statics is a non-standard sound synthesis program that uses functional iteration to both generate sound events and organize them temporally.  Since statics was designed by a composer with musical goals in mind, the program is itself is a collection of compositional decisions.  Furthermore, the unique timbres and structures created by statics are a direct result of these decisions.  

statics creates sonic events by working abstractly with the digital sample (the basic unit of computer sound)—generating and organizing individual samples algorithmically through the iteration of a nonlinear map, i.e. functional iteration.  All sonic events (which range from pitched material to percussive impulses), perceived gestures, and even the very structure of the piece emerge from the concatenation of samples as determined by functional iteration.  Composition is thus redefined as software design and the selection musically viable renderings from the program’s output.  

All of the compositions realized with statics are constructed from multiple layers.  Each layer is organized around a similar attractor consisting of twenty values.  Likewise, the seed values for each layer are close to, if not exactly, identical, making the resulting sonic output also similar.  The layers are made to vary slight by using a different constant value in the iterated map, thus creating a unique attractor for each layer.  In cyclian, the start times of the five layers are staggered and the durations are adjusted accordingly, so that each subsequent entry is a more compressed version of the previous layer.


statics: cyclian (2006) for fixed media

DC-based Composer, Audio Engineer, Sound Artist, Educator

Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Stephen ventured east to study composition at the University of Maryland and stayed.

Theatricality, language, and abstraction are themes that continually resurface in his creative work, the majority of which is scored for chamber ensembles, incorporating signal processing and computer generated sounds.  

Stephen has written works for CoMA (Contemporary Music for All) Britsol, the DMC (Devil May Care) Duo, pianist Hayk Arsenyan, saxophonist Steven Leffue, and soprano Stacey Mastrian and has worked closely with a collective of composer-performers he helped found, the Bay Players Experimental Music Collective. His writings on contemporary experimental music have been published in Organised Sound, Performance Research, Perspectives of New Music, and Computer Music Journal. Recordings he has engineered have been released on Navona and Albany Records.

statics: cyclian (2006) for fixed media

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