STEIM's Project Blog

As part of the Orientation residency at STEIM in January, I began to investigate how I could develop a system of sensor controls to use during live performance on Chinese guqin. Chinese guqin is an indigenous instrument of China, with a history stretching back some 3,000 years. Among other very unique aspects of this tradition, the element of timbre as a primary expressive element is central to both the guqin tradition and Chinese music in general.  In this context, I am looking to expand the timbral and gestural aspects of guqin performance by analyzing and manipulating the harmonic spectrum of a variety of instrument techniques that produce different timbres.

To do this, I had imagined going into the orientation that there would be some hardware sensors involved, perhaps adapting Wii controller sensors in some glove type of sensor system. The guqin lays flat on a table, with the left hand moving fluidly in right to left and left to right motion (there is a great amount of glissando and portamento in the fingering techniques). [more...]

During the Orientation week I had a good opportunity to use the Software/Hardware developed at STEIM, and I was inspired by the whole experience to continue my research about the relationship between the human body and digital devices, how they can interact and communicate.

I am particularly interested in the use of bio-data in real time media.  Until know I have experimented with two kinds of body interfaces: an EMG (electromyogram) interface  and with an EEG (electroencephalogram) interface to obtain bio-data in order to create new forms of performance on the stage or new forms of relations between machine, body and space.

As a result of these two experiments, I created two performances using real time media (Max/MSP/Jitter): Seed/Tree and INsideOUT.

Following this research of interaction in between bio data and real time media (sound and video),  I would like to explore the body- temperature and the GSR (galvanic skin response) sensors to create a new form of relation between machine and body.

As a result of this research, I would like to create an installation where the visitor’s skin and body temperature, will be measured. The values received will be transmitted to a computer and will be used to create the sound and the images that will be projected, making the visitor create his/her own environment.

I’m currently looking for information and researching about …  and I hope that soon I will have a clearly idea about the instrument I would like to built.

Residency (9th – 22nd November 2009)

After orientation week, my primary goal was to continue developing my computer and turntable based system. It was also important for me to be able to discuss some issues and ideas with Dj Sniff as he uses a similar set up. My goal for this system is to develop an environment which allows me to manipulate and process samples via the turntable for performance and compositional purposes. In order to embrace this notion of computer based turntablism, I use time-coded vinyl, more specifically MsPinky, which is a time-coded vinyl system which can be used with Max/Msp. This software allowed me to gain control of audio files on the computer via the turntable but also gave me other useful information such as direction and speed of the vinyl. With this information I could control audio samples, but I could also control more minute parameters such as feedback amount in reverb or the cutoff frequency of a filter. However there was one element which was still eluding me: the process of changing samples. Prior to experimenting with this system, I had to change the samples manually on the computer which can be irritating for both the performer and audience. What I decided to explore was having a sample bank within the Max/Msp patch, from which I would be able to access a specific sample using only the turntable. [more...]

Polyphonic Audio and MIDI box for Polyphonic Electric Guitar

The premise of this project was to build a hardware unit which provides polyphonic audio (separate audio signal for each string) as well as MIDI data (pitch and velocity) for each note executed which could be utilised for mapping purposes. Such a hardware unit would allow the user to maximize CPU power for signal processing. Following on from a previous “break-out box” project, I purchased the Axon AX-50 board from Terratec (Germany) to allow for MIDI data for each note. The tracking is excellent in combination with Graphtech’s “Hexpander” MIDI interface.

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The week in november 2009, I stayed at STEIM, I worked on two different setups.

One is my LiSa-based Live-setup with an aditional old drummachine, the Rythm-Ace, the antecessor of the TR 77, Rolands first drummachine ever. which means, no editing, only presets with a lot of Mambo in it. I use it for goofing around with some kind of semi-serious impropop and later used it live in a duo with Eugene Chadbourne.

For the other setup, I use is a Micro Modular to produce a feedback, that I control with fotoresistors placed in a pizzabox -sized board on a table, with a dimmable lamp over it, there are 12 sensors to control 12 parameters. With my hands I produce shadows on the pizzabox to ‚play’ the feedback. I can just use the dimmer to modulate, I use coins to cover single sensors and as well two small plastic stroboscopes with adjustable speed to produce patterns. Itried to use a drumloop (with a tap-pad) with the stroboscope and quite like it. The sound is rather raw and prickly and the Micro- Modular-patch reacts pretty unpredictable. I put this setup together in search for an electronic instrument, that I can use in a solo performance. There is the good question, if you can improvise solo at all and I find it inspiring to work with material, that is good for unexpected moves. [more...]

A big thank you to all the STEIM staff members and other participants for this inspiring week!

As a textile designer working with simple sound electronics, but no background in music and only very little experience in live performance, learning LiSa and JunXion is challenging. But I was very happy finding out that the software could be a real big step for my work and bring live sound sampling into textile sampling.

I am currently doing a residency at London Printworks Trust which supports my research about textiles and electronic sound.

I am interested in the translation of colour and printed patterns into sounds, using either colour sensors or cameras. To provide a steady light for accurate colour recognition I built a little stage for colour swatches. David developed the set up in JunXion. Obviously it is quite tricky to achieve repeatable results but it was very promising and I just need a better camera and more even light  and a few other adjustments. Not regarding though that the textiles are still soft materials and not very steady by themselves…

Here a few images from the swatches on stage.

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Developing of the composition ” …mit schwarzem Glanz” for viola and live-electronics

Concert on 10.12.10 in Vienna, Stiftung Essl Klosterneuburg
In planning: concert tour in New Zealand 2011
Collaborating period: between 17-19.1.10 at STEIM, Amsterdam

John Croft:

My first visit to STEIM, after several years of working in live electronics. Barbara and I have been working on this new piece, …mit schwarzem Glanz for viola and live electronics, for some time now, in the rare moments we could get together, so it was a pleasure to work intensively over a number of days at STEIM. The piece relies on the detection of many parameters of the viola sound — pitch and loudness of course, but also noise content, brightness, melodic angularity, suddenness of attack, and so on — and mapping all of these to complex patterns of immediate response in MaxMSP, including a lot of real-time spectral processing. Because there’s no score following or pre-composed sounds, it’s essentially impossible to work “in the abstract” on the patch — it is the kind of thing that really needs testing in a kind of “controlled environment”, with plenty of time to try all the possibilities. Which is precisely what STEIM provides, and so we achieved a great deal, from the dark, pulsating opening, where the slow surges on the open strings of the viola control spectral compression and dilation of the sound, to the explosive passage near the end, where the undulating line of the viola controls a constantly changing filterbank. Because I work in a university, with its ever-increasing administrative distractions, it was a rare and welcome experience to work for a sustained period of time in such wonderful facilities. So now, aside from a few minor things, my piece is essentially finished. I’m very grateful to STEIM and to Nico for this opportunity, and I hope to return some time. Thanks to everyone! [more...]

David Fodel in Studio 3 at STEIM

I came to the STEIM orientation with the expectation of gaining deeper understanding of the commercial software they have developed, and to present to the staff several artistic projects I currently have in development.

I have used JunXion in the past, but only for basic operations in mapping HID hardware. During my stay I was able to create several new patches for use in an upcoming performance titled “Still Life in Real Time”, which will premiere at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in April of 2010. For this project, I am tracking position and 3-axis orientation of several objects, which constitute a “Still Life” composition, both visually, and sonically.

David Fodel - Still Life with Guitar

The aim of the project itself is to interrogate the possibilities of real-time, structured improvisational, audio-visual composition, while incorporating the symbolic potential of the interface. The traditional Still Life, and in particular Dutch Golden Age Still Life paintings, provided me with an art historical locus and context for referencing this potentially symbolic quality of objects. [more...]

During the introduction course at the STEIM institute my main focus was to see if there where possibilities to use the STEIM knowledge for my future works.

In the summer of 2010 I hope to get my masters degree in Interactive Media and Environments at the Frank Mohr Institute in Groningen, the Netherlands. My final work will a series of hand build instruments (guitar, harp, violin and drums) with buttons and sensory attached. The sensor data will be send to a computer or another piece of hardware for live sampling purposes. So my special attention went out to the LiSa X and junXion programs as well as the support STEIM might give me developing these instruments.

At the Frank Mohr Institute I was working with Max/MSP a lot, the advantage of this program over the STEIM software might be the expansiveness, something useful when trying out lots of things. But on the other hand I’d rather work with LiSa X and junXion, it seems more reliable and a lot faster, besides that it a more ’single-use’ program which makes it easier to comprehend. I think it will be a valuable addition to my set-up and I will surely consider using it when I had a Mac computer. The fact that it doesn’t work on windows or linux (yet) might be a reason to switch OS in the future.

The examples of instruments (partly) build and developed at STEIM really gave me a good feeling about asking for help in the near future, I think they can really help me out in all aspects of my work, like thinking of conditions for sampling functions, building sturdy instruments and developing the hardware part.

I had a good and inspiring time at STEIM and hope to stop by every now and then for concerts and I hope to do a collaborative thing in the future.

Kasper van Hoek

Hello.

I’m Giorgio, trumpet player and electronics-user from Italy.

For a long period of time I’ve been using a number of midi/usb controllers ,but I never found the one that suited me completely.

My idea was about a controller ON the trumpet, something within the instrument that could control the parameters of the computer.

Then the only place where to ask “how to” was Steim.

I had the chance to meet really interesting and cool people that put down in a really simple way what seemed to be out of the world to me.

They introduced the Arduino platform and everything started to make sense.

Right now I just started to work on that kind of plattforms and I hope to be able to go back soon to Steim to start working on this project.

In the last couple of months I’ve been using extensively Lisa and Junxion for my music and they works really fine.

Steim seems like a plays where you may share ideas and learn something for sure.

Best regards to everyone.

Giorgio