video: making an accordion automaton, in a hurryJuly 21st, 2010
Motherboard tv was kind enough to ask me to make a music machine for them. Here’s their video of the process!
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noise carnival composer’s guideMay 19th, 2010
Noise Carnival is my sound sculpture/music machine with Nick Yulman, permanently installed at Coney Island USA – Coney Island’s combination history & art museum, sideshow, and bar.
The machine has three parts, though we may add more in the future: a bass guitar, a xylophone, and a percussion section. I recently wired it up to play a short tune whenever someone drops a coin into nearby donation funnel. As you add more coins, it adds more layers to the tunes.
We want to invite composers to create new original mini-tunes for the machine. Here’s information about how to write music for Noise Carnival! We’re also interested in proposals for live performances incorporating the machine – all the parts can be played live through midi.
If you’re interested in creating music for Noise Carnival and you’d like to arrange a site visit, please contact me. I highly recommend checking it out in person to get an idea of the quirks of the electromechanical instruments. That said, you’re welcome to submit a score without visiting first.
FORMAT: please submit each score as a set simple midi files (.mid) with one track, playing on midi channel 1. Please specify the meter and tempo (in BPM) separately – don’t put any tempo changes inside the file. Each score should be between about 20 and 50 seconds long.
In addition, each tune should have three or four variations. Each time another coin is dropped, the machine will skip to the next variation (at the same time point – it does not start over at the beginning). We want to reward visitors for donating more money, so each succeeding variation should be denser, more ornamented, or otherwise more exciting than the previous ones. Some of the ways we’ve done this in the past include adding more percussion, adding arpeggiation, adding a bassline. Please submit a separate midi file for each variation. All the variations must be the exact same duration, tempo, etc. so that the software can freely flip between them.
For a single variation, you can put all the instruments in a single midi file, or separate them into up to three files for xylophone/guitar/percussion, or for melody/harmony/beat, or whatever works for you. Just make sure to label everything clearly!
THE INSTRUMENTS
TOY XYLOPHONE
The toy xylophone is the most straightforward of the instruments. It has a single high-pitched octave. It is controlled by MIDI notes C2 through C3 (white notes only). That is, if you program a C2, the xylophone will play its low C, etc. The xylophone has a fairly fast repeat rate.
PERCUSSION
The percussion section has five items, and we’ll probably add more (suggestions welcome). It’s played by MIDI notes D5 through G5, as follows:
- D5 – monkey clapping
- E5 – ping pong ball thump
- F5 – metal duck target (left)
- F#5 – metal duck target (right)
- G5 – metal bear target (center)
The percussion items all have a fairly slow repeat rate. Don’t expect to be able to play the same one over and over rapidly.
BASS GUITAR
The bass guitar is much more complicated than the other parts, because there isn’t a simple relationship between midi notes and what the guitar plays. The guitar has a single string, a pick, four fretting fingers, and a “whammy” which raises the pitch by one semitone by increasing the tension. The open string plays a low F#; the frets are at A, B, C#, and E. These elements are played by MIDI notes G#3 through C#4 as follows:
- G#3 – whammy – raises the pitch 1 semitone
- A3 – fret 1 – plays A or A# with whammy
- A#3 – fret 2 – plays B or C
- B3 – fret 3 – plays C# or D
- C4 – fret 4 – plays E or F
- C#4 – pick – plays low F# on open string – strums the string on both note on and note off
Notes:
- Each of these elements is controlled by midi notes, by activating on Note On and releasing on Note Off.
- You can create a vibrato effect by toggling the whammy on and off on alternating 8th or 16th notes.
- When you activate a fret finger, there’s a strong “hammer-on” tone, so you don’t also need to use the pick, except to play the open string. However, using the pick makes the note louder.
- There’s also a hammer-off tone when you release a fret finger; it plays the unfretted note (or the note from a lower fret, if a lower fret finger is active). There’s no way to avoid this, so you have to write for it.
- The pick will strum the string both on note on and note off, so you must plan for this as well.
- The open string + whammy combination doesn’t play reliably, so F# (open string) is achievable but don’t rely on G (open string + whammy)
Looking at it the other way, if you want to hear a certain note, this is the midi combination to get it (subject to the complications above!):
- F# – open string + pick (C#4)
- G – open string + whammy + pick (G#3 + C#4) (not reliable)
- A – fret 1 (A3)
- A# – fret 1 + whammy (A3 + G#3)
- B – fret 2 (A#3)
- C – fret 2 + whammy (A#3 + G#3)
- C# – fret 3 (B3)
- D – fret 3 + whammy (B3 + G#3)
- E – fret 4 (C4)
- F – fret 4 + whammy (C4 + G#3)
Really, the best way to program the guitar is to play it live with a keyboard until you get the hang of it.
If you have any questions, get in touch with me!
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vexbot survived!May 19th, 2010
My little toy piano robot survived about 20 straight hours of playing “Vexations” (see previous coverage). Though I did find a few retaining nuts in the bottom of the case that had been shaken loose by all the vexing. You can see & hear an excerpt from the performance on ustream.
I spent a few hours listening to the audio streams from both the robot performance and the human Vexations marathon in Seattle. It was kind of eerie and kind of comforting. What was it like? Like this: [19 minute mp3]
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The human and robot performances were mentioned in Seattle’s weekly, The Stranger, here and here.
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vexations this weekend!May 12th, 2010
“In order to play the theme 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities.”
In the 1890s, Erik Satie wrote a very short piece called Vexations, with a note suggesting that it should be played 840 times in a row. That’s a challenge, right? Jack Straw Productions in Seattle is putting on a Vexations marathon this weekend, starting Saturday at 4pm Pacific time, with more than 30 pianists playing non-stop through the night until they reach #840, and you can listen in on Hollow Earth Radio. It’s a great idea, but we have machines to do our dirty work for us, so the robot toy piano is going to play Vexations at NYC Resistor 840 times, or until it falls apart. It’ll start at 7PM (Eastern time) this Saturday, and you can watch and listen online, or in person on Saturday at the Halfway-to-Halloween Party, or on Sunday at the Vexations Meetup & Jam Session.
Yes, on Sunday (May 16) from 3-6PM, join other music nerds to jam along to Vexations until your head explodes, or we reach #840, whichever comes first. Bring instruments if you want. (Bring your own 1/4″ cables, if your instrument is electronic. Inputs are limited so if you can bring a small mixer to share, that would help!) Feel free to bring vexing drinks or snacks to share. NYC Resistor is at 87 3rd Avenue, 4th Floor, in Brooklyn.
As long as you’re in the neighborhood on Sunday, consider going to Share at ISSUE Project Room (3rd Av & 3rd St), a weekly open jam session for experimental music! When we get sick of Vexations, we’ll take a dinner break and head over there.
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excerpt from last night’s performanceApril 3rd, 2010
Pianist Tiffany Lin adjusts the piano monster
Here’s an excerpt from last night’s performance of Zachary James Watkins’ composition “Moveable” for augmented piano. (I built the piano-tickling monster for this performance.) This is just a low quality recording – a much better one will be available later. The full piece is about 75 minutes long; the excerpt is 8 minutes.
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moveable in seattle april 2March 28th, 2010
I’m building a piano-tickling machine for Zachary James Watkins’ piece “Moveable,” which pianist Tiffany Lin will premiere in Seattle on April 2. More info within.
Moveable, long commutes between loved ones, music for motors and resonant strings
Friday April 2nd, 2010 8PM
Performance by pianist Tiffany Lin of a new evening length composition scored for retuned piano and a new mechanical extension called the Piano Monster built by NYC artist Ranjit Bhatnagar that uses 16 MIDI triggered voltage controlled motors with attached objects that resonate piano strings.
Wayward Music Series
The Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center
4649 Sunnyside Avenue N., 4th Floor, Seattle, Washington
Tickets: Suggested Scale $5-$15
Tickets will be available at the door on the evening of the performance.
Moveable, long commutes between loved ones, music for motors and resonant strings is the elusive yet evocative title for the new composition by bay area composer Zachary James Watkins. This new evening length work is scored for retuned piano and a new mechanical extension called the Piano Monster built by NYC artist Ranjit Bhatnagar that uses 16 MIDI triggered voltage controlled motors with attached objects that resonate piano strings. The April 2nd premiere performance by pianist Tiffany Lin is presented by Nonsequitur as part of the Wayward Music Series at Seattle’s Chapel Performance Space. The title can be read many ways. Literal interpretations evoke the daily reality of so many modern day workers who must travel long distances to reach the work place or the distances traveled when in love. This title also touches upon the collaborative process between three artists who reside on two coasts and separated by thousands of miles. Trust, vulnerability and the creation of rich new works drive collaborations along distances. In our every day lives, the harmonic series is the fundamental building block of all sounds in constant collision transformed creating language, noise, and the plethora of instrumental timbres, which shape our aural, cultural and sensual experience. Moveable, long commutes between loved ones, music for motors and resonant strings celebrates diverse sounds combining electrical current hum, pure intonation, equal temperament and percussive noises into a vibrant sonic tapestry creating new imaginative narratives.
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closing doors at nycemf march 25March 28th, 2010
I presented my piece “Closing Doors” for robot toy piano at the NYC Electro-Acoustic Music Festival last week. It sounded something like this:
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Previously with robot toy piano…
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instrument-a-day 28: Baba Yaga’s BalalaikaFebruary 28th, 2010
It's made from a wooden mortar and pestle and some scraps of guitar string. I strapped a rechargable battery to my thumb to use as a slide, just like Baba Yaga used to do.
That's it for instrument-a-day for this year, but Jason, Chris and I will be performing with some of these instruments on Wednesday at Barbes in Brooklyn.
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28 more noisy noises at barbes, march 3February 28th, 2010
A performance with handmade instruments at Barbès in Brooklyn, Wednesday March 3, 2010 at 8pm.
Like last year, I’ll be joined by Jason and Chris of the Glass Bees!