Official organ of the Symbolic Sound Corporation
Sound designer Jean-Edouard Miclot has created an amazing Whoosh-Machine, capable of generating hundreds of sonic “whoosh” effects in minutes.  Have a listen!
In his sound design blog, Miclot not only explains how it works, he even provides a copy of the Kyma patch that you can download and try out on your own velocity-thirsty source material:Â http://jedsound.com/blog/?page_id=1020
Can sound define a space? In sound, is there a Point-of-View or culturally-influenced focus of attention? Sound designers, musicians, audio engineers, composers, acousticians and others interested in “sound space” are invited to discuss these and other questions during the third annual Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS2011), scheduled for 15-18 September 2011 in Porto, Portugal. Inspired by Portugal’s proud history of navigators who set out to explore beyond the known and visible horizon, the theme of this year’s symposium is “Explorando o espaço do som†(“Exploring Sound Spaceâ€) and will celebrate the sound designers, composers, and researchers who are exploring beyond the familiar horizons in sound and music.
Set in the nautically-inspired Casa Da Musica, architect Rem Koolhaas’ dramatic new music venue in Porto, the symposium promises four intensive days of workshops, keynotes, technical talks, films and live performances.
To cite just a few highlights:
Evening performances are to include a screening of the very first science fiction film accompanied by a live-improvised electronic sound track generated by Kyma reconstructions of Luigi Russolo’s intonorumori instruments; a portion of an audio documentary on Holocaust survivor Ksenija Drobac; and a live-generated audio/video film about Galileo that uses Kyma to control VJ software via Open Sound Control (OSC). Other live musical performances will create sound spaces controlled by (among other things) dancers, RFID cards held by the audience, iPads, Wacom tablets, video position trackers, Continuum fingerboards, SoftStep pedal-boards, OSC, acoustic instruments, the acoustics of the room itself, and even a sensor-enhanced Teddy Bear!
For more details on the program, please see the preliminary program and join the mailing list to be kept up to date on future enhancements and additions.
Registration is open to all. You can register at any time, but there is a discount for those who register prior to 1 August: you can participate in all 4 days (with lunch included) for €120 (€40 for students). Casa da Musica has strictly enforced occupancy limits, so please register as soon as possible in order to reserve your spot: http://kiss2011.symbolicsound.com/registration
You are cordially invited to join in the pre-symposium discussion on the theme of Exploring Sound Space:Â http://www.pphilosophyofsound.org
Known as A Cidade Invicta (the unvanquished city), in honor of its citizens’ successful resistance of Napoleon’s attempted invasion, Porto’s history can be traced back at least as far as Roman times, with evidence of even earlier habitation by the Celts, Proto-Celts and even Phoenicians.
The ukulele has its origins in Portugal; Portuguese immigrants brought the cavaquinho, braguinha and the rajão, small guitar-like instruments with them to Hawaii where they were re-invented as the ukulele. Portuguese luthiers Cordoba Guitars and Antonio Pinto Carvalho (in Braga about an hour north of Porto) continue the tradition today. In Porto, you can audition a Portuguese 12-string guitar or a cavaquinho at Toni Das Violas, a music shop in the historic center.
Porto is also the official source of Port wine, a special red wine in which the fermentation process is interrupted by the addition of distilled grape spirits known as aguardente (roughly translated as fire water with teeth), leaving a higher sugar and a higher alcohol content. The resulting fortified wine is then aged in wood barrels prior to bottling.
Visiting ConÃmbriga, a well-preserved ancient Roman city and attached museum about an hour south of Porto, is practically like traveling to ancient Rome in the Tardis.
There are several historic cathedrals and monasteries in Porto which is also home to a vibrant Marranos community, the so-called crypto- or Sephardic Jews who continued to practice their religion even in the face of the forced-conversions during the Inquisition (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/priests-hunch-finally-uncovers-portos-hidden-holy-scrolls-520387.html)
Something about Porto seems to inspire artists who work with space. Not only is it the home of Casa da Musica, it’s also the birthplace of two Pritzker-prize-winning architects: Ãlvaro Siza who designed the central square in Porto, the Faculty of Architecture campus, and the contemporary art museum; and Eduardo Souto Moura whose award-winning work includes Estádio Municipal de Braga, the Burgo Tower in Porto and the Paula Rego Museum in Cascais among others.
What: The Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS 2011), an annual conclave of current and potential Kyma practitioners who come together to learn, to share, to meet, to discuss, and to enjoy a lively exchange of ideas, sounds, and music! This year’s theme is “Exploring Sound Space”
Presenters: Experts from the fields of music, sound art, sound design, mathematics, philosophy & audio engineering who use Kyma in their work.
Participants: Sound designers, musicians, audio engineers, composers, acousticians and others interested in “sound space” and the Kyma sound design language
When: 15-18 September 2011
Where: Porto, Portugal
Venue: Casa da Musica / Avenida da Boavista, 604-610 / 4149-071 Porto / Portugal
Cost: € 120, students € 40
Organizers: Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto & Symbolic Sound Corporation with support from Casa da Musica & UT Austin|Portugal International Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies
Deadline: 1 August 2011 for early registration discount; registration open through 15 September 2011
More info: http://kiss2011.symbolicsound.com
John Paul Jones and Helge Sten (Deathprod) are the Minibus Pimps, a newly formed experimental electronic duo scheduled to debut at the Punkt Festival in Norway on 3 September, closely followed by an EU debut in Porto Portugal on 16 September at KISS2011.
Inspired by their recent collaboration in Supersilent, Jones and Sten employ electronics, samplers, processors, instruments, iPads and two Kyma systems to create instrumental improvisations ranging from the intricate to the ferocious!
This July, JPJ joined forces with Supersilent for an experimental electronics set at the Moldejazz Festival:
Minibus Pimps’ premiere performance is on 3 September Saturday evening at 22:00 at Punkt preceded by a lecture/demonstration seminar on how they are utilizing Kyma at noon at the University of Agder.
Each year, Future Music Oregon hosts the Summer Academy of Electronic Music directed by Professor Jeffrey Stolet, this year assisted by his graduate teaching fellows Chi Wang and Simon Hutchinson.
This year’s course, for students from the Central Conservatory of Music, Peking University, and Shenyang Conservatory of Music,  ran from 17-31 July 2011 and covered the gamut from recording techniques to the basics of synthesis, and included a final concert of student compositions realized using Kyma.  Plans are already underway for Summer Academy of Electronic Music in the summer of 2012.
Scot Solida is scheduled to be performing Kyma live with Christus and the Cosmonaughts as part of he 3rd Annual Kansas City Electro-music Festival 2011, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday July 22, 23, & 24, 2011. Streaming live at http://radio.electro-music.com, KC.EM.FEST will feature live performances, DIY workshops, improvisational collaborations, and more.
In addition to his live performance on Saturday night (July 23), Scot is going to be presenting a Kyma demo at 1 pm, Friday July 22.
The KC.EM.FEST is intended to promote experimental electronic music and musicians in the region and throughout the country and create a stronger network between these artists and the public and the entire event is free!
GVA Sessions is an interdisciplinary research and international exchange platform organized by the Gilles Jobin Company, geared to respond to the ever-changing artistic environment of the performing arts, primarily contemporary dance, music and related creative technologies.
In 2011, the GVA sessions have been focusing on one of the longest established collaborative partnerships in the performing arts: that between choreographer and composer, choreography and music. This year, GVA Sessions is offering a mixed format providing a collaborative space for different types and levels of knowledge, artists research and production.
In April, as part of the Electron Festival, Cristian Vogel and Gilles Jobin discussed their collaboration on Spider Galaxies, and Vogel presented an introduction to Kyma and the Pacarana.  The next installment in the series will be “Dialog: Sound and Movement“, a collaborative workshop for composers and choreographers that will take play in 16-23 July 2011 (the deadline for registration is 30 May 2011).
Since 2007, the GVA Sessions have led knowledge exchange gatherings inviting international creative arts practitioners to Geneva (Switzerland) with the goal of sharing in artistic inquiry, thinking  and creating together, all in an informal, collaborative yet rigorous setting.Â
The third annual Kyma International Sound Symposium (KISS2011) is scheduled to take place from 16-18 September 2011 at Casa Da Musica, architect Rem Koolhaas’ dramatic new music venue in Porto, Portugal.
Inspired by Portugal’s proud history of navigators who set out to explore beyond the known and visible horizon, the theme of this year’s symposium is “Explorando o espaço do somâ€(“Exploring Sound Spaceâ€) in honor of those who are exploring new methods, concepts, and ideas, beyond the familiar horizons in sound and music.Universidade do Porto and Symbolic Sound invite you to join us to share ideas, experiences and results related to this year’s theme, ranging from the most literal to the most abstract definitions of sound, space, and exploration. You are invited to learn, to share, to meet, and to enjoy!
For more information, please visit the KISS2011 web site:Â http://kiss2011.symbolicsound.com/
Richard Lainhart is performing his music for guitar, lapsteel, and Kyma at EMF Studios in Manhattan at 7 pm, March 21 2011. A discussion of Kyma in live performance and a wine and cheese reception will follow the performance.
Carla Scaletti will be at Brandeis University on February 3rd and 4th 2011, presenting seminars on Kyma and working with composition students of Eric Chasalow, professor of music and director of the Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio (BEAMS).
Carla Scaletti will be at Brandeis University on February 3rd and 4th 2011, presenting seminars on Kyma and working with composition students of Eric Chasalow, professor of music and director of the Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio (BEAMS).
UPDATE 1 February 2011: Chicago to Boston flights have been cancelled for the next couple of days for some reason… Â The seminar will take place via iChat from Champaign instead.
Join the EMF Kyma Creative Group in Manhattan to achieve expertise in generating and processing sounds with Kyma, an understanding of sound and the quality of sound, and for exercise in solving problems in sound design, composition, and other applications: http://www.emfstudios.org/kyma.html
Joel Chadabe is posing a challenge to all Kyma sound designers: How many ways can you come up with to make this recording striking, beautiful and memorable?
http://www.emfstudios.org/mp3s/110108_03subway.mp3
EMF Studios, a program of Electronic Music Foundation, is a creative resource center in midtown Manhattan where composers, performers, sound designers, and recording engineers at any stage of their careers can meet in collaborative problem-solving Creative Groups to acquire new skills and form new contacts. Â The goals for the EMF Kyma Creative Group are:
…to cultivate boundless musical creativity and apply it to professional problem solving in composition, sound design, post production, film scoring, game development, sound installations, live performance, research, and other creative musical applications.
and
…the achievement of expertise in generating and processing sounds with Kyma, an understanding of sound and the quality of sound, and the exercise of solving problems in sound design, composition, and other applications.
For more information visit http://www.emfstudios.org/kyma.html
