Recently I have decided to work on two of my many shortcomings as a composer, one of them being the song structure and the other one being my first instrument, the piano, of which I have got estranged for a long period of time. My main problem with the piano has been the limitation that when you strike a key, the sound that will be produced by the piano will vanish rapidly without any possibility to manipulate it, if you only use the keys. Regarding song structure my problem as a composer has always been that it seems to be difficult for me to be short and simple. The self-imposed challenge therefore was to write some piano songs. During the process I happily realised that I slowly was regaining my ability to improvise on the piano, which I naturally had, when I was a child. My piano songs derive all from short and simple improvisations on a digital piano which resulted in simple motives, chords, clusters and so on. These piano sounds I processed electronically in real time with the absolutely gorgeous Evolution sampler by INA GRM (https://inagrm.com/en/store/product/5/evolution), in order to solve my problem with piano sound as described above. Within weeks I accumulated seven relatively short and simple pieces all featuring the piano as sound source and provider of musical ideas. I'm posting my Piano Song #2 here, because I'm curious about what you might think about the concept and the result. If you eventually get interested in the other six piano songs, you find them on my Bandcamp for free: http://ausgezeichnetstenohren.bandcamp.com/album/piano-songs.

More on this 435th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Disquiet Junto Project 0435: Woodshed Report — The Assignment: Share something you’ve been working on (and respond to what others post) — at:
https://disquiet.com/0435/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0435-woodshed-report/
There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Piano Song #2 [disquiet0435]

Damon Holzborn and I have created a shared patch game in order to collaborate remotely during lockdown that results in a series of solo pieces. Each week we both create a new patch on the Make Noise 0-Coast and record a short track using only the 0-Coast for both sound and interaction. We share the patch chart (The Prompt) and in the second half of the week we each record a track (The Response) using the patch the other sent.

My Junto track is this week's Response to Damon’s patch.
More on this 435th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Disquiet Junto Project 0435: Woodshed Report — The Assignment: Share something you’ve been working on (and respond to what others post) — at:

https://disquiet.com/0435/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0435-woodshed-report/

There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

John O'Brien's Album

Exquisite Coast Week 03 Response [disquiet0435: Woodshed Report] [exquisitecoast-response]

Layered stretched and pitch shifted sounds of an iron gate squeaking at the Drombeg Stones in County Cork, Ireland.

Drombeg Gate disquiet0435

My prompt from week for of the Exquisite Coast collaboration with Damon Holzborn.

Exquisite Coast Week 04 Prompt [exquisitecoast-prompt]]

http://ec.rustle.works/?patch=N4IghiBcICIJYGc4DsAuBTA5gJzKuA9siADQgBGUs6AbigAQwEC2KmArugF6kgDGVAIKoMydjXTYM2eggAWBdgBsAJvTyj2edPQCyASRj76AIXoBxbfVQF65HQHYA9AEYATPRoElqAHT0ABUkAM3Q+VHoAVlQ5egYXL19eYKoEJQIAd15MVLCiFQReOShQAAYoNwAWMhcoFwBmMjc6xpB6urJKioAOMkiOkAA2AYc6gE4yboGxipryyAca2sgXGuaVmvaNkBcuyDca-v2a4f2AXzI4EpB5gG0XUoBdGqhb+ueQdfuXD63b7o+R1ulQ+U0g9w+LmW93eZzOQA

Disintegration - [exquisitecoast-prompt]

This is a response to Dominguez Audio's Exquisite Coast Prompt Disintegration. Hear his track here:
https://llllllll.co/t/exquisite-coast-a-shared-patch-game-for-the-make-noise-0-coast/32805/7

See the patch and learn more about Exquisite Coast:
http://ec.rustle.works/?patch=N4IghiBcIKIMIAIBSB7AFgOwQdQKa4GsEAGAdhABoQAjKEVTBAeQHIAhAJwEtcMAdDAHdhAOgBW6DAFsU1brxEBjFFMohFdACIcUGXAgAOAGwCuAZxFqAJnQAsADmJrcdagdVUAZnQCMAJicqAHNXdzU0KFAnSD9bKh8oH1IqP0TkkABmRJ8qW0TiKgBWKABOKgA2NKpySB8ykHsoeyoSqHSfaKT4hNqM+NTa+p8s2va8yEL44tq-eMra2wBfKi5IkGiAbQyAXSoRjfLdkGmN+yOajZ8fbcXFoA

Disintegrating [exquisitecoast-response]

This is a response to "Disintegration" by Dominguez Audio; a part of the Exquisite Coast patch game. 
Hear it at:
https://llllllll.co/t/exquisite-coast-a-shared-patch-game-for-the-make-noise-0-coast/32805/7

Be Careful With That Interval [exquisitecoast-response]

A response to John O'Brien's week 04 Exquisite Coast prompt.


Exquisite Coast is a shared patch game for the Make Noise 0-Coast created by Damon Holzborn and John O’Brien. Exquisite Corpse is a collaborative image or text game, developed by the Surrealists, where a text or drawing is created either by some set rule or by only revealing the end of what the previous person contributed. In that spirit, Exquisite Coast uses a tight set of technical constraints as an artistic challenge that encourage a deep exploration of the instrument. These guidelines are designed to foster creativity, provide a useful method to get to know your 0-Coast, and engage with a wider community of music makers.

How to Play the Exquisite Coast Shared Patch Game

Process

Create a patch and record a performance using only the 0-Coast (the Prompt).
Document the state of your 0-Coast at the end of the Prompt recording.
Share your Prompt for others to use (the Response).
Guidelines

All sound and control comes from the 0-Coast — no outside MIDI or CV.
The only outside modules allowed are passive mults (this minor exception makes sense for those who don’t have any stacking cables).
MIDI B CV and Gate should be set to LFO mode.
Re-patching while performing either the Prompt or the Response is not allowed; all interaction is through the knobs and buttons.
The knob positions notated in the patch chart should reflect the state of the patch at the end of the Prompt recording. The Response Author should use the knob positions as they explore the patch, but a Response recording need not start at those positions.
Linear editing (splicing) of the recordings is acceptable, but not multi-tracking.
Only mastering-type plug-ins (reverb, dynamic processing, EQ, etc.) are to be used on the recordings (i.e. no distortion, delay, flanger, etc.).
If you share your recordings on platforms like SoundCloud or YouTube, consider adding [exquisitecoast-prompt] or [exquisitecoast-response] at the end of the title so others can find your recordings. We’ll keep any eye out for such tracks and add them to our SoundCloud playlist (YouTube playlist to come soon). Don’t forget to include a link to your patch in the track description (and of course give credit to the original author when posting a Response).
If you share a patch on social media, consider using the hashtag #exquisitecoast.
If you are comfortable with doing so, it would be helpful to include contact info (email, website, social media, etc.) in the Author Info section so others can properly credit you in their response (or tell you how great your patch is!).

060120003 Week 04 [exquisitecoast-response]

For more info, go to:

https://llllllll.co/t/exquisite-coast-a-shared-patch-game-for-the-make-noise-0-coast/32805/15

060220005 my burnt fife [exquisitecoast-response]

This composition, the ninth in my SoundPrism series, grew out of my experience being sheltered-in-place from March-June of 2020.  All sounds are derived from acoustic recordings of a variety of items found around my house and garage: ironing boards, chairs, hangars, slamming doors and cabinets, etc.  All processing was done with the RTCmix software toolkit and final mixing was done using Logic Pro X.

SoundPrism 9: At Home

Turquoise

Damon Holzborn is an improviser and composer who works primarily with electronics. In performance he uses custom software, traditional effects, and interactive processes to sculpt sounds both novel and familar. His software designs focus on dynamic instruments that are particularly effective for improvisational performance. He has presented his work in the US, Mexico, Europe and Japan, performing as a solo artist and with several ensembles, including Donkey - a decades-long collaboration with musician/filmmaker Hans Fjellestad.

Disintegrating [exquisitecoast-response]

Damon Holzborn

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