My goal with this project is to create an immersive aural and visual experience based on my derive and the work that followed, while incorporating improvisation and live performance. The project will be performed / created in a nightclub (Dec. 11, Flamingo Cantina on 6th) using a modular audio/video synthesis system that I have designed. A multitambral analog modeling synthesizer, computer and sampler are monitored for live audio content and, via MIDI, simultaneously triggers video content live from a computer running a video performance application.

My derive was an exploration of my home. This performance will take the audience through the five nodes of the derive, showing images and sounds associated with the patterns I have developed. The opening movement is the "plant movement", an ambient, down tempo section with minimal drums. It is driven by a woodblock arpeggio in D that sounds like leaves. This is accompanied by sun-like pads and bright guitar sounds that glorify a bright, organic frequency spectrum. This section evolves into a Sci-Fi piano sound track inspired by the SW Austin model. This is where the synths first really start up. Then, after a build up, the second movement, the "synth movement" , starts. This section is many different synths with extreme cutoff manipulation. The downtown movement is an upbeat breakbeat piece with atmospheric pads and textures and a bassline that to me says traffic. The maze section is a dark movement in D that switches, confusingly between full (128 BPM) and half (64 BPM) and is loaded with spiraling arpeggios and synth patterns. Coming to the last movement, "enlightenment" is much like movement one in terms of key and structure, except that it is backwards (devolving, decreasing intensity) and the instrumentation is more psychedelic.

To get an idea of the video content, simply look at my map section and content section of project 3. The idea is that the video will be cut the audio, making patterns of plants, synths, circuits, mazes and god only knows.

The audio content will be created on the Nova II ASM Synth, Emagic ES2/ EXS24,EMU E5000 Sampler, and other hardware and software synthesizers. Instead of generating only musical loops, the content will be based on sonic textures and patterns inspired by the five locations on the derive. This should not be confused with simply recording and playing back recordings of the actual objects and things in and around the site. (Although using recordings of these things as sound sources to be manipulated has not been ruled out). What would a leaf or a city sound like if it could talk or make music?

The video content will be created using various digital imaging applications (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Final Cut Pro, Bomb, Aesthesis, Morph) and generated live using Arkaos VJ. VJ allows for the real time manipulation of video clips, images and effects according to user defined MIDI controller numbers. The clips to be played back will be based on, like the audio, textures/ gestures, and patterns. The mini worlds created by project 2 will serve as generic models for the virtual environments that I will create on the projection screen. It is my hope and expectation that the existing patterns will evolve during the creation of new content. Output will be handled by the club's speaker system and Alesis M1 Active MkII monitors.

Although this system is capable of performing in several configurations, I have not yet decided how to present the project to an audience. One part of me would like to have a traditional performance, where I play the music and trigger all of the visuals myself, for a more refined performance .The other part wants to just leave it open for the audience to experiment with. This, however, presents a problem with the interface. MIDI keyboards and knobs are really the only devices that can be used to control MIDI equipment. There is the I-Cube system that uses motion sensors and the like, but with its heavy price tag, is out of the question. The performance will allow me to create a good piece, while the interactive option allows me to create a good piece of equipment. Output will be handled by the club's projection system, or Plan B: obtain a projector from the IMC. In the end, I hope that the project will incorporate both live performance and audience interaction.

This is a fairly technologically advanced project. The amount of sequencing time expected for the audio alone is around 100 hours. I feel that it is important for people to embrace technology. To to this, it is often helpful to give meaning to the technology. In the case of this project, technology (is being represented by) all of my gizmos in their live set-up, and the performance itself. It is the project.

But what is the point of all of this if no one else really cares that much about synthesizers and live visual interaction? The point is to make them care. Specifically displaying image and sound simultaneously in a synchronous and synesthetic way, I will provoke thoughts of what green sounds like and how to live in a synthesizer.