Name: The Scissors Grinder by Matthew M. Conroy
Duration: 4 min 59 s
Description: Guitar, and guitar feedback, mixed and modified with Csound.

Guitar, and guitar feedback, mixed and modified with Csound.

The Scissors Grinder

Demo of current setup, prepping for Wire Factory (Lowell, MA) show on June 7. The central devices are the Ciat-Lonbarde Clicker and the Ciat-Lonbarde Peterlin. There is some serious low-frequency content.

Multinoise in-progress demo

My version of a chaconne, an application of a bit of Henry Cowell's ideas for rhythm (as previously embodied in Leon Theremin's Rhythmicon). Written using a seven-note subset of a microtonal Meta-Slendro scale. This is my first published work to incorporate percussion (albeit synthesized or sampled)

This was recorded in a single take. There is post-processing (mixing and mastering) but no edits or overdubs. Some effects are digital, but all sound sources are analog, as are some of the effects.

Layers:
- a cloud of tones from two Wingie2 resonators, triggered by chaotic/stochastic triggers
- a slow repeating melody rendered on modular synth (XPO + DPO) with multiple layers in unison (including a layer processed by the Cosmodio Glitch Witch pitch-modulated fuzz pedal), using Make Noise 0-Ctrl as sequencer
- a bass line that follows the melody, produced by the EAE Prismatic Wall resonator pedal with the Red Panda Labs Radius ring modulator, also driven by the 0-Coast 
- synthetic percussion, a combination of the Neutral Labs Scrooge (triggered by the Beast-Tek Amoeba and Mystic Circuits IDUM modules) and Disting EX sample playback (also triggered by Amoeba)

Image credit: https://throughlightandtime.com/ldn-122-lrgb-dr-350-29-june-2025-2/

A Furious Calm

https://www.binauraldiaries.co.uk/blog/morning-birdsong-camping-in-devon-11042025-0600

Recording birdsong at 6am on a woodland campsite in Devon this April was a rewarding experience. The early morning stillness offered an ideal backdrop for capturing the natural soundscape, with the chorus of birds becoming increasingly vibrant as dawn broke over the trees.

Using the Sony PCM-M10's built-in microphones, I was able to achieve clear, immersive recordings despite the limitations of onboard mics in such an environment. The compact design and low noise floor of the PCM-M10 proved advantageous, allowing for unobtrusive placement within the campsite and quick setup.

A highlight of the session was the distinctive tapping and drumming of woodpeckers, which added a dynamic rhythmic element to the recordings. Two recordings were merged to produce the final recording presented here.

Devon Camping Birdsong 11/04/2025 06:00

I made this for myself to use as "Hey, it's pretty late - how about you turn down the lights and start thinking about bed?"-ringtone.

Remember to turn down the lights

IoL 25 tryout

More on the 712th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Zebra Code — The Assignment: What rhythm do you hear in a bar code? — at https://disquiet.com/0712/

abc iodized request - disquiet712

looping snippet of previous track + particle noise + granular + field recording

loop thing 2

An electronic composition, original sounds created using Pure Data.

Sadness in the Dark (naviarhaiku609)

End of the Republic uses the words of Abraham Lincoln to produce a dystopian view of the state of the republic.

The music was made using a Soma Enner, a granular synth and two tape decks running at different speeds. It was of course recorded live with the words dubbed afterwards.

Note that a cassette version is available with 2 bonus tracks (https://samanthajanesmith.bandcamp.com/track/end-of-the-republic) and the vinyl version is with 3 bonus tracks (vinyl is here: elasticstage.com/samanthajsmith)

End of the Republic

This is the short edit, the long edit is on Bandcamp: https://ausgesuchtestenohren.bandcamp.com/album/memorial-to-a-long-lost-piano

The present work originates from an intimate engagement with a personal sound archive. In 2017, I recorded the interior resonance of an upright piano that had accompanied my childhood — an instrument now lost, along with the family home in which it stood. These recordings, focusing on the raw timbral qualities of the strings, became the basis for Exercises in Minimalism (2018). The material was subjected to reductive processes: attacks were removed, durations extended, and harmonic overtones isolated and layered to form sustained piano drones. Through this process, the familiar sound of the piano was transformed into an abstract field of resonance, emphasizing texture over gesture and continuity over articulation.

Eight years later, I returned to these recordings and composed a new piece derived entirely from the earlier material. Conceived as a funeral music for the lost piano, the work employs convolution reverb generated from the Hamilton Mausoleum — a site renowned for its exceptionally long and unpredictable echo. The resulting spatialization situates the reconstructed piano sounds within a vast and reverberant acoustic environment, blurring the boundaries between presence and absence, memory and space.

This composition explores the intersection of personal memory, acoustic space, and sonic decay. By recontextualizing archival sound within an architectural reverberation, it examines how listening can become an act of remembrance.


Bandcamp

Memorial to a long-lost piano (edit)

A math person making and modifying sounds with custom code, Csound, homemade electronics.

The Scissors Grinder

Matthew M. Conroy

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