Six Axioms for Solo Radio Drum

06.08.2009 // Mathemagical, Max | Msp | Jitter, Visuals // Rucyl // No Comments

From Randy Jones’ website:

Six Axioms is a visual music piece lasting around 30 minutes, a structured improvisation in three parts. The piece is realized using Max/MSP/Jitter. Most of it is made with particle systems which produce both sounds and visuals. Playing the Radio Drum triggers the creation of particles and moves them through different fields in a simulation.

The particles are drawn with thousands of different little images that I either painted with a brush and ink or printed from plants I gathered on the Washington coast. These are the visual analog of the “grains” that produce the sound. In the motion of masses of these audiovisual particles, shapes and sounds emerge which are synthetic but grounded in Nature. They act intuitively real, simulating an internal reality which is subjective.

The Radio Drum is a kind of 3d Theremin. It uses an electrical field to sense the locations of two drum sticks above a pad. Invented at Bell Labs by Max Mathews and Bob Boie, its use as a percussion controller was pioneered by Andrew Schloss.

Related posts:

1. Movement Systems Drum Computer
2. Four Tiny Drum Machines by Eric Archer
3. Far Red by Monolake, u-matic & telematique
4. Pirate Radio and a Rasta Road Movie
5. Ian McCulloch Guest Set with Mark Ronson on EVR Radio