
- your body is always around
- periodic rhythms played on individual instruments are broken out composite rhythms

4. Frustration:
- drum machines aren't "fun" (if you can "play", why don't you "play")
- "step entry" is tedious and boring

5. the "manDrum"
- can be used with ANY drum "brain" that uses trigger inputs
- can be played alone, with a group, or "both"
(both = interacts with a MAX/MSP patch I wrote called "xTrakt")

6 . "xTrakt" - is made of:
"playback"
- allows playing and looping in real-time:
- if you're playing, it's recording
- "kick" the computer to make it playback
- all MIDI - computationally negligible, can export a sequence file for later use
- uses "the synth formerly known as QT musical instruments" for:
+ Bounded random bass events
+ Chords built on the bass
+ (not having to carry around, or even own, a synth!)

"voxy"
- allows the use of sampled voice as an element
- extremely simple way to get a compelling result
- panning can be randomized or controlled with a STEIM pressure sensor
- looped voice speed and direction "controlled" with STEIM light sensor

"theremini"
- a small, somewhat lacking, marginally controllable, 2 oscillator theremin
- controlled using a STEIM light sensor

"tempo"
- a "rudimentary" tempo tracker and hi hat player

7. "Thereminish"
a demonstration of the P5 data glove