october 24 - 27, dutch mulch week

For the month of October, AudioMulch creator Ross Bencina is a resident artist at STEIM in Amsterdam. In collaboration with STEIM, OT301 and members of the mulch-discuss mailing list, the following events have been organised. Ross is also available for other appearances, feel free to email him.

Ross Bencina at Kraakgeluiden

Date: Monday October 24
Time: 21:30h
Place: Overtoom 301 / Amsterdam
Entrance: 4 euros

Kraakgeluiden with SKIF++ (Jeff Carey, Robert van Heumen + Bas van Koolwijk), ZEBRA (Frans de Waard, Roel Meelkop) and a solo set by Ross Bencina. More info at http://squat.net/overtoom301/pages/events.html

Lecture / Presentation by Ross Bencina on AudioMulch

Date: Tuesday October 25
Time: 20:00h
Place: Utrechtsedwarsstraat 134 / Amsterdam
Entrance: Free

Ross will present a general history of his musical practice including improvising electroacoustic music and development of AudioMulch. He will give a demo of AudioMulch, play some music by other AudioMulch players and a video of his ensemble Simulus playing VR gloves. He will also talk about his recent activities in Barcelona where he worked on the reacTable. The reacTable is a table based musical instrument where objects on the table's surface represent sound generating and processing modules. By moving objects into proximity with one another they connect and form signal chains like a tangible modular synthesiser. Waveforms are projected on the table's surface showing the audio flowing between the objects. Ross developed the computer vision component of the table which efficiently tracks markers attached to the objects. This system, called reacTIVision will soon be released as an open source project on the internet.

AudioMulch Interactive Music Studio Workshop by Ross Bencina

Date: Wednesday October 26
Time: 13:00h-17:00h
Place: Achtergracht 19 / Amsterdam
Entrance: 20 euro (to be payed at the STEIM office on the day of the workshop)

Addressed to all levels of expertise, this workshop presented by AudioMulch's creator Ross Bencina will quickly bring beginners up to speed with this intuitive software environment and also covers some of the more esoteric features that even the most seasoned mulchista will find interesting. Expect practical applications and performance strategies in interactive sound design and processing, demonstrations of patches that Ross uses in performance, and an overview of the recently added Metasurface. Audience interaction guaranteed!

Reservations: only through the website: http://www.steim.nl - the workshop section

The Dutch Mulch Convention

Date: Thursday October 27
Time: 21:30h
Place: Overtoom 301 / Amsterdam
Entrance: 4 euros

A special night of performances by Ross and an international cast of mulcheurs at OT301. Ross (laptop and stuff) will be playing gesturally controlled layered ambient noise. Roel Meelkop will perform a brew of fierce experiment and gentle enchantment. Orphax (laptop) will play sexy drones and some minimal beats. Helen Thomson (vocals and AudioMulch) will hybridise Gregorian Chant and other old stuff with AudioMulch manipulations. Once a lauded Swiss Astronomer, now defrocked and despondent, Anton Sporz continues with unofficial cosmic explorations using Audiomulch + FX. Anton welcomes audience participation. Direct from Istanbul, Korhan Erel (laptop and joystick) will play screenless. Also performances by Mark Morse and others, the list goes on... See also http://squat.net/overtoom301/pages/events.html

About Ross Bencina

Ross Bencina is a composer, performer, software developer and digital instrument maker, with a strong interest in improvised electroacoustic music. He has performed solo and with collaborators around Australia and internationally. He has recently performed at venues including Metrònom in Barcelona, The Zoo in Manchester, and at the Queensland Music Festival. Since 2002, Ross and fellow composers Steve Adam and Tim Kreger have performed together as Simulus, an improvising electroacoustic ensemble. Ross is the creator of AudioMulch interactive music studio - software for electronic music performance. He is the founding developer of PortAudio, foundation software for real-time audio applications. Ross regularly gives presentations about his software and musical practice. He was a keynote speaker at the 2005 Australasian Computer Music Conference, and presented innovative AudioMulch developments at the 2005 New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference in Vancouver. Ross is a graduate of the La Trobe University Music Department (BA hons., 1995). In 2005, Ross completed one year as visiting researcher at the Music Technology Group, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, where he contributed to the design and development of audio transformation technologies and musical instruments, including the reacTable* interactive music table. For the month of October 2005, Ross will be a resident artist at STEIM in Amsterdam, a major international centre for the research and development of instruments and tools for performers in the electronic performance arts. Ross is the director of Sonic Fritter Pty. Ltd., which sells AudioMulch and provides software development and consulting services for audio-related applications.

Image Credits

Thanks to Ard Hesselink for making his beautiful cows photo available under a creative commons license at Flickr.

Thanks to David Deschuyteneer for the mulchcow.