Noise A/V

I’ve decided to try out blogging as a way to put something at this address without really having to make a web page.

The studio shaping up…

January 31st, 2008 by LEVLHED

The past few days have found me once again rearranging the studio. I finally got a snake and some other cables I needed to get things into the Ramsa console. I still need a couple more cables but things are generally ready to rock. I just sent a post out on a mail group explaining some of the kit I have in the picture below. Its the closest I’ve come to describing some of this stuff lately so I’ll repost it here for the benefit of anyone who happens to read this sorry excuse for a blog!
Hi rez v.of pic here
studio wired

The unit directly “above” the XBase is my precious Rebelle.
The Rebelle is one of maybe 4 in the world. Hand made by a nutter chick in Austria. Its an analog A/V distortion/synth.
You send audio and video into it, destroy it, send it back out. The audio portion is a basic synth: 4 osc, 2 VCS, a neat little inversion matrix thing. a sampler and a trigger which I can’t really get to work very well. The video portion works on the PAL standard and since it is analog messes with the video sync. Think of your grammas old TV with the two knobs to change channels that go ‘clunk’ between each channel when you hold the knob in between two of the channels.
You can control H-sync and V-sync and different qualities of it, and it reacts to the audio coming in. You can mix two video sources together but it mixes the sync so its not like a regular TBC’d video mixer.
Its all variations on the same general theme of analog sync destruction….
http://rebelle.restate.org/ yes, the website is supposed to do that, I told you she was a nutter.

The unit next to that is the Ambrazier. Hand made by another nutter who was in Chicago. Again one of 3 in the world.
“Peter B”, I think he lives in a castle somewhere now. He’s still building stuff but its all much more esoteric than this unit. Think of large curtains of burlap with exposed wires and circuitry you play with body contacts…or a jacket that is a musical instrument…or a slab of wood with smaller pieces of driftwood and metal pegs…
http://ciat-lonbarde.net/
The “Original Fancy Ambrazier” is clad in leather with buttons that press up like little nipples. Its essentially an 8-bit sampler of sorts. Its got 3 8-bit “buffers” that run in relative sync w/each other. Endlessly looping sample buffers that you insert audio into. Control over pitch and feedback. Also three different analog noise synths and an adjustable input/effect envelope that you can insert into the buffers. endlessly varying noisy looping madness.

And while I’m at it the black unit above the Rebelle is a circuit bent Texas Instruments TI99, dubbed a “Pixel Maelstrom”
This was done by Pixelform/Phil Stearns. I actually own three different versions now (v1, v3, & v4), I really don’t need all three but I just love the whole concept… Its got built in analog synth thingers set to trigger via different frequency ranges. The audio effects the video (its the blocky 8-bit video in the last video I’d posted). This particular version also has light sensor triggers.
http://www.art-rash.com/pixelform/

Also of note is the Metasonix TM-1 SE, 1 of 25. Special Edition because its got a stereo out like their “Hellfire” unit..
www.metasonix.com

Yes, I have a bit of a fetish…can’t help it.

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Old School/New School

November 19th, 2007 by LEVLHED

Caught up with an old friend over the weekend. A schoolmate of mine from elementary school. He’s been drawing “super heroes” for as long as I’ve known him. If you told either of us when we sat across from each other in 4th grade that he’d be working for Marvel and the like we’d have probably laughed and kept ignoring our Social Studies homework.
I’ve added his blog to my blogroll.

As for my current schooling…I’ve completed 70-270 XP Professional. I can now be considered a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). Today I start 70-290, Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003.

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quickly popping in..

November 13th, 2007 by LEVLHED

School and the rest of life is keeping me busy!
A short term/part time job will be started in a couple weeks. I’m looking forward to it. It should be a beneficial experience.
I’ve begun tinkering with job prospects. I long for the days of being a M-F working stiff making $$….maybe come March ‘08 I will be back to that again.

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A/V glitch set, Sept.8th, Millwaukee

October 17th, 2007 by LEVLHED

edit: I found this as a draft, guess I forgot to publish it

I’ll be doing some kind of live audio-visual set in Milwuakee in the beginning of next month.
Sept.8th at “Club Anything?”

really gotta get crackin’ on some material for that! although most of what I’ll do will be improvisational

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now with Network+

October 17th, 2007 by LEVLHED

I finished A+ certification months ago. I recently got my Network+ certification in the mail.
yes, I can blame my lack of posts on my busy school/etc schedule.
I have some more interesting things to post but no time at the moment.

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Ubuntu sidetracking

July 27th, 2007 by LEVLHED

I upgraded my “internet” PC (btw, I have 7 computers at my house which all get used regularly). I got a used P4 mobo, 4gigs RAM, hot AGP card…ended up building a whole new PC really. 2 500gb SATA drives even.
Anyway, I simply can not get XP to load on the thing. I can’t get XP to recognize the SATA drives correctly!! And believe me, I’ve tried everything I can think of….

So, I decided to give Ubuntu another look. and whaddayuhknow? Ubuntu loads just fine, not SATA driver issues, nothing. I really like this OS. If you’ve never tried a linux OS (the free open source ones), and you are inclined to tinker with new things, I highly recommend checking out Ubuntu…it is working for me, and has a friendly vibe.
You can DL and burn the OS as a “live CD” which doesn’t load anything on your computer, the entire OS runs off of CD…that way you can try it without any risk of messing up your existing OS. It does run a little slower off of CD of course.

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coming soon…

July 11th, 2007 by LEVLHED

I’ve realized I should really get around to showcasing some of the odd/rare bits of kit I have lying around the studio.
I plan to post pics and descriptions of objects such as the Rebelle, Ambrazier, Pixel Maelstroms, etc. As well as info on their origins and A/V samples of output where applicable.

Maybe, just maybe, it’ll invoke spurious bits of creative output….sending me careening off into improvisational self indulgence and exploration….

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A+ bound

June 28th, 2007 by LEVLHED

I’m well on my way to getting the CompTIA A+ certification.
4 weeks into the course and I’ve started week 5 of the course material:)
Still quite a ways to go though. I expect to be done in August.

If any of you is considering IT/networking/etc certifications, I encourage you to check out Techskills. They’ve got locations around the country.

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changes in focus

June 20th, 2007 by LEVLHED

So, despite what I said before…I’ve gone back to school.
I left my job a few weeks ago and have started pursuing IT/Networking certifications @ Techskills
Currently working on A+, then to Network+, then MCSA, then……not sure yet.

I still hope to poke along on my DVD project.

oh, and I’m now DJing every Friday night in Sheboygan @ Whats Up. Basically playing everything but hip hop/rap.
Its going well, it should keep food on the table for the next year at least.

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