EM-hören 22.5.08
mit Edgard-Varèse-Gastprofessor
Fernando Lopez-Lezcano

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Dinosaur Music (1986)
Bill Schottstaedt

The Dinosaur at War (today)
Net vs. Net Collective

Espresso Machine II (1995)
Fernando Lopez-Lezcano

iICEsCcRrEeAaMm (1999, 2004)
Fernando Lopez-Lezcano

Tomato Music (2007)
Chris Chafe

Kitchen <-> Miniature(s) (2005-2007)
Fernando Lopez-Lezcano

Dinosaur Music (1986) by Bill Schottstaedt

"Dinosaur Music" (1984) was a continuation, in a sense, of "Colony" and "from the Book of the Burning Mirror". It uses the FM violin instrument even for the percussive sounds. The original inspiration for this music was the cartoon "Bambi meets Godzilla", if I remember right.
The piece played in concert is a freshly rendered four channel copy using Bill's score and a current version of Scheme CLM.

William Schottstaedt was born in New York City, and grew up in Oklahoma. He earned various degrees in music from Stanford University, including the DMA in composition. He worked for a while in the computer industry, and is currently on the staff of the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford.

The Dinosaur at War (today)
Net vs. Net Collective for Three Synthesizers, Three Locations, and One Acoustic Network of Four Channels. Performers: Net vs. Net, this time:

·       Fernando Lopez-Lezcano @ TU, Berlin:      Dinosaur Synth

·       Juan-Pablo Caceres @ CCRMA, Stanford:     Synth + FDN network reverberator

·       Alain Renaud @ SARC, Belfast:     Analog Synth

This piece is a structured improvisation that explores a 3-ways synthetizer (2 real analog, one fake analog) extravaganza. On top of that, feedbacks an delays are explored network acoustic path, using a 4-channel Feedback Delay Network. This piece takes also inspiration in the original Lopez-Lezcano's "El dinosaurio habla", for analog synth and superlooper. We use Jacktrip, SuperCollider, a lot of analog and digital circuits, and The Network.

Fernando Lopez-Lezcano (born in Buenos Aires, Argentina) received Master Degrees in Electronic Engineering (Faculty of Engineering, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Music (Carlos Lopez Buchardo National Conservatory, Buenos Aires). He has been working in the field of electroacoustic music since 1976 (instrument design, composition, performance). Also worked in industry for almost 10 years as a microprocessor hardware and software design engineer for embedded real-time systems and taught computer music at Keio Universiy, Japan. He created and maintains the Planet CCRMA at Home Open Source package collection of music and sound applications for Linux systems. Since 1993 he keeps computers and users at CCRMA happy (most of the time), teaches courses at CCRMA, makes music when time allows, and enjoys the company of good friends. His music has been released on CD and played in the Americas, Europe, and East Asia.

Juan-Pablo Cáceres is a composer, performer and engineer born in Santiago, Chile. He is currently a PhD student in computer music at CCRMA in Stanford University (USA). His work includes instrumental and electronic pieces, as well as performance of avantgarde rock and pop music, with a albums edited in Europe and America. Juan-Pablo's interests include Network music and performance (he is an active member of the SOUNDWire project), popular experimental music, boundary pushing computer music (in both directions).

Alain B. Renaud is originally from Geneva, Switzerland. Prior to embarking on PhD research in network music performance at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) in Belfast in 2005, he was head of research for the London-based digital strategy consultancy, Rightscom from 2001 to 2005. While working in London he gained a MSc. in Music Information Technology from City University (2002-2004) under the supervision of Simon Emmerson. His research, which is sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) focuses on the development of networked music performance systems and the impact such systems have on the various music communities. Alain has published several papers on the subject and has organized many events with the aim to introduce networked music performance to the research community as well as the general public.

Net vs. Net is a collective of musicians exploring the potential of high-speed networks as a real-time performance medium. Founded by Juan-Pablo Caceres and Alain Renaud, it takes its inspiration from the comic strip "Spy vs. Spy" as a metaphor of the "delay battle" that happens on the network between two or more geographically displaced musicians.

Espresso Machine II (1995) by Fernando Lopez-Lezcano
For PadMaster / Radio Drum (Fernando Lopez-Lezcano) and Celleto (Chris Chafe)

Espresso Machine II is the second incarnation of a piece that was composed for PadMaster, an improvisation / performance software environment that uses Max Mathew's Radio Drum as a three dimensional controller and was written by the composer. The Radio Drum interfaces with the NeXT through a custom MIDI protocol and is used to trigger and control isolated events and event sequences in real time. The piece was written for MIDI controlled synthesizers and a live electronic cello player. It is an evolving dialog between the acoustic / electronic sounds of the Celletto, played by Chris Chafe, and the contrasting timbres produced by two synthesizer modules controlled by the comnposer through the PadMaster program. PadMaster essentially provides several palettes or scenes of pre-built elements that are combined and controlled in real time to create an electronic soundscape for the Celletto performance.

iICEsCcRrEeAaMm (1999, 2004) by Fernando Lopez-Lezcano
for 8 channel playback.

iICEsCcRrEeAaMm was a beta version of a multichannel tape piece I was working on in 1999. As in the software world, Marketing informed me that in future versions bugs would be squashed and new features would be added for the benefit of all listeners. And that really happened! This is a new rendition of the original piece, done in 2004, in 8 channels and with better resolution, higher sampling rate and a better reverberation environment. "iscream" refers to the origin of most of the concrete sound materials used in the piece. Screams and various other utterances from all of Chris Chafe's kids were digitally recorded in 1993 in all their chilling and quite upsetting beauty. They were latter digitally fed into the "grani" sample grinder, a granular synthesis instrument developed by the composer. "ICECREAM" refers to the reward the kids (and myself) got after the screaming studio session. The piece was composed in the digital domain using Bill Schottstaedt's Common Lisp Music (CLM) synthesis language. Many software instruments and quite a few other samples of real world sounds made their way into the bitstream.

Tomato Music (2007) by Chris Chafe
A collaboration with Greg Niemeyer and Nick Hanselman presented at Machine Project Gallery, LA
for 15 channel playback (mixdown to 12 channels) and expanded stereo (4 channels)

Tomato Music and Speed Ripenning are two movements from Tomato Quintet, music from tomatoes in a sound art installation
Five vats of tomatoes were ripened for 10 days in the Tomato Quintet exhibition. Greg calls it a "New Media Still Life." During the ripening process music was generated in real time by computer algorithms influenced by CO2, temperature and light readings from sensors in each vat. After the ripening, time was sped up and new music created at different time scales. A stand-alone computer music piece, "Tomato Music," captures the spirit of the whole thing. At dinner time, a (human) trio accompanied one of the movements during the closing pasta-fest.
Movement I is derived from 4 1/2 days of 15 channels (5 x light, temp, CO2) mapped to many parameters of 15 hydraulis organs. Movement II has elements of the final "Speed Ripening," the final performed "Dinner Trio," and some larger number of hydraulis organs through which I piped some water sounds (from Greece) and some of the performers in the "Trio."

Chris Chafe is a composer/ cellist / music researcher with an interest in computer music composition and interactive performance. He has been a long-term denizen of the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford University where he directs the center and teaches computer music courses. His doctorate in music composition was completed at Stanford in 1983 with prior degrees in music from the University of California at San Diego and Antioch College. Two year-long research periods were spent at IRCAM, and the Banff Center for the Arts developing methods for computer sound synthesis based on physical models of musical instrument mechanics. Current projects include the "SoundWIRE" experiments for musical collaboration and network evaluation using high-speed internets for high-quality sound. He has performed his music in Europe, the Americas and Asia, and composed soundtracks for documentary films. Two recent discs of his works are available from Centaur Records. In Spring 2001, a collaboration with artist Greg Niemeyer entitled Ping was exhibited at SF MOMA and online via the Walker Art Center. A second collaboration, Oxygen Flute, was created for the San Jose Museum of Art. A CD of music from both installations is also available. "Organum" is their present project, a completely synthetic animation being developed for digital planetariums and individual game play.

Kitchen <-> Miniature(s) (2005-2007) by Fernando Lopez-Lezcano
for 24 channel 3D playback (mixdown to 12 2D channels)

A good quality sound recorder and a kitchen. Humanity tuned to common shapes and sizes that create shared resonances I have come to recognize everywhere there is a kitchen. These tightly chained miniatures explore a few of the many kitchen utensils and small appliances that I recorded (that is, anything that would fit with me inside my bedroom closet). Featured prominently through the piece is the mechanical timer of a toaster oven, as well as cookie sheets, plates, trivets, the klanging sound and inner resonances of the lid of a wok and many more kitchen instruments. More than 3000 lines of Common Lisp code are used to create large scale forms and detailed sound processing. Without Bill Schottstaedt's CLM (Common Lisp Music), Juan Pampin's ATS (Analysis, Transformation and Synthesis) and Rick Taube's Common Music this piece would not have existed. Grani (a granular synthesis software instrument) and other old software friends I have created over the years helped as well.