roglok.net

This performance by Tilman Fälker and me pays hommage to the principles of pattern/loop based sequencers. The rails of a toy train were assembled in a circle and the joints were equipped with selfmade contact microphones. The noise caused by the passing train was then processed by a mixer and fed through guitar effect pedals such as delay, distortion and phasing units, creating a unique soundscape. The project was published in the book Lautsprecherei Re:Sound-Art-Design, where it is fully documented.

The Klang Klötzchen Kiste (Sound Block Box) is a loop-based virtual reality sequencing tool for percussive sound events. Using input devices that are tracked by infrared cameras, the user can create and move cubes in a virtual 3D environment. Each cube-color represents a different sound. The position of a cube inside the box controls it’s pitch, volume and panorama information. When the cursor (represented by a vertical plane) hits a cube, the corresponding sound event is triggered.

In Performance-Mode, the cursor plane is detached from the loop and the sound can be manually scanned by gestural input, providing a simple but highly immersive tool for musical live performance - enough to thrill my professor Diedrich Diederichsen (pictured with triple goggles).

The application works as a universal parameter-controller – how it sounds in the end is determined by the mapping of the parameters to the underlying sound software.

I would like to thank Jörg Frohnmayer - without his help, this could not have been realised.