Test results

8 channels of audio and panning is now tested and calibrated. All routing and switching is in function. All pots, pans and mutes function nicely. The sound has never been cleaner (thanks to the new PSU). Still , gain level is an issue on the mic preamps.

Testingtesting: 1! – 2! – 3!

Adjustments have been made. Plan B has been set into motion. The router, the mixer, the power supply are all done. Tomorrow we start testing. According to Constructor Sletteland, Mercur is moving out of retrograd, an issue that seemingly has influenced our venture over the last few weeks. When the communists starts believing in astronomy, I cross fingers…

Reviewing, revising, repairing..

With a little easter break and less performance pressure around, I have had the time to evaluate what went wrong on the hardware side a bit more closely. Yesterday was spent testing conncections and investigating the consequences of the earlier revamp process. First of all: we are making a new power supply. A really expensive trafo from holland is in the mail, and clean, stable and non-noisy power is comming my way. Most of the issues (panning-trouble, routing-issues etc.) are easily fixed, we also discovered a broken potentiometer (!!) and the need for new relays. Constructor Sletteland and myself are in a positive mood.

the respirator at Journée Electrique

A full evening of flute music in Albis nu music festival: I play a duo with local flute professor Guy Bardot, a solo Sciarrino piece and my duo with Pascal. Good stuff. My powersupply died. I feel let down by hardware and desided to buy expensive replacements when I get back to Norway.Still – the piece went really well, lots of very interesting talks with people here – about the project, about my playing and about developing new electronic interfaces.

http://www.gmea.net/activite/diffusion/albi/journeesElectriques/2009_2010/index.htm

Respirating in Odenton II

Another week in Jeffs basement is in progress. Great stuff happens on the code side, disasters has been unravelled on the hardware side. Roars words “what could possibly go wrong” echoes in my head. Basically the router tries to electrocute me and parts of the new respirator design is non-functioning. Back to testing. And soldering. But first France and a concert with Pascal.

Revamping the respirator design

The birth of the resp_router has ment rethinking some of the design issues in the respirator. Master constructor Sletteland and myself has spent the last two months conceptualising what implications this change will have, and we think we have it..

So – know the mixer goes under the knife. Tomorrow I leave for the US, then directly to France for concerts. Vey nervous about making last minute design changes before concerts…  Good news is that O will have new funky features when Jeff and I start working in Odenton.

Introducing the respirator_router

Meet the resp_router – a breakout box that will handle inputs and outputs of audio and controll signals, minimizing the disastrous cabling venture around any performance… It will also allow for some new and swanky switching between audio sources and switching on and off the analogue efects chain.

respirating in London

A short trip to London for a performance with Pacal Baltazar and Benjamin Maumus.

review here:

http://mapsadaisical.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/borealis-at-out-hear-kings-place-250110/

BBC broadcasted the whole performance and made a little interview here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qprk5

Albi no.II

Back in Albi for another week of hard work. GMEAs spat system “Z” – based on DBAP – works incredibly well! Very engaging stuff. We are developing materials en masse, and currently shuffling shapes, structures and processes into a performance form, a version1 of our piece. Will be performed in London in january.

Respirator@piksel

I gave a presentation of the project at this years Piksel, a open source arts festival in Bergen. Jeff and I also played a duo – the first USA/USB concert in a long time. Good fun, although my new spatialisation preferences goofed on me, and I had to run an earlier version of the software…

Presentation was OK – but not really a very interesting debate. The resident french hacker idealist critisiced my project for using apple computers and wondered if it would not be more interesting if I build a resonating structure of metal rods to use as an acoustic controller rather than a flute.

http://www.piksel.no/