Gordon Monro - "Starfish"

"The Train on Platform No. 4 (But Its So Obvious)"

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"New Stars"

"Starfish"

Laptop improvisation with video projection, duration 12 mins approx (2005).

Program note

Starfish is a laptop improvisation based on a network of bi-directional delay lines, or "waveguides". The waveguides act as springs, tending to expand when sound is present in them. The nodes where the waveguides join act as masses. The performer provides the source sounds by singing into a microphone.

The performer has only a small number of global controls: a "viscosity" control which acts to slow down the movement of the masses; a "dissipation" control affecting how rapidly the sound dies away in the waveguides; and a control which affects the "widths" of the input and output points relative to the rest of the network. Within the constraints of these controls, the network behaves autonomously according to the pressures of the sound circulating within it.

The control of the network takes place via a video game controller, so the performer can stand up and see the audience. The delay network is projected, so the audience and performer see the same thing.

Some images

Four images from the program in action. Click on the small images below for enlarged versions.

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The piece in performance. Click on the image for an enarged version.

(89 kB)

Comment:

This was an "anti-laptop" piece. It differs from standard laptop performance in four ways:

The audience can see me. I am standing up, not hidden behind a screen. Also I use a video game controller, so they can see what I am doing.
The audience can see what I am seeing. If there is a screen in front of me, it only shows what the projector shows. (I don't need a screen in front of me at all.) The projected network is actually the sound-processing machinery.
The audience knows what my source sounds are; they are whatever noises I make into the microphone.
I don't have much control over what my network does; as a mass-spring network it behaves autonomously.

Technical requirements

Microphone stand, 240V power point, table for laptop.
Data projector, cable from laptop. Preferably VGA, though TV, either S-video or composite video, is possible.
Stereo audio feed to mixing desk.

Performances, etc

Australasian Computer Music Conference, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, 12th July 2005.
Spac{v}e series at Electrofringe, Newcastle, NSW, 2 October 2005.
"Live Wires", Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 29 March 2006.
QUT Computational Arts concert at Queensland University of Technology, QUT Creative Industries Precinct, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, 3rd May 2007.
Undue Noise at ICU, Halford St, Castlemaine, Victoria, 20th September2008.

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