Autoroute

Auto-route begins with a source, what follows is an automated response to this data that continues to eat itself until we turn the machine off, the computer crashes or the feedback loops inside the system result in silence or white noise. Auto-route is an attempt to hear what the computer thinks. The piece runs on the machine’s own terms, makes its own decisions based on criteria that it invents as time passes. Like most improvisations, there is a moment when the input is considered and contemplated but shortly after this period, the machine begins to explore material dynamically, chewing on its own matter, quickly becoming self-referential and eventually running out of energy or coruscating into maximal debris. Auto Route has been performed in several versions. A version was made for Video Artist Rob Kennedy and performed at Machinista in Glasgow in 2004. Two other versions have been made and performed without the composer present. Once in Belfast as part of the Sonorities festival on a tourist boat trip, the other was performed in Newcastle by Mark Summers (Viol) and the Pallindrome dance company. The recording presented here was generated from some glitch provided by Mark Summers (Viol).

Environment for StoneViolin

[img_assist|nid=135|title=Stone Violin|desc= Photo by Christian Unterhuber|link=popup|align=right|width=68|height=100]The sculptures of Kassian Erhard spend most of the year in the Austrian Alps in a small village called Pillar near to the Italian border. On the mountainside Erhard creates stone 'instruments' including interpretations of trombones, saxophones, percussion and strings all carved from the indigenous rock. During the late summer of 2002, I was fortunate to spend three weeks living with the sculptor and his family and had the opportunity to write some music for his instruments. Of all the sculptures in his garden, the one that attracted my ears and eyes the most was his stone violin. Not only is the body of the instrument made of stone, so are the strings and bow. The instrument's sonic properties depend entirely upon the type of stone used to make bow and string. A gentle scrape of stone against stone reveals tones that are essentially inharmonic, scratchy and very rich in potential for analysis within the computer. The computer software is a reactive environment, which listens to the incoming sound and generates sympathetic resonances. If you feed it noise, you get purity. This piece was revised for Viol in 2003 and continues to reinvent itself based on input and the liveliness of the space in which it is played.

ET-Extended Trombone

ET, Extended Trombone

Abstract
Are search engines musical? Can we use them in combination with sound libraries as a direct route to creating sonic structures? Is it possible to perform a sound library?

Keywords
Configurable composition, Extended instrumental technique, sound libraries, MaxMSP

ABOUT
ET Extended Trombone was started with support from the University of Edinburgh’s DTRF (Development Trust Research Fund). The fund helped initiate a new project with virtuoso Trombonist John Kenny. The purpose of the research was to develop a sound library of John Kenny’s extended playing techniques and use this library as a source for creating a new piece of music for computer and trombone and also to produce a CD of the library that is available to the public for re-use and remixing through custom made software.

Project schedule December 2004-March 2007

Sound Library Recording (Stage 1) December 2004
Recordings of trombone multiphonics

Sound Library recording (Stage 2) February 2005
Recordings of trombone multiphonics with female trombonist.

By this stage, we had generated a library of sounds that are quite probably unique across the world. John Kenny’s lip and voice multiphonic technique is very rare and he is one of the masters of this art. Emily White is one of John’s prodigies and has also mastered the skill. We now have a largely complete range of lip and voice multiphonics for Tenor Trombone with both male and female voices.

Live performance February 2005
Performance at the dialogues festival. http://www.dialogues2005.com

Sound Library recording (Stage 3)
Recordings of improvisations cut up and made into an informal library

This library is of variable quality. At this stage, I began to develop a naming and archive system. A way of naming sound files was used to enable real-time categorisation and look-up of sound types to create consistent and reliably sympathetic sonic structures while performing live with the trombone.

The files are to be stored on another University of Edinburgh creation, our online database called Infrar.ed, which is searchable.
http://blue.caad.ed.ac.uk/infrared/
I can dynamically search for features within the filenames to create meaningful relationships based on specific search criteria. These are then collected into groups and downloaded, then used in live performance to structure spontaneous material with or without a live musician.

February 2006
Presentation at the Access Sound File Conference in Dundee.
This talk introduced the extended trombone project as part of a developing trend in computer music with roots in historical composition techniques. Tightly controled discreet sonic elements are combined to create complex, randomised overarching structures.

March-Sept 2006, Project pause

Jan 2007-March 2007, project completion with live performance and production of CD documentation.

Haze

[img_assist|nid=143|title=Haze - interface|desc=|link=popup|align=right|width=100|height=63]HAZE ver.1 October 2002 Reactive music for computer with Clarinet in Bb Tenor Trombone and Cello Duration ca 5 minutes HAZE was written for members of the Paragon Ensemble and computer. Rather than interactive, HAZE is reactive. Essentially, the role of the live performers is to trigger computer based sound synthesis. The computer listens for pitch and amplitude data a re-maps this onto synthesis parameters. This version was prepared to open a concert and was created to be punchy and brief. The score was used as a very literal guide for the performers who found it useful to follow because of very restricted rehearsal time. The software for HAZE was written in the MaxMSP environment (www.cycling74.com) and makes use of the following third party external : Ted Apel���s MSP port of Miller Puckette���s fiddle~ which is downloadable from the following site: http://crca.ucsd.edu/~tapel/software.html (current as of 21/03/04). In performance and rehearsal, a 16 channel midi fader box is required to take care of the input and output signals. Controllers 1, 2 and 3 are assigned to the input levels of the three instruments and channels 14, 15 and 16 control the three levels of the computer output relative to each instrument. The routing to the four or two loudspeakers is undertaken by the software, which diffuses the computer output depending upon the parameters that the computer receives from live input. The software is compiled as a standalone application which is ASIO compatible and requires four dedicated channels of audio output and three dedicated channels of audio input. System requirements for the standalone ��� Apple Macintosh Power PC running OS 9.1 or 9.2. G3 500Mhz, 64Mb Ram, 5mb disk space ASIO drivers for ASIO compatible sound card to be placed in ASIO drivers folder. A version for OSX 10.2 and 10.3 is also included on the CD. The sound card should be Core-Audio and Core-Midi compatible the card can be configured in the standalone with ease. [img_assist|nid=143|title=Haze - interface|desc=Haze interface screenshot|link=none|align=right|width=640|height=401]Haze 2003, performed by the Paragon Ensemble, live recording, Adam house Theatre, Edinburgh 2003.

Hell's Angles [sic] 2003

GENERATIVE SOUND INSTALLATION / PERFORMANCE
1 computer | 3 virtual motorbikes | 8 sound channels | 360 degrees

Inside the computer's 'brain' are three virtual 'bikes', each with the same range of possibilities: to stay fixed in one place and rev, to make journeys within an eight channel speaker system or to travel from place to place with some extreme Doppler effects.

There are also several possibilities for the kind of 'bike' that will perform these actions ranging from a typical computerised 'Sega' sound to more realistic synthesis of a motorbike. The macro structure of the work will usually be similar on each initialisation but the micro details and mid and short-term events cannot be predicted.

INSTALLATION VERSION

8 Loudspeakers are positioned throughout the space. These can be within one room but ideally, the speakers will be placed in eight different rooms around the building.
The software is turned on and left to play while the virtual motorbikes burn rubber around the gallery.

At least one room, or the central space should have a bass bin to accomodate the low frequency sound of all the bikes as they travel around.

PERFORMANCE VERSION

8 Loudspeakers are positioned in the centre of a space, like a race track. The audience sit around the speakers and the software is initialised. After around 10 minutes, the stop button is pressed by the computer operator and the performance ends shortly afterwards.

CURRENT VERSION for APPLE OS9 computers only with ASIO comptibale 8 channel sound card. Revision for OS X and Windows XP under consideration.

Software created in the MAX/MSP programming language by Martin Parker, 2003-4

Shonky Music 2002

Shonky Music for tracker action organs.

The score of Shonky Music does not look like it sounds. Written for tracker action organs that are able to make sound while the pipes are half drawn, Shonky exploits the unreliability of the king of instruments when prepared in this uneven manner. Certain configurations of the stops result in a keyboard that is both out of tune and consistently unpredictable; the generic scales and runs that litter the score become rhythms and melodies.

Shonky was first performed on the Reid organ, a fabulous machine housed in Edinburgh���s Reid Concert Hall. It is an organ similar to that which Bach would have used in Leipzig. A second recording was made on the Henry Willis organ in the song school of St Mary���s Cathedral, Edinburgh, which was built in 1887.

Four and seven minutes long respectively, the Willis and the Reid organ recordings show how wildly different the piece can sound. With no tempo marking on the score, it is the player���s decision to respond to the idiosyncrasies of the instrument. When prepared, the Reid organ responded more sluggishly to touch and thus required a slower pace. For the more immediate response of the Henry Willis organ the performance was naturally much faster; labouring over the rather banal finger work would have yielded less interesting results.

Sounds of Line 2000

Sounds of line: download score

Sounds of Line - Rhythm
Sounds of Line - Melody
For 4 prepared French horns
duration ca. 7 minutes

Sounds of Line was first performed in Mittersill, Austria by the Salzburg Horn Quartet. The second performance took place in Salzburg in October 2000 and was subsequently broadcast by the Austrian Radio Federation (ORF) in December 2000.

It is worth experimenting with placing the horns around the performance space, especially if the room is small and the players are comfortable with this idea.

A good configuration follows:

First horn stands on the stage with third horn directly opposite at the back of the hall. 2nd horn is on the right (facing stage) and 4th horn is on the left. Standing waves and other beating patterns can be discovered across the space because of the close tuning.

This score includes minor revisions, made following rehearsals with the ensemble.

Preparation of horns: Sounds of Line - Rhythm

Each player removes the first finger valve slide on the F side leaving an open tube.
The code F:1 is used above the note when that finger position is required. Subsequent fingerings follow logically: F:1|2, F:1|3, F:1|2|3. Otherwise, play the written pitches as comfortably as possible.

NOTE:
The first valve should only be removed on horns where the air reaches that valve last (Paxman models for example). On horns where the air reaches the first finger valve before going to valves 2 and 3, the 3rd valve slider should be removed instead (This is the case for Alexander horns for example). Simply alter the fingerings by swapping the number 1 with 3 where appropriate.

Preparation of horns: Sounds of Line - Melody

Horns three and four should push F and Bb tuning slides in almost fully.
Leave the valve slides. The idea is to play severely sharp of horns 1 and 2.

The Spectral Tourist 2003

More detailed information is available in the attachment below.

Spectral_Tourist: Spectral Tourist image by www.fogbank.co.uk

The relationship between a musician and an acoustic instrument is not solely concerned with converting human gesture into pitch and timbre: there is a process between player and instrument that involves resistance. It is within the struggle to produce and then control a sound that conflict between a musician and his instrument can give rise to complex and interesting results.

It is a continuing struggle to make computer-based sounds that breathe with their own life and to play the computer like a musical instrument. Interfaces for transferring real-world data into the computer such as fader boxes, tracker-ball mice, graphics tablets, game controllers, wireless devices, motion tracking etc., are increasing in flexibility and interest and through software such as Max MSP , these interfaces can offer reasonable ways of converting human movement into sound. Joysticks, for example, are a ubiquitous, inexpensive and a generally reliable piece of technology. An external MAX object was written by Adam Schabtach in 2001 to collect joystick data and view it within Max MSP.

However, there is nothing inside the hardware of most joysticks to curb a gesture. They can be pulled between extremes in milliseconds, while with a real world instrument such as a saxophone, extremes are very hard to reach and have to be found with care to avoid complete breakdown of the system and a split note. Therefore, grafting the joystick's extremes to the extremes of one's software may result in an artificial and possibly unfulfilling musical experience.

One way in which to create some 'resistance' is to imagine the joystick as a tool for travelling rather than for gesture mapping. In computer games for example, one is never in the same place for long. Pushing forwards with differing degrees of intensity means that one travels forward at different speeds. This approach has been implemented in the Spectral Tourist, although the landscape traversed is not one of snipers and guard dogs but the hilly terrain of a spectrogram.

The View 2002

The View
January 2002
Download complete movie here;
http://www.tinpark.com/?q=theview_download

The View was filmed on location at an industrial site near Murrayfield in Edinburgh. The visual subject of the film is a monolithic building that was used to store alcohol before being registered for tax. At its location near other industrial buildings, shopping, residential and countryside areas, the dark walls covered in lichen and the residue of thirty years rain, the building emanates an awesome, awkward presence but it is unfortunate that it is scheduled for demolition at the end of 2004.

View a short clip below;

However, The View is not a work about the location, state or purpose of the building, nor a social comment or historical documentary; instead it is piece of 'video music' that uses the building as an abstract visual starting point for play with dynamics between sound and image.

Rather like concrete music, where sound is manipulated in the studio to form a composition, here a sequence of photographs of the building's walls have been processed to enhance and exaggerate the details. The image is rarely still and the roving eye of the camera works both in counterpoint and coincidence with the sound you hear. Whilst the visuals are sourced from the real world, the sound is purely synthesized pushing the scene further into abstraction.

The video was processed using Adobe Premiere (version 6) and the audio generated in Propellerheads REASON (version 1). All camera work and sound processing by Martin Parker 2002.

Trojan Women 2005

Trojan_women_chorus: Kate Dickie as Andromache Itxaso Moreno as Cassandra

I was comissioned by Theatre Cryptic to generate real-time visuals and sound/music for a version of Brendan Keneally's adaptation of Euripides' Trojan Women in 2005. The work was premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2005 and toured Scotland between September and November 2005.

Myra McFadyen as Hecuba
Kate Dickie as Andromache
Itxaso Moreno as Cassandra
Candice Edmunds as Helen
Keith Macpherson as Talthybius and Menelaus

Direction by Cathie Boyd
Design by Julia Bardsley
Lighting by Giuseppe di lorio
Sound design, composition and real time visuals by Martin Parker

For video click here

information 2

Information II for CD and recorders.

Antiorp 1999

Two Clarinets in Bb
Bassoon
Contrabass Recorder
Viola da Gamba (scordatura)
Bass Drum
Duration ca. 14 minutes
Written for EUCME (Edinburgh University Contemporary Music Ensemble), November 1999.

Information 1

Information I for bass recorder, delay unit and CD

Steinmetzarbeiten 1997

written in 1997 for the Yorkshire and Humberside Young Composer's Competition and performed at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Steinmetzarbeiten won category A of this competition. Performed by Nicholas Hodges (piano) and the Athelas Ensemble.

instrumentation;

Solo Piano
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet
Bassoon

Horn
Trumpet
Trombone

Percussion
Harp

Single Strings

listen to the piece here