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chucK - live coding music tutorials & results

I'm trying out making music using live coding techniques, with 2 pre-requisites - that it's easy and fast to do & learn - probably not the right pre-requisites (might upset real musicians :), but it's where I'm at for the moment.

so, I'm trying chucK. this is the first chucK tutorial. I used the miniAudicle IDE instead of command line interface. it was very easy to load the songs into the IDE (miniAudicle) and play them. I had separate files for each module and adjusted some of the parameters to change the sounds, then clicked the 'replace shred' to 'take' the change and add this file's sounds to the output audio.

this it meets my criteria - easy and fast to use. now I just have to make it sound musical instead of a collection of random sounds & tones :) (the hard part)

chucK documentation
chucK community / mail lists
chucK miniAudicle documentation
chucK wiki
chucK projects - some people are hooking up chucK apps and Processing for java based visuals, plus there's many examples of laptop instruments, as well as a Max patch and more

listen to the audio :
chucK_tutorial01.mp3
loscha_com_tambura01.mp3 - from the loscha.comchucK tutorials ( Loscha is in the Australian band Toydeath - a circuit bending performance experience ) - this piece reminds me of the original samples of the bridges in the Jodie Rose Singing Bridges project and cd.

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bboys in jerusalem & youtube boty finds

I've been watching the bboys in the Ben Yehuda mall in Jerusalem. some of them have some good moves. they break on the stone large chess board. these reminded me of the break circles in Hanover during the weekend of Battle of the Year 2000. I found some videos on youtube from then and other years.

the Battle of the Year website has details of past year's winners

Flying Steps - Battle of the Year 2000 (winners)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUhq96JayhQ

Battle Squad show - BOTY 1991
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZDHbSQrvKg

tuffkid & benny 1999
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzTd-_pMJGc

bboy Benny (from Flying Steps)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b69Dc6qjRQ

my breakdancing favourites list on youtube

boty 2000 photos on flickr

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a simple knitted Ada Deitz polynomial equation

Dan sent me an invite to the Open Source Embroidery facebook group. their website is www.open-source-embroidery.org.uk. I haven't tried embroidery since I was a child, and I don't remember being that good at it, but it sounds like a good project. so I thought I'd post info / photos my knitted polynomial bag. (even though it's not as nice / perfect as some of the other online examples!!) when I was a child I used to do lots of crafts and was always making things. I had a resurgence of this about a year ago. it feels good to make things with your hands, especially little presents for people. so I've been (very slowly) working on hand made things. I find it's better than buying something, though it does tend to take me longer to finish things these days!

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vlog europe 2007 - streaming online

Vlog Europe is on this weekend, but they've just posted a link to the site where they'll be streaming some of it live - video of course! and a chat channel. the schedule looks good. they're going to talk about software, personal media, videoblogging and it's effects on big media, videoblogging and making content not money

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sounds from dead sea at zohar & after the jazz festival

I'm testing recording audio along with the photos - the files are smaller than recording video as well, and sometimes a picture and sound is all you need to trigger a memory. plus you can still use some of your imagination to fill in the missing pictures that movies provide. plus I want to sample some of the audio for general soundscapes from different places.

this is after the jazz performance at yemin moshe 11/08/2007 in jerusalem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R6_Z3ZWjy0

photos and audio recordings from my drive to the Dead Sea at Zohar today. this is a public beach, but it's so much quieter than the Tel Aviv beaches - both in numbers of people and sounds!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_fbTojBWcw

another drive to the Dead Sea today. this time I had a dip! or rather a float! it is a strange sensation. you float then try to push down but you're popped back up. it's like bobbing in the sea. I went to the public beach at Zohar which is where most of the photos are from

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why would someone pay you to make video / media if you're not getting lots of hits ...

there was a discussion about why would somebody pay you to videoblog if you're not getting huge amounts of traffic (amongst other questions / points). the thread started talking about online advertising. I didn't read all the replies, but here's what I'm thinking..

read the original thread

my reply # 1 and # 2 (below)

I think one day people will be shooting / making video / media as stringers and sell that to people who need video / media, likely businesses who can afford to pay. another layer to news program's stringers/freelancers but on any topic, not just news. ala Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. so people will be taking videos for themselves and to upload and be paid if someone uses/downloads it. when archive.org started I was reminded of this also - "The Library" - a collection of clips from creative minds & people uploading as they will. so the utubes and googles et al will become clip libraries. most will be noise, but some will be useful for others. it happens in a small way now, how many of you have had people see a clip or video and ask if they can use it? similar with photos. eg I've had people see a photo and remember a place or a personal memory and ask if they can use it. after a while of people posting videos / photos / media - patterns will develop and certain topics / styles / genres will be sought after. anything is possible - the niches, the popularist content, the everyday life, the world around us. in the future when the world is different people will want to see how it was. I wonder also if it'll affect our memories & the way our brains connect thoughts & images as the ease of storing photos/videos to trigger memories is different now to even say 30 years ago, but that's probably another thread. I wonder then if it'll lead to obsession ala until the end of the world when Claire became obsessed with watching her recorded dreams on her portable video player. I think the two ideas (book/movie) will merge & expand.

I think this has all been mentioned here before - a while ago.. so a refresher. but, I think it's getting closer. especially with google etc & their searching capabilities and tagging / metadata so common place these days. if I were a big business this is the way I'd be going anyway.

oh, also, which is why I think ads on videos is an old media way of thinking. like ads on tv. (which will phase into product placements soon enough). people will still use them now whilst they make money from them but I don't think they'll be necessary or used in future as they'll be regarded as spam. similar to what was mentioned earlier, people ignore spam on the net now, so in the future when the generations change, they'll lose their power. the information / message will be the currency. & hopefully the creative mind! :)

--

extract from Snow Crash (by Neal Stephenson) about the library..

"The business is a simple one. Hiro gets information. It may be gossip, videotape, audiotape, a fragment of a computer disk, a xerox of a document. It can even be a joke based on the latest highly publicized disaster."

"He uploads it to the CIC database -- the Library, formerly the Library of Congress, but no one calls it that anymore. Most people are not entirely clear on what the word "congress" means."

"And even the word "library" is getting hazy. It used to be a place full of books, mostly old ones. Then they began to include videotapes, records, and magazines. Then all of the information got converted into machine-readable form, which is to say, ones and zeroes. And as the number of media grew, the material became more up to date, and the methods for searching the Library became more and more sophisticated, it approached the point where there was no substantive difference between the Library of Congress and the Central Intelligence Agency. Fortuitously, this happened just as the government was falling apart anyway. So they merged and kicked out a big fat stock offering."

"Millions of other CIC stringers are uploading millions of other fragments at the same time. CIC's clients, mostly large corporations and Sovereigns, rifle through the Library looking for useful information, and if they find a use for something that Hiro put into it, Hiro gets paid."

"A year ago, he uploaded an entire first-draft film script that he stole from an agent's wastebasket in Burbank. Half a dozen studios wanted to see it. He ate and vacationed off of that one for six months."

"Since then, times have been leaner. He has been learning the hard way that 99 percent of the information in the Library never gets used at all."

---

just out of interest, there's also some interesting papers about this book.. google 'neal stephenson video library' and there's even some interesting discussions

http://www.utpjournals.com/simile/issue16/blackmorefulltext.html

http://library20.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=515108%3ATopic%3A5678

Zills & Arabic Percussion

yesterday I bought a dvd on Arabic Percussion - it's a how - to / instructional dvd by Yinon Muallem, "Master of Percussion". I don't think I'd be able to carry a traditional drum around with me on my travels, and I thought they were made from wood & animal skin so wouldn't be allowed back into Australia by Customs anyway. I spoke to the guy from the shop and he had modern versions not made of wood or animal skin which sounded great when he played them but I said I'd think about it.. instead I found a couple of pairs of finger cymbals / zills - like the ones bellydancers use. the larger ones are the more professional versions and sound the best. the smaller ones are the cheaper ones found in most of the stores at the markets. but these fit my hands better so I thought I'd start with them. you wear them on the thumb and middle finger and can do a couple of strokes - hit together then open again for the higher 'ting' and hit together and stay together for the 'clap' sound. the store had a dvd also for bellydancing, hopefully it's got some English. their website lists the classes but it's in Hebrew so I can't read it yet..

http://www.arabesque.co.il/ - the arabic bellydancing & musicians site
http://www.yinon-muallem.com - the arabic percussion dvd site

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Olam Qatan - a chat about Israeli, Turkish & Middle Eastern music and books

Olam Qatan is a spiritual books and world music store in Emek Refaim St, Jerusalem, Israel. I spoke briefly with it's owner Ya'qub ibn Yusuf, who explained some of the music and books available in his store. Sounds like there's a fusion of East meets West happening in Israel and Turkey, which is really interesting to hear. It's great to speak with Independant store owners - their passion for music & books is contagious and it's great to discover new sounds and genres.

Tel Aviv beach

a few quick clips taken at the beach at Tel Aviv, 27/07/2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cM-X05Rpa4

found music so far in jerusalem

here's some artists/music I've found (so far) from checking out a
nearby music store Music House (keren ha-yesod 25) (mostly classical & jazz, but a smaller
section on other styles) in Jerusalem. there's a music store on Shamai Street too where I later bought more cds.

dj Markey Funk
Agitpop Records
http://www.agitpoprecords.com

- I bought his "Beats!!! AMN Manifesto Sound! Vol 1" cd
Beats from AMS Manifesto shows 2003-2004
nice collection of beats. sort of ninja tune / turntablism style if
you're into that. he has some other radio shows recorded & available
for download on the site @
http://agitpoprecords.com/go_ask_alice/index.html. just downloading
now to take a listen.

his myspace page is http://myspace.com/markeyfunk - songs there also & info

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The Apples
- funk / jazz / beats
http://www.theapplesmusic.com/
http://myspace.com/theapplesmusic

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Radio Trip
http://www.myspace.com/radiotrip

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a letter from Israel to family & friends

posting a letter from Israel to family & friends - this site seems to be turning into my travel blog ;)

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Dome of Rock, Western Wall, Jerusalem (video clip)

short clip showing Dome of Rock and Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel. 13/07/2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywkcriVMsVY

the view of the Western Wall in Jerusalem Old City, from the rooftop of the Armenian Quarter. 13/07/2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCkMPpf2-JU

photo memories

photo memories - I take way too many photos and have been uploading them to my flickr page. since I've been travelling over the last few years, I've been trying to upload the photos to the net so I'll have an online backup and be able to access them when I get a bit homesick. they also help me remember things. some might say this is taking the lazy way out and I should train my memory better to remember things. but the photos act as little triggers, or index pointers into the rhizhomes in my brain connected to remembering. I can remember some things from my early childhood, from probably around age 4. other people can remember earlier - I've always wondered how they do this. there's a couple of photos of me back then and I can remember the photo being taken and a few minutes around this time. but I'm not sure if this is just because there is a photo to trigger the recollection - I suspect it is. when I was growing up, Mum took photos but not as many as are taken these days. it was more expensive to have the pictures developed and you couldn't afford (well we couldn't!) to waste too many shots so the pictures were taken with more care (than I tend to use when happy snapping). I wonder if kids these days, who have thousands of photos taken of them at all stages of their life, will remember their earlier life better because of the photos and videos? perhaps they won't even notice or care.

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Tasmanian Devil doing laps at Australia Zoo

this little fellow and his friend were doing laps of their enclosures at Australia Zoo when we went on 03/07/2007. it was about 3:30 - 4pm. I'd never seen a live one before, only photos. I thought they were nocturnal. we watched them for about 15 mins. so cute! they'd run around, stop at certain points and sniff the air. I guess they were looking for food? or could smell something in particular. or maybe the onlookers were too noisy for them (though most people were pretty quiet)

http://www.australiazoo.com.au/our-animals/amazing-animals/mammals/?mamm... has some info about them. they're an endangered species, only found in Tasmania now. they had been common on the Australian mainland at one stage (~5000 years ago) but not these days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enbe6HymM_E

queensland sugar cane (video clip)

sugar cane fields as seen from the Sunlander on a train ride from Bowen to Brisbane, June 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsP2-gC8gHI

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