Michael Ang

MEAPsoft will analyze a sound file, break it up into pieces characterized by their acoustic features, and stitch the pieces back together based on a number of different algorithms. Listen to this sample for example of the silliness possible (I won’t spoil it by telling you what it is).

The interface is a little psychedelic. Run it a few times and you’ll see. The pic above is from the concept description of the “nearest neighbour” algorithm. The top bar represents the analyzed sound file, and the bottom bar is how the segments have been arranged to put similar ones next to each other.

The Music Engineering Art Projects (MEAP) group at Columbia
University is pleased to announce the 1.0 release of MEAPsoft:

http://labrosa.ee.columbia.edu/meapsoft

MEAPsoft is a program for automatically segmenting and rearranging music audio recordings. It is open source (GPL) and runs on all major operating systems.

MEAPsoft works by (a) segmenting original audio up into individual beats or events, (b) calculating some features for each segment, and (c) matching or rearranging segments from one or more pieces to create a new piece of music.

MEAPsoft comes with a wide and increasing range of feature extraction routines, and algorithms for matching and rearranging the segments (called “composers”). MEAPsoft is written in Java, and makes it pretty easy to write your own feature extractors and composers.

The links between the different parts of the program are via simple text files, describing the start times and durations of each segment (for the segmenter), appending a set of feature values to each line (for feature extractors), and including a target time for resynthesis
(as determined by the composer).

For examples of what MEAPsoft can do, please see our music showcase at:

http://labrosa.ee.columbia.edu/meapsoft/showcase.php

***

MEAPsoft was created by the participants in the Music Engineering Art Project at Columbia University.

Development by:
Ron Weiss, Douglas Repetto, Mike Mandel, Dan Ellis, Victor Adan, Jeff Snyder

Additional contributions by:
John Arroyo, Johanna Devaney, Dan Iglesia, Graham Poliner

Sponsors

* The Columbia Academic Quality Fund
* LabROSA
* The Computer Music Center

Matthew Herbert is playing at Mezzanine on Saturday. He’s got his Big Band with him. Looking forward to it!

Matthew Herbert

Accompanied by
Herbert Big Band Live!

Plus
Jonah Sharp
(aka Spacetime Continuum)

DJ Sets by Bryan James and Qzen of Moxie

Doors at 9:00 pm
$15 Limited Presales

Matthew Herbert has become Britain’s most innovative and eccentric electronic composer. Making a rare appearance at Mezzanine in support of his critically acclaimed new album, Scale.

“Sophisticated and Whimsical, joyful and yet tinged with sadness, Scale is one of the year’s great albums.” -Pitchfork

Presale tickets @ ticketweb.com

Image from Garth Webb via srl.org

ISEA 2006 was this past week in San Jose. I hadn’t been to San Jose in awhile. In fact, the last time I was there a friend of mine got arrested for felony possession of a juggling torch. So I’ve been kind of down on San Jose.

But the lure of SRL and boatloads of new media art was too much to resist, and the free passes I lucked into certainly helped.

The SRL show was great. I’d never seen them perform before, though I did get over to their shop a few days before on an errand and snuck a preview at some of the machines. The V1, Pitching Machine and Sparkshooter have to be my favourite machines, though it was pretty wild when the Shockwave Cannon started knocking leaves off the trees above the audience.

Most of the audience seemed to be there for the spectacle. I did feel there was a protest of mechanization and violence buried in the performance, and a certain love for the machines themselves. Usually in SRL shows there is violence but it’s only machines in the ring. This time there were two people inside a little car with oxyacetalene cannons on top driving among the robots. The most tense moments had to be when the car was hit by a two-by-four from the pitching machine (crushing one of the steel tubes on top) and when it was pushed directly against the barrel of the V1.

Check out more media on the SRL page for Ghostly Scenes of Infernal Desecration.

The closing night of the catACLysMic MegaShear RanCH Open Studios was even better than the opening. In addition to all the great stuff from the first night, we had a light installation/painting by Mike Estee, musical performances from two bands, Timmiiii and Lil P with DJ sets, two films by internationally renowned director Dara Sklar (Toothbrush Tango and Day One) and Dreams in High Fidelity by Scott Draves.

It was a great show overall. Amazing what a bunch of freaks/artists can put together just for the fun of it

rANch Open Studios Pictures by mikest

Spot posted a few yummy pics from the CMR Open Studios. Dodger’s fire pendulum was awesome and BANG (Bay Area Neon Group) is doing some fine work! Furry’s installation/performance thing is great. The pictures are really pretty.

Open Studios pics (maybe NSFW)

Opening night of open studios at the Megashear Ranch was last night. Lots of great works on display. I made an installation of my Dance Loop that I used for a dance performance with the NYU-ITP dance collaboration and I have an Inverse Parasol kicking around (works great with the video installation). At the opening a bunch of small extremely active humans were really into the installation and just going totally nuts and running around non-stop. The kids could be coaxed to stop and move slowly, but I literally had to take them by the hand

The second night is this Thursday. We have two bands playing!

Two Fabulous Nites! Two Fabulous Floors of cATacLySmIc Creation!

Come to the Cataclysmic Megashear Ranch to meet the Ranch Hands and view their Art.

CMR, nestled in the heart of scenic Bayview, has long been home to shady characters and dubious activities. This is your chance to see the latest crop of manufactured handiwork from the artists currently in residence.

Opening Day:
Sunday, August 6th, 3p - 9p

Closing Night:
Thursday, August 10th, 6pm - Midnight
Live Bands: SF Cattle Company and Babyshakers

1433 Van Dyke Ave, Bayview, SF

********************************************************************************
Artists - Exhibition Catalog (updated):

NEWLY ADDED/AMENDED:
Dave Cherry - Comic Art
Kiki Pettit Jewell - Neon and plasma sculptures
Scott Bartlett Jewell - Turbo jet engine: Turbo from a car, metal, and ingenuity
Paba Free - Interactive Sound Installation
Dominique Hatt - “Floating dream light device” 2000-2006
Elizabeth Dougherty - birdbath, candlestick, fountain and copper framed photo.
Dodger - Fire pendulum

PREVIOUSLY LISTED:
Nick Thompson - “You are Here” Installation
Mike McCabe - Time Lapse Animation of Atmospheric Strata
Nurse Sara - Gorilla video
John Doe - “Video Feedback - Realtime interactive video kaleidoscope surprises and briefly entrances most hipsters”.
Barbobot - “Creature” An installation of lightbulbs and feedback sensors which create an intimate environment for the viewer.
Furry - “Garden Tub and Environs” Glowy lights, silk plants and clawfoot.
Michael Ang - “Dance Loop” Interactive video installation, “Inverse Parasol” Electronic carryable
Hillary Seidner - “LED chandelier”
Nurse Saz - Stories and microbial organisms from the Congo
Uncle Kruddy - Mixed Media
Kathryn Arnold - Collection of Paintings
Lisa Pimental - Mixed Media
Pernilla Persson - Mixed Media Photos
Mauricia Gandara - Mixed Media

My friend Ed from ITP and his wife are putting on a multimedia performance called REMOTE. Ed’s a genius and no doubt the performance is awesome. I hope to go on Aug 5 but I’m cramming on getting a piece ready for the cAtClySMic MegASHear rANCH Open Studios on Sunday and Thursday. REMOTE is also playing in NYC on Aug 18 and 19, at the Three Legged Dog art space that I have yet to check out.

“The further you are, the closer I feel to you… please, stay away” – Remote

In a time where traditional intelligence networks seem to have failed, and where “faith-based” decisions challenge scientific “objectivity”, this new multimedia theatre project by award winners Kraft + Purver examines the hilarious, poignant and disturbing ways we try to connect while maintaining a safe distance.

Remote investigates this theme through several narrative threads: the history of bizarre experiments in psychic spying performed by the CIA and U.S. military, the impact of technology on the nature of intimacy, and the dilemma of isolation vs entanglement in the American psyche. The performers navigate an immersive environment of live, interactive video manipulation, 3D landscapes and digital technology, blurring the lines between reality and perception and illuminating how distance allows us the grace of perspective and the capacity for violence.

From the creators of “Woods for the Trees”…
Kraft + Purver and CounterPULSE present
REMOTE
AUG 3, 4, 5 & 10, 11, 12th @ 8:00 pm
@ CounterPULSE 1310 Mission St (@ 9th St), SF
Tix $12-15 first weekend, $15-20 second weekend
Reservations: (415) 435-7552
http://www.counterpulse.org
http://www.kraftpurver.com
There is limited seating so make reservations now!

Also, the HERE American Living Room Festival presents the east coast premiere
Aug 18 & 19 @ 8:30pm
@ Three Legged Dog Arts & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich St, NYC
Buy tix: http://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showcode=REM4&pcode=AME75

Conceived and created by Kraft + Purver with the performers
performed by Sara Kraft, Ed Purver, Ernie Lafky, Rowena Richie
Directed by Sara Kraft
Visual Design by Kraft + Purver
Video by Ed Purver
Sound & Music by Sheldon Smith
Songs by Sara Kraft
Lighting by Frieda Kipar
Costumes by Jenny McAllister
Stage Managed by Joy Newhart
Production Interns: Blake McConnell & Jackie Bendzinski

“Transporting, shrewdly evocative, and often very funny, their creative process suggests two precocious, deeply mischievous children with advanced degrees and the keys to the laboratory” – San Francisco Bay Guardian

I was reading at home when this one hit. Lasted maybe 2 or 3 seconds. Our house seems pretty solid and we have plenty of food. Must remember to keep a little store of water. The data from the USGS is pretty. The Did you feel it? map compiled from user reports to their site has a nice feel to it — like a mix of hard science and human experience.

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/nc40187964.htm

A light earthquake occurred at 8:08:12 PM (PDT) on Wednesday, August 2, 2006.

The magnitude 4.4 event occurred 5 km (3 miles) W of Glen Ellen, CA. The hypocentral depth is 9 km ( 6 miles).

I’ve had my tickets for the Survival Research Labs show in San Jose for awhile now. Latest word is that they got their permits and that Radiant Atmospheres and Coil will provide lighting support. The show is on Aug 11 and is highly recommended.