Franz Danksagmüller has had a densely packed fall 2024 concert season of hyper-organ plus Kyma performances in London, Köln, Helsinki, Lübeck and Berlin.
Franz Danksagmüller placing mics inside the organ at Kulturstation St. Peter, Cologne (narrow and treacherous paths…)Cologne, Kunststation St. Peter (which despite it’s name is a functioning church with a congregation and services) – looking down from the balcony to the mobile organ console.Cologne, Kunststation St. Peter organ console with Franz Danksagmüller’s Glove controller and Muse EEG scannerCologne, Kunststation St. Peter, the horizontal trumpets…Cologne, Kunststation St. Peter with paper score & iPad running Kyma Control
After the film festival at St Albans in London, it was on to Helsinki for Danksagmüller, where he performed with Kyma and the new hyper-organ at the Musiikkitalo on 11 November 2024 — the first time that this organ was played with live-electronics and video! Danksagmüller performed his new composition there is no free will for EEG scanner and Kyma and a live-electronics “remix” of a prelude by D. Buxtehude.
Helsinki, Musiikkitalo, view from the stage of the organ consoleHelsinki, Musiikkitalo, organ consoleHelsinki, Musiikkitalo, Franz Danksagmüller featured on a sign outside the concert hallHelsinki Musiikkitalo; the entire organ is in a swell box with wooden shutters (in addition to the individual swell boxes) for dynamics. The twisted organ pipes are fully functional!Helsinki organ console with laptop and Kyma Control on iPad
Following the Helsinki performance, Danksagmüller returned to Lübeck to perform an hour-long DJ set with Kyma and variety of controllers for an after party following a concert at the Kunsttankstelle Lübeck.
Lübeck, Kunsttankstelle, Franz Danksagmüller’s live DJ setupKulturtankstelle Lübeck; the first part of the performance (Danksagmüller joined at the end of their first part and played the last part)
And the busy concert season is not over yet! Danksagmüller’s students are performing their own compositions for hyper-organ and Kyma at the Musikhochschule Lübeck on 8 December, and Franz will perform with organ and Kyma in Berlin on Friday the 13th at the Zum Heilbronnen church on their Opposites Attract series. Danksagmüller’s “Light and Shadow” — featuring music by W. Byrd, J. S. Bach and F. Danksagmüller — is framed by other concerts on themes like “Fire and Water”, “Life and Death”, “Beginnings and Endings”, and other evocative opposite-pairings.
In October 2024, Franz Danksagmüller, along with his students from the Royal Academy of Music, performed a live soundtrack for pipe organ and Kyma to accompany the silent film Nosferatu twice in London: The first performance, on 4 October 2024, was at the Royal Academy, and the second performance was on Halloween at the cathedral in St. Albans to a sold-out audience and was, by all accounts, a fantastic success (resulting in some very happy students).
St. Albans organ loft during live soundtrack for “Nosferatu” with Kyma Control on the iPadAudience for the sold-out performance of Nosferatu at St. Albans (view from behind the projection screen)Students of Franz Danksagmüller performing the live soundtrack for Nosferatu at St. AlbansEntryway to St. Albans Cathedral
At the Musikhochschule Lübeck, Danksagmüller’s students in the new master’s program in Hyper-organ, Improvisation, Composition & New Media are presenting a concert for organ, Kyma and live-video on 8 December 2024 in the main concert hall at the MHK. Composer/performers include:
Sarah Proske: Emerson, Lake and Palmer´s “Fanfare for the common man for organ, percussion, live electronics
Patrycja Olszewska: Liquid Motion for organ, live electronics, video
Lennart Pries: Improvisation for the silent film “The Fall of the House of Usher (USA 1927) for organ and live electronics
Karin Lorenz: (Un-)Known for organ and electronics
Sarah Proske: smoke for organ, live electronics and video
Valentin Manß & Wojciech Buczyński: crowds, live & death, Music for (historical) silent film excerpts for organ, live electronics, video
Fabio Paiano: á la ELP for organ and live electronics
Silvia Matheus will be performing with Kyma in Oakland California on 20 October 2024. A computer and electronic music composer, sound artist, and improviser, Silvia is teaming up with Ric Louchard, a pianist, composer, and improviser, to create The VisitoR: a performance where electronics and acoustics meet and interact.
The VisitoR goes beyond a simple two-person conversation, embracing a lively interplay of free-flowing actions. Matheus has designed hybrid environments with multiple speakers, allowing the musicians to move in and out at their own pace and engage as they wish. This setup encourages spontaneous interactions that evolve based on each participant’s desire to immerse themselves. Her soundscape blends the algorithmically generated sounds from Kyma with fixed composed material and layers in live-processed acoustic elements to create a rich and dynamic auditory experience.
The concert is part of the WEST OAKLAND SOUND SERIES, a weekly new music and experimental sound series in the Dresher Ensemble Studio:
Sunday 20 October 2024
Dresher Ensemble Studio
2201 Poplar Street
Oakland California
Future Music Oregon composers — past and present — brought their signature brand of live interactive electronic music performance to the Musicacoustica Hangzhu 2024 conference in September.
Characterized by custom controllers, exceptional Kyma sound design, live interactive graphics, and virtuosic stage presence, their performances left a lasting impression on the audience of fellow electroacoustic music composers. So much so, that rumor has it that the University of Oregon Summer Academy for electronic music (on hiatus due to pandemic disruptions) may resume this summer, opening the door to future collaborations among US and Chinese musicians.
Some highlights follow (photos, courtesy of Musicacoustica Hangzhu):
“Realm” composed and performed by Fang WAN, professor at Hangzhou Conservatory of Music“Summoner” for Leap Motion and custom software created with Max and Kyma, composed and performed by Mei-ling Lee, professor at Haverford College“Balance” for Kyma, Max, and GameTrak composed and performed by Jeffrey Stolet, professor at University of Oregon“Dimension reduction approach in the context of real time sound synthesis” a talk by Chi WANG, professor at Indiana University“Beyond Landscape” for contact microphone, Dry Garden, and Kyma, composed and performed by Tao LI, doctoral student at University of Oregon“Fusion of Horizons” for Nintendo Ring-Con, Joy-Con, Max & Kyma, composed & performed by Chi WANG, professor at Indiana University“Summoner” for Leap Motion and custom software created with Max and Kyma, composed and performed by Mei-ling Lee, professor at Haverford College“Developing Musical Intuition as a Pathway for Creating Artificial Intelligence Models” a talk by Jeffrey Stolet, professor at University of OregonGametrak Trio: Jeffrey Stolet performs with his former graduate students, Fang WAN (currently professor at Hangzhu Conservatory CN) and Chi WANG (currently professor at Indiana University)
Motion Parallels, a collaboration between composer James Rouvelle and visual artist Lili Maya was developed earlier this year in connection with a New York Arts Program artist’s residency in NYC.
For the live performance Rouvelle compressed and processed the output of a Buchla Easel through a Kyma Timeline; on a second layer, the Easel was sampled, granulated and spectralized and then played via a midi-keyboard. The third layer of Sounds was entirely synthesized in Kyma and played via Kyma Control on the iPad.
For their performative works Rouvelle and Maya develop video and audio structures that they improvise through. Both the imagery and sound incorporate generative/interactive systems, so the generative elements can respond to them, and vice versa.
Rouvelle adds, “I work with Kyma every day, and I love it!”
Franz Danksagmüller was in Waltershausen 25-28 August 2024 presenting workshops on how to integrate live electronics with the pipe organ. Here’s a photo of “the hand” controller designed by Franz, alongside an Emotiv EEG headband and Kyma Control.
Although from this vantage point, one might think that the organ loft is nearly paradisiacal…
…the organ builder took pains to remind the organist of the alternative (or at the very least, to have a laugh).
Anssi Laiho is the sound designer and performer for Laboratorio — a concept developed by choreographer Milla Virtanen and video artist Leevi Lehtinen as a collection of “experiments” that can be viewed either as modules of the same piece or as independent pieces of art, each with its own theme. The first performance of Laboratorio took place in November 2021 in Kuopio, Finland.
Laboratorio Module 24, featuring Anssi performing a musical saw with live Kyma processing was performed in the Armastuse hall at Aparaaditehas in Tartu, Estonia and is dedicated to theme of identity and inspiration.
Anssi’s hardware setup, both in the studio and live on stage, consists of a Paca connected to a Metric Halo MIO2882 interface via bidirectional ADAT in a 4U mobile rack. Laiho has used this system for 10 years and finds it intuitive, because Metric Halo’s MIOconsole mixer interface gives him the opportunity to route audio between Kyma, the analog domain, and the computer in every imaginable way. When creating content as a sound designer, he often tries things out in Kyma in real-time by opening a Kyma Sound with audio input and listening to it on the spot. If it sounds good, he can route it back to his computer via MIOconsole and record it for later use.
His live setup for Laboratorio Module 24 is based on the same system setup. The aim of the hardware setup was to have as small a physical footprint as possible, because he was sharing the stage with two dancers. On stage, he had a fader-controller for the MIOconsole (to control feedback from microphones), an iPad running Kyma Control displaying performance instructions, a custom-made Raspberry Pi Wi-Fi footswitch sending OSC messages to Kyma, and a musical saw.
Kyma Control showing “Kiitos paljon” (“Thank you” in Finnish), Raspberry Pi foot switch electronics, rosin for the bow & foot switch controller
The instrument used in the performance is a Finnish Pikaterä Speliplari musical saw (speliplari means ‘play blade’). The instrument is designed by the Finnish musician Aarto Viljamaa. The plaintive sound of the saw is routed to Kyma through 2 microphones, which are processed by a Kyma Timeline. A custom-made piezo-contact microphone and preamp is used to create percussive and noise elements for the piece, and a small diaphragm shotgun microphone is employed for the softer harmonic material.
The way Anssi works with live electronics is by recording single notes or note patterns with multiple Kyma MemoryWriter Sounds. These sound recordings are then sampled in real-time or kept for later use in a Kyma timeline. He likes to think of this as a way of reintroducing a motive of the piece as is done in classical music composition. This also breaks the inherent tendency of adding layers when using looping samplers, which, in Anssi’s opinion, often becomes a burden for the listener at some point.
The Kyma sounds used in the performance Timeline are focused on capturing and resampling the sound played on the saw and controlling the parameters of these Sounds live, in timeline automation, presets, or through algorithmic changes programmed in Capytalk.
Laiho’s starting point for the design was to create random harmonies and arpeggiations that could then be used as accompaniment for an improvised melody. For this, he used the Live Looper from the Kyma Sound Library and added a Capytalk expression to its Rate parameter that selects a new frequency from a predefined selection of frequencies (intervals relative to a predefined starting note) to create modal harmony. He also created a quadrophonic version of the Looper and controlled the Angle parameter of each loop with a controlled random Capytalk expression that makes each individual note travel around the space.
Another Sound used in the performance is one he created a long time ago named Retrosampler. This sound captures only a very short sample of live sound and creates 4 replicated loops, each less than 1 second long. Each replicated sample has its own parameters that he controls with presets. This, together with the sine wave quality of the saw, creates a result that resembles a beeping sine wave analog synthesizer. The sound is replicated four times so he has the possibility to play 16 samples if he to presses “capture” 4 times.
The Retrosampler sound is also quadraphonic and its parameters are controlled by presets. His favorite preset is called “Line Busy” which is exactly what it sounds like. [Editor’s note: the question is whichbusy signal?]
For the noise and percussion parts of the performance, he used a sound called LiveCyclicGrainSampler, which is a recreation of an example from Jeffrey Stolet’s Kyma and the SumOfSines Disco Club book. This sound consists of a live looping MemoryWriter as a source for granular reverb and 5 samples with individual angle and rate parameter settings. These parameters were then controlled with timeline automation to create variation in the patterns they create.
Anssi also used his two favorite reverbs in the live processing: the NeverEngine Labs Stereo Verb, and Johannes Regnier’s Dattorro Plate.
Kyma is also an essential part of Laiho’s sound design work in the studio. One of the tracks in the performance is called “Experiment 0420” and it is his “Laboratory experiment” of Kyma processing the sound of an aluminum heat sink from Intel i5 3570K CPU played with a guitar pick. Another scene of the performance contains a song called “Tesseract Song” that is composed of an erratic piano chord progression and synthetic noise looped in Kyma and accompanied by Anssi singing through a Kyma harmonizer.
The sound design for the 50-minute performance consists of 11-12 minutes of live electronics, music composed in the studio, and “Spring” by Antonio Vivaldi. The overall design goal was to create a kaleidoscopic experience where the audience is taken to new places by surprising turns of events.
Ecosystemics — the guiding principle for much of composer Scott L. Miller’s work over past two decades, constitutes an ecological approach to composition in which form is a dynamic process that is intimately tied to the ambience of the space in which the music occurs. In a live ecosystemic environment, Kyma Sounds are parametrically coupled with the environment via sound. As Miller explains in his two-part article for INSIGHTs magazine — Ecosystemic Programming and Composition:
In ecosystemic music, change in the sonic environment is continuously measured by Kyma with input from microphones. This change produces data that is mapped to control the production of sound. Environmental change may be instigated by performers, audience members, sound produced by the computer itself, and the ambience of the space(s) in general.
Sam Wells and Adam Vidiksis, collaborators on Miller’s new album of telematic ecosystemic music, Human Capital, describe performing with Miller’s Kyma environments as “like interacting with a living entity”.
Collaborators since 2003, the duo’s name derives from the fact that both of them manipulate devices — one a clarinet, one a computer — to generate music. And that, despite their best efforts, these devices are never fully under their control, at times almost seeming to have a mind of their own. Rather than bemoaning this fact, Scott and Pat welcome the potential for unimagined sonic discoveries inherent in this unpredictability.
Friday’s setlist includes:
Piano – Forte I, Piano – Forte II, and Piano – Forte III telematic collaborations
Semai Seddi-Araban by Tanburi Cemil Bey, the premiere of the duo’s take on a classic Turkish semai.
Mirror Inside from Shape Shifting (2004), for clarinet and Kyma
Fragrance of Distant Sundays, the duo’s tribute to Carei Thomas, the Minneapolis improviser/composer who passed away in 2020
Imagine yourself in Brighton, relaxing in the audience as you enjoy the trio improvising on stage when suddenly, someone points to you at random and orders you up on stage to replace one of the members of the ensemble.
Alan Jackson playing his Kyma “tilt whistle” at a recent improv night in Brighton.
No, this is not a recurring nightmare like the ones where you have to take the final exam for a class you forgot to attend, it’s what’s known as a “rotating improvisation session”, and Kyma consultant Alan Jackson is here voluntarily! In fact, it’s the reason his whole Kyma setup is battery powered (from a single PD battery) — primarily to make it easier to carry it up on stage and plug into an amp.
As Alan explains, “I don’t take the computer on stage. This adds a frisson of danger to the performance!” [Editor’s note, we’re sensing a theme emerging here]
“There are two power connections: battery to ‘Mara and battery to eurorack case containing the ‘Mara’s sound card (ES-8). And there are two USB connections: ‘Mara to ES-8 and the midi-controller-tilt-sensor to the ‘Mara. If any of these drop connection while I’m carrying the setup to the stage I would need to restart the Sound which needs the computer attached. So I carry it very very carefully.”
Jackson is always on the lookout for longer-lived batteries because, due to the nature of the performance, he never knows when he’ll get called up.
When he’s not subjecting himself to stressful performance situations, Alan Jackson consults with film, game, and television sound designers. He’s also organizing an informal Kyma “show and tell” weekend, 1-3 November 2024 in Amsterdam. See the Discord Kyma Community for details.
Performing with Kyma and a huge (but very soft) pipe organ, Franz Danksagmüller generated a live soundtrack for the silent film The Lost World (think silent-film Jurassic Park from the 1920s) on 25 May 2024 at the National Radio Symphony Concert Hall in Katowice Poland for an audience of 1600 people.
Franz Danksagmuller monitoring the VCS, the film, the Multigrid (on the iPad) and his pencil notes
The Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice seats an audience of 1800 people
In a gravity-defying stunt, Danksagmüller placed two mics within the swell boxes of both Manual V and Manual III, at the apex of the organ pipes, so he could process the pipe organ through Kyma without danger of feedback. He and his sound engineer worked until 2:30 am fine-tuning the setup.
Poster for the film “The Lost World” (1925) * First National Pictures – Source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12690702
* Note that, according to Wikipedia, “This historical image is not a factually accurate dinosaur restoration. Reason: Pronated hands, real T. rex did not have more than two fingers (unlike in this image), outdated posture, tail dragging, lack of possible feathers”
