Zero Input Mixer workshop and ensemble at electro-music 2015

Acoustic Interloper

This year we will be repeating the immensely successful Zero Input Mixer Workshop on Saturday, and then the EMZIM2015 Orchestra performance on Sunday morning, at Electro-Music 2015 There is an EM2015 thread here.

If you have a portable mixer and optionally some FX (hardware or software) to throw into the feedback path(s), you are invited to participate. EMZIM veterans do not need to attend the Saturday workshop, although they are welcome to do so. ZIM newcomers must attend Saturday's workshop in order to perform on Sunday.

There is a lot of info on last year's workshop and collaboration here.

Before starting ZIM work for the first time, please read Muied Lumens' excellent article on 'Feedback (No-input Mixing)' in the EM Wiki, along with this thread from the Forum.

I will lead the workshop.

This year's composition for Sunday is simpler than the last few, which have had 4 movements. The title is Tapestry. Basically, show up with a bunch of distinct sounds. The goal of the composition is to weave our sounds into a tapestry. Don't play more than two sounds at a time, and if there are a lot of performers, don't play more than one. This year's piece is collaborative sound sculpting. Plan on falling back and listening regularly, and then responding to what other performers are doing. I have found that a very useful strategy for coming up with & extending musical ideas.

You can sign up on this thread if you are new. It would be good for the veterans to let me know if they plan to play Sunday. Any number of people are welcome to join.

I have some new performance techniques to explore between now and September, will post updates in this thread.

Dale

onewayness · Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 1:13 pm Post subject:

Hi Dale.

Count me in, schedule permitting.

adh

Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:46 am Post subject:

Steve Mokris posted a video of the ZIM Ensemble performance from the June 13-14, 2015 Kutztown University Computer Music & Visualization Conference

HERE

and videos of the entire weekend's performances

THERE.

Can't thank you enough, Steve. thanks

Acoustic Interloper

Linda Parson kindly replaced my Yamaha MG124cx when Musician's Friend offered a $90 Stupid Deal of the Day discount on Father's Day. I dropped a table on its predecessor MG124cx a couple years ago during a car ride home from a gig and destroyed it. Jeremy has been salvaging parts from that one.

Attached is a Zero Input Mixer practice session, using the Alto ZMX862 that I have been playing for the last couple of years as a rhythm machine feeding into the Yamaha. This piece explores the percussive & rhythmic properties of ZIM. I love when playing around in the region where rhythmic pulses transition into tones. Cool

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My Yamaha MG124cx & Alto ZMX862, acclimating to each other.

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BabyRattle3Juyl2015.mp3

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Baby's Electronic Rattle, copyright Dale E. Parson, 2015, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. You may copy & repost this recording as long as you attribute yours truly as

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blue hell

Acoustic Interloper

Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 10:10 am Post subject: Subject description: KUCMVC2015

I posted the recording of the June 14 ZIM performance at the 2015 Kutztown University Computer Music & Visualization Conference here.

Acoustic Interloper

A ZIM hint of the day: When playing two close-but-not-identical pitches on two ZIM signal paths, use speakers if you want to hear the beat frequencies. In my experience, if you bleed the two channels together within the mixer, they turn into a mono soup pretty quickly. But, if you keep them separate & drive them through speakers, you get nice beat effects in the air that you cannot possibly get with headphones, since the signals do not get a chance to mix via headphones. I have never found them to beat inside my head!

Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 4:48 pm Post subject:

I posted a ~4 minute video of a visualized ZIM session on FB. It's partly Ableton Live. The primary signal generation mechanism is feedback from outputs of the laptop's audio interface to its inputs, with FX processing in Live, mostly EQ and delays including granulation, along with some live signal sampling->pitchShifting. A few of the FX include LFOs, but the primary signal source is feedback. The whole thing silences if you cut the feedback paths, like any other ZIM.

Visualization is with a Processing script that I have been noodling along for the planetarium for a few years.

Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:29 pm Post subject:

Some perspective on composition for ZIM from another FB thread, starting off with ZIM scaffoldings for electro-music 2012…2015:
2012:
1. Introduce the instruments (spoken & performance) / warmup / harmonize with each other / create beat signals, etc. This part was basically harmonies.
2. Noise.
3. Robot / space ship / etc. sounds.
4. Segue back through 3, 2, 1, fade out.
2013:
1. VOICES (about 6 minutes)
2. ENGINES (about 6 minutes)
3. ENTROPY (about 6 minutes)
4. TIME TRAVEL (about 6 minutes, kudos to Jeremy dePrisco)
2014 (based on Wolfram’s classification scheme for complex systems):
1. FIXED
2. PERIODIC
3. CHAOTIC
4. COMPLEX
2015 (this September):
TAPESTRY. Basically, show up with a bunch of distinct sounds. The goal of the composition is to weave our sounds into a tapestry. Don't play more than two sounds at a time, and if there are a lot of performers, don't play more than one. This year's piece is collaborative sound sculpting. Plan on falling back and listening regularly, and then responding to what other performers are doing. I have found that a very useful strategy for coming up with & extending musical ideas.

While I have managed to play a passable version of the Jimi Hendrix rendition of *Star Spangled Banner* on ZIM, my advice with respect to musical composition is to compose for the instrument. Better yet, watch Forbidden Planet Smile

https://youtu.be/unSrf-htPbk
https://youtu.be/oNKhju6Pryg

Acoustic Interloper

Here is a ZIM piece from last night, Yellow Jacket Lemonade. I used no computer other than the portable Sony recorder which I used to record the piece using the built-in mics pointed at my desk monitors. I played the Yamaha and Alto mixers pictured near the top of this thread.

I have started avoiding headphones and non-mic recording with ZIM because the air serves as another, final mixer channel. As I have commented elsewhere, using the air allows you to create beat signals between two separate channels coming out of the mixer that are difficult to duplicate using other techniques. I suppose if you had enough mixer channels, you could do it, but bleeding two channels into each other doesn't do it; that usually just degrades to a single-pitch mono signal.

The only built-in effect from the Yamaha in this recording is an echo delay, starting around 11 minutes, that I used to echo various short ZIM pulses. That effect appears regularly to the end of the piece, along with effect-less ZIMmerry.

Almost-equally-tempered chromaticism and much use of beats at various pitch ranges and granularities pervade the piece.

YellowJacketLemonade.mp3

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Yellow Jacket Lemonade, Copyright Dale E. Parson, 2015, Creative Commons 3.0. Distribute freely with this notice.

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YellowJacketLemonade.mp3

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Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 9:03 pm Post subject:

Zero Input Mixer Ensemble from Sunday September 13, 2015, at Electro-Music 2015, playing "The Weave" of woven sonic threads (or "threats"). After we all came up together, I conducted us back down to one soloist, then brought up the next soloist before conducting down the previous (thus giving a 10 second duet). Each solo was 2 minutes. After the last solo I conducted everyone back up, one by one, in reverse order, and we played the second half of the piece together. This was our biggest ZIM ensemble so far, and the seminar on the previous day was equally well attended. Thanks to everyone who played and listened, to Steve Mokris for the visuals, and thanks to LuxSeeker for monitoring the house mixer. Cool

The performers, numbered in the solo sequence below. Michael and I didn't solo. Very Happy

Jeremy dePrisco (7)
Robert Dorschel (EIGHT)
Bill Fox (4)
Adam Holquist (6)
Dave Lind (5)
Bill Manganaro (1)
Michael O’Bannon (first duet in reverse order, joining Robert)
Dale Parson
Andrew Sblendorio (2)
Joe Wall (3)
Steve Mokris (visuals)

EDIT Sept. 16: Added the photos. The recording is the bottom attachment.

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Bill, Andrew, and me, photo by Steve Mokris

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The full crew, photo by Steve Mokris

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TheWeave2015EM.mp3

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Zero Input Mixer Ensemble at Electro-Music 2015 playing "The Weave".

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TheWeave2015EM.mp3

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Acoustic Interloper

The organizers made very few sampler CDs this year, and they sold out on the first day. It is possible to get them on-line, I assume from the store, but I hate to see my 4:17 piece from the sampler go largely unheard. So, here it is for the electro-music listeners and radio, Baby's Electro Castanets, a mix of two solo ZIM sessions, one software and the other hardware ZIM.

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Photo art used on the CD inside cover, names etc. in the central dark region. It is a waveform display of the audio recording using my custom visualizer written in Processing for use in the Kutztown University Planetarium.

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Another visualization of the recording, not used in the CD art.

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BabyElectroCastanets.mp3

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BabyElectroCastanets.mp3

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Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 7:23 pm Post subject:

More electro-music 2015 ZIM pics by Hong Waltzer. Thanks, Hong!

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Saturday's workshop 1

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Saturday's workshop 2

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ZIMheads.jpg

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Some nice head shots. :-)

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Full frontal ZIM

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MoscSteveDale.jpg

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Steve Mokris & I join the Mosc set with Jack Tamul. I was on ZIM. Steve also doing visuals, I think.

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blue hell · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 6:54 am Post subject:

Just listened to YellowJacketLemonade (dur. 24:42) TheWeave (dur: 49:36) and BabyElectroCastanets (dur 4:16) ... you have something with numbers it seems Dale, all durations being "nice" in a way Cool

Anyways, I enjoyed listening, thanks for posting these Smile

Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:30 am Post subject:

Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 9:49 am Post subject:

Steve Mokris posted the video of the EM-2015 ZIM Ensemble on Vimeo. Steve performed the visuals. Thanks again, Steve. thanks

Acoustic Interloper · Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2015 2:31 pm Post subject:

Just posted a new thread on Feedback related to ZIM here
http://electro-music.com/forum/post-414741.html#414741