From a live performance by me (aka Mage of Machines) at City of Refuge UCC in Oakland, California, on April 19th 2014.

Three Hours Agony

Rick Dana Corner Case SpringStreetStudio - 8_13_23, 10.21 PM

Recorded on a rainy day during sunset in brooklyn on march 5th, 2025

additional voice + whistle added on march 8th

Cello Meditations IV

This one started out as four different pieces. Uses the Roland SC7 and MKS70, Waldorf MicroWave, Kurzweil 1000PX, Korg EX8000, Emu Procussion, Peavey V3, and Yamaha TX81Z.

Hypercube

This is one of my best compositions. Wonderfully tasteful guitar licks are added by Dick Hamilton.  Originally recorded on 4-track cassette tape.


Renaissance Ninja

Spindrift is the 3rd track from NetWorks 3: Thresholds, the entire album can be heard on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc. or purchased on Bandcamp: shawnbell.bandcamp.com/album/networks-3-thresholds.

Constraints on the connections and interactions between the entities of systems are central to what defines them. This is true of the interactions between the entities that make up matter, cells, societies, ecosystems, planetary systems and so on. It is also true for games and art. Constraints are what define, and how we recognize, musical genres and are key in the process of creation.

“Spindrift” is an example of the diverse, self-organizing musical forms that information sharing over simple networks can produce. NetWorks represents six years of programming and tuning a network of 64 nodes that share music performance data including pitch, duration, velocity, and entry delay (entry delays result in rhythmic patterns, motives and larger scale structures such as phrases and sections). Articulations such as legato, staccato, etc., as well as pedalling and various synthesis parameters are also often determined by the network.

NetWorks has been “tuned” to generate patterns at "the edge of chaos,” that is, balanced between variety and harmony (through repetition, for example). Although not explicitly programmed, one can often hear motives that repeat, vary, develop into melodies, diverge and return, all through the simple interactions between nodes. If constraints define genre, NetWorks is a search for new genres and cross-genres. To modify a phrase of Christopher Langton’s (a pioneer in the field of Artificial Life), NetWorks is the study of “music-as-it-could-be.”

The approach taken to mapping the patterns to sound is to ensure their clarity, not to obfuscate them by complex synthetic textures or other effects readily available during mixing, for example by applying an echo effect. No notes were harmed in the mixing of these pieces! Since the music of NetWorks is self-organizing, sampled instruments were often chosen to include the “human touch.”

The NetWorks network of 64 nodes is infinitesimally minuscule compared to natural networks, and six years of “tuning” and exploring some of its possible architectures and their musical potential is hardly a beginning. The sounds chosen to manifest the musical patterns discovered by the network attempt to reflect the mystery and wonder that virtually unlimited diversity can come from such small beginnings and such simple models of interaction.

"Thresholds" is good for focused listening, ambience, a background for work, mediating and falling asleep. A decent pair of headphones is recommended for focused listening.

NetWorks 3: Thresholds

Spindrift

Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL2UbtWWlB8

Here's my entry into the Gravitas Create remix competition for Inner G. I have been in love with the music of Zebbler Encanti Experience ever since 2013's Psychic Projections, so taking part in this remix competition was very special for me!

Inner G by Zebbler Encanti Experience (BearsyKins Remix)

Zebbler Encanti Experience - Inner G (BEARSLY Remix)

I'm a software engineer, musician, and installation artist, into algorithmic and generative music and visuals using a wide variety of languages and environments.

Hypercube

NoSuchTim