Bryan Jacobs music composition and sound art

about | | events | | music | | instrument building/sound art

Compositions for instruments and electronics

Syncro-vox and Other Cheap Animation Techniques

click here to see the score

written 2011
instrumentation: alto flute OR soprano saxophone, electric guitar, and silent drum

Syncro-vox and other Cheap Animation Techniques was written for a Qubit event that featured five new works for Silent Drum, a digital instrument invented by composer Jaime Oliver. It features live audio processing together with pre-composed sounds.

I created a scrolling score system in Max/MSP specifically for this composition. The patch takes graphic files as an input so any notation software can be used. Since there is no chance the performers can lose track of where each other is, they can be extremely rhythmically free in the sections where it is called for, then suddenly precisely synchronous. Instead of selecting specific moments of change, DSP parameters can be continuously variable throughout the composition. This video shows the scrolling score as it appears to the performers. You will also hear the fixed-media component but not the live instruments or processing.

Since the premiere, this work has been modified to be performed with a number of different instrumental combinations. The recording above is with alto flute instead of saxophone.

<< main page