Electro-Acoustic Music and other Multimedia
Dr. Dale E. Parson
Department of Computer Science
Room 260, Old Main
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania        

Email: p a r s o n AT kutztown.edu
Web: http://faculty.kutztown.edu/parson
Office: 484-646-4296
Fax: 484-646-4129
Make sure to visit Electro-Music.com!
Check out the annual Electro-Music Festival in September.
Visit the Kutztown University Planetarium, where I host various computer + visualization events.

There are recordings, photo albums and original graphical videos further below.



This is a shot of Michael A. Williams, Nelya Storozhyshina, Radhika Vunnam and Dylan Schwesinger demonstrating the Scrabble-to-MIDI system at the October 2010 PACT Conference for the PA State System Trustees and Board of Governors.

PHOTOS & VIDEO:
Here are some links to photos & video visualizations of original music. All compositions & recordings are copyrighted by Dale E. Parson, 2008-2014, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. You may copy & repost these recordings as long as you attribute yours truly as the composer.

Grim Planetarium, Kutztown University of PA:
    September 7, 2011 photos and recorded music and technical talks. Guests included Michael O'Bannon, Bill Fox & Jez Creek, students Jeremy Parson & Patrick Wiltrout.
    March 20, 2012 photos with guest Mark Jenkins, and with Matt Basta, Jeremy Parson and me playing HexAtom.
    September 5, 2012 photos with guest Dr. Joo Won Park from Community College of Philadelphia & our students.
    March 29, 2014 photos with guest Dr. Margaret Schedel of Stony Brook University, Nicole Cresse, Ken Rohlfing & me.
        Video re-capture (Full Screen & then HD for best results) from a recording of Meg's March 29 musical performance of Oppositional Surge, graphics by yours truly.
    June 13 (day 1 photos) and 14 (day 2 photos) provide a sample of the 2015 KU Computer Music & Visualization Conference.

Video of the backing track for Decay of the Doilies (Full Screen & then HD for best results), to be used with live music in a future planetarium event.

Video of a practice session for The Ice Cream Truck (Full Screen & then HD for best results), to be performed at Electro-Music 2014, posted on August 18, 2014. This piece uses a bimodal, visual-aural virtual instrument, program notes here.

Video of a 3-minute practice session with HexAtom (Full Screen & then HD for best results), posted on December 17, 2014. This piece uses a bimodal, visual-aural virtual instrument, extended from the previous piece.

Video recordings of both days of the June 13-14, 2015 Kutztown University Computer Music and Visualization Conference in Grim Planetarium (flyer below), recorded & posted by Steve Mokris. Two videos that he posted that are not in that index are my piece TARDIS, performed on HexAtom and accompanied by Glenn Robitaille on electronic drums, and the final set of the event, Zero Input Mixer Collaboration, with  Jeremy dePrisco, Bill Manganaro, Steve Mokris & myself.

Video recording of the March 19, 2016 Zero-Input Mixer planetarium piece by D. Parson, Genevieve Smith & Emily Hoch (visuals), about 20 minutes. Here are Steve Mokris' videos of the entire five-department evening. Here are some photos of the April 1 ZIM piece from the 2016 PA Computing & Information Science Educators Conference.
  
RECORDINGS:
All compositions & recordings are copyrighted by Dale E. Parson, 2008-2014, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. You may copy & repost these recordings as long as you attribute yours truly as the composer.

Rate of Change from the 2018-2019 New Year's Eve electro-music webcast is an hour of my improvised no-input mixing (Zero-Input Mixers), and a few other instruments used briefly, write-up here.

Take Cover Part II, starting off with a tune by Jeremy Parson written in 2011 (see two Db Minor pieces in 2011 with different arrangement/instruments below), played June 23, 2018 on electro-music.com webcast, write-up here.

Banjo-centric piece Double Planetoid, named after the Escher print, intended for the 2017-2018 New Year's Eve electro-music webcast. We had company that night, so I performed and recorded it on January 8, 2018 instead. It's a classic Acoustic Interloper piece. :-) Here is the write-up.

Here is a recording, and a write-up, for my 30-minute June Solstice 2017 trio piece with Ben & Nate Fisher on Zero-Input Mixer entitled Family Reunions.

Here is a recording, and a write-up, for my 30-minute New Year's Eve 2016-2017 solo piece Shingles' End on electric guitar, electric banjo, acoustic banjo, mixer feedback, and software.

The Ginger Beer Session is a 30-minute duet by KU alumnus Jeremy Parson and myself, from the 2016 Electro-Music September Equinox webcast. Jeremy played and Aria Thor Sound 400 electric guitar with a bunch of FX kick boxes bolted to a board, and I played my 3 zero-input mixers with no software processing.

From the No World (The No World Symphony) is my 62-minute Zero Input Mixer piece with 3 mixers + a laptop with effects in Ableton Live, from the 2016 Electro-Music June Solstice webcast. This is my most sophisticated ZIM piece so far.

Quantum Collage is my Zero Input Mixer piece with 3 mixers + a laptop and the Nechville Universal Meteor electronic banjo played with an Ebow, from the 2015-2016 Electro-Music New Year's Eve webcast. The first section is influenced by some classic Free Jazz performances.

The Final Five is a 10-minute computer Zero Input Mixer composite from summer and fall 2015. Computer ZIM feeds analog outputs of the audio interface box back to its analog inputs, and processes the signals in software, so the signal source is still analog transistor noise.

Yellow Jacket Lemonade is a 25-minute Zero Input Mixer piece from August 2015 in preparation for the Electro-Music 2015 ZIM workshop in September.

Baby's Electronic Rattle is my 30-minute percussive piece on Zero Input Mixer from July 3, 2015. I am preparing to lead a ZIM workshop and ensemble performance at http://event.electro-music.com/ in September 2015.

A 37-minute performance of my composition TARDIS for the software HexAtom that students and I have been extending for several years. This version uses a bi-modal feedback loop of Graphics -> MIDI music and MIDI music -> Graphics. This recording is my solo from the 2015 June Solstice Streaming Event on http://radio.electro-music.com/. I performed a duet of this piece a week earlier with Glenn Robitaille at the 2015 KU Computer Music and Visualization Conference.

A ~20-minute performance of Transatlantic Reel at the 2015 KU Computer Music and Visualization Conference in Grim Planetarium (see flyer below), and another from a week later for the 2015 June Solstice Streaming Event on http://radio.electro-music.com/. I wrote the this piece for processed 5-string banjo and Ebow during spring 2015.

A 32-minute performance of improvised Zero Input Mixer by Jeremy dePrisco, Bill Manganaro, Steve Mokris & myself at the 2015 KU Computer Music and Visualization Conference in Grim Planetarium (see flyer below).

60-minute set from the electro-music 2014-2015 New Year's Eve webcast, including a MIDI guitar and an electric 5-string banjo, an EBow, and various software effects, all described in more detail here.

Here is my ~25 minute solo Acoustic Interloper set from electro-music 2014. Program notes are here. Here is a much jazzier, 12 minute practice session from August 17. There is a MOV video of the practice session, also posted above.

Here is a ~25 minute recording of the Zero Input Mixer Orchestra from electro-music 2014. Planning for the orchestra and program notes are here.

Here is my 60-minute set from the electro-music June 21, 2014 solstice webcast, including the 43-minute piece "Attack-Decay-Sustain-Release" (4 movements), followed by "Penn's Woods", on 5-string banjos and software. There is an outline here.

Here is my set from the electro-music 2013-2014 New Year's Eve webcast, including two 5-string banjos, an EBow, and various software effects, all described in more detail here.

ZIM13 is the Zero-Input Mixer Collaboration from Electro-Music 2013, performed by Jeremy DePrisco, Adam Holquist, Bill Manganaro, Joo Won Park, and myself.

"Four Pieces for Electronic 5-string Banjo" from the Electro-Music June 2013 Solstice webcast explore the range of the Nechville Universal Meteor banjo that I am using for research into real-time musical pattern matching. Thanks go to the Kutztown University Research Committee for funding this excellent piece of musical gear. I play a version of this set at Electro-Music 2013.

"Unit Impulse" is my five-movement solo piece from the Electro-Music March 2013 Equinox webcast. It consists of a single note from my acoustic five-string banjo processed in a large variety of ways over the course of 32 minutes. It was inspired by a banjo note's loose proximity to the idealized concept of a Unit Impulse in signal processing.

"The Cheese Stands Alone" is my solo Zero-Input Mixer piece from the Electro-Music 2012-2013 New Year's Eve webcast. There is a short write-up about it here.

Here is my solo session of a piece entitled "These Voices" performed on the Yamaha MG124cx Zero-Input Mixer, with effects and recorded samples via Ableton Live, laptop-based software in the mixer's feedback path. Zero-Input Mixer is a new instrument for me this year. Jeremy Parson and I will perform this piece at the September 5, 2012 planetarium seminar. Sierra Parson rearranged and recorded the vocal sample for this piece, near the end of the piece. There are two related pieces posted here, a Four-Person / Zero-Input Mixer Collaboration from September 7, and my solo performance of "These Voices" on September 9, both performed at Electro-Music 2012 in Huguenot, NY. The collaborators were Bill Manganaro, John Driscoll, Jeremy Parson and Dale Parson.

Here is the electro-solo of an Untitled Piece in Db Minor (melody by Jeremy Parson, see below) that I performed on Godin xtsa guitar synth and assorted electronics and software, at the Electro-Music 2011 Festival near Huguenot, NY on September 11. Scrabble-to-MIDI appears extensively in this piece, sometimes talking with a Pacarana / Kyma device, acknowledgements to the K.U. Research Committee for providing the latter music hardware / software system.

Here is the electro-solo of Passing Storm (see below) that I performed on 5-string banjo and Yamaya acoustic guitar and assorted electronics and software, at the Electro-Music 2011 Festival near Huguenot, NY on September 11.

Here is the electro-duet of Passing Storm (see below) that Jeremy Parson and I performed on 5-string banjo and Yamaya acoustic guitar (me), Martin acoustic bass (Jeremy), and assorted electronics and software, at the September 7, 2011 Grim Planetarium seminar.

Here is the electro-duet of an Untitled Piece in Db Minor that Jeremy Parson and I performed on Godin xtsa guitar synth (me), Fender Strat electric guitar (Jeremy), and assorted electronics and software, at the September 7, 2011 Grim Planetarium seminar. Scrabble-to-MIDI appears briefly in this piece.

Passing Storm, Electro Version is a processed acoustic guitar and banjo piece that I wrote and performed for the 2011 Summer Solstice Webcast at http://radio.electro-music.com on June 18. It uses the scale G A Bb C# D F F# G.

Crater Dust (in Just Intonation) and Passing are pair of compositions for the 2010-2011 New Year's Eve Webcast at http://radio.electro-music.com. Crater Dust was written by Art Cohen and Steve Bowman. I wrote Passing, using some custom software for both of these laptop performances.

A Speck of Dust is my processed banjo + Scrabble-to-MIDI performance from Electro-Music 2010 in the photo above. This one turned out fairly well, I think.

Here is a Live Mutilation of the above performance of A Speck of Dust by PHOBoS, who mutilated it remotely from the Netherlands during my performance via the streaming Internet feed at http://radio.electro-music.com. This mutilation is very well done!

Crater Dust (Cohen and Bowman) from Electro-Music 2010 was performed by Steve Bowman, Richard Lainhart, Mel Morley and myself. They were on keyboard synths and laptops. I used my Godin + Roland GR-33 guitar synth and laptop on this one.

Emergent Blues is my Summer Solstice composition for http://radio.electro-music.com, built in part from ideas not used at our Pocono Skies collaboration in May 2010.

Take Cover is my Scrabble-to-MIDI + guitar synth + banjo composition for the 2009-2010 New Year's Eve Webcast at http://radio.electro-music.com. The synchronization of the stringed instruments with the Scrabble game work well on this one and A Speck of Dust above. This version of Scrabble-to-MIDI uses "synthesizer mode" on the MacBookPro to generates sounds. My students and I have played this software as an ensemble numerous times and places.

Here is a processed banjo + MIDI guitar version of 49th Winter, a piece I originally wrote for banjo in March 2003 after cross-country skiing in a very quiet snowstorm in the woods. This performance is from the Fall 2009 Equinox webcast at http://radio.electro-music.com. I also performed this piece with Howard Moscovitz at the September 30, 2009 computer audio seminar at Kutztown University, and solo at the end of October at Electro-Music 2009.

Here is my Untitled Piece for Scrabble-to-MIDI from Summer Solstice 2009 at http://radio.electro-music.com. This was the public debut of Scrabble-to-MIDI a month after it became an instrument. This early version uses "sequencer mode," which gives somewhat less precise timing than the "synthesizer mode" added later, but it has some of its own unique metric qualities.

Appalachian Stream is my banjo + Ableton Live composition for the 2008-2009 New Year's Eve Webcast at http://radio.electro-music.com.

Ordinary Machinery is my banjo + Ableton Live composition from 2007, written by Sierra Parson, Jeremy Parson and myself. I performed a live version of this piece at Electro-Music 2008 in Kingsport TN. I am still hoping for Sierra to write me some more prose to use in this way.

Opposing Force is a chromatic piece I wrote for 5-string banjo a few days after George W. Bush was reelected in 2004. Jeremy Parson is on electric bass and I am on my guitar synth + a lot of custom software for the effects in this recording. I also performed this in an ensemble at Pocono Skies collaboration in May 2010.

Polarized Shuffle is a short (~1 minute) piece synthesized with the StringStudio software synthesizer using data captured, extracted and algorithmically altered from my MIDI guitar playing in testing software for the 2006 paper below.

 PAPERS AND TALKS ON COMPUTER MUSIC AND AUDIO:

MIDI and OSC Controller State Machines in ChucK is a talk that I gave at Electro-Music 2013 in Huguenot, NY, September 2013.

"Quantum Composition and Improvisation," Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Musical Metacreation (MUME 2012), Stanford University, October 9, 2012, http://www.metacreation.net/mume2012/. Here are the slides for the talk.

D. Parson & P. Reed, "The Planetarium as a Musical Instrument," Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, paper and interactive demo, University of Michigan, June 4-6, 2012.

D. Parson & R. Panuski, "Real-time Grammar-based Parsing and Restructuring of Musical Streams," Proceedings of the 2011 International Computer Music Conference, Huddersfield, UK, July 31 - August 5, 2011.

"Algorithmic Musical Improvisation from 2D Board Games," Proceedings of the 2010 International Computer Music Conference, New York City and Stony Brook, NY, June 1-5, 2010.

J. Baguyos, D. Wetzel, M. Boyle, B. Lander, S. McLaughlin, S. Hewitt, K. Martynes, D. Parson, A. Cole, "A Summary and Transcript of the ICMC 2010 UnConference UnSession on Computer Music Performance," 2010 International Computer Music Conference, New York City and Stony Brook, NY, June 5, 2010.

"Chess-based Composition and Improvisation for Non-musicians," Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, p. 157-158, paper and interactive demo, Pittsburgh, June 4-6, 2009.

“Real-time Detection of Finger Picking Musical Structures,” Proceedings of Ninth International Conference on Digital Audio Effects, Montreal, September, 2006. I also presented an invited talk and guitar synthesizer demo of this topic at the Second Annual Electro-Music Festival in Philadelphia, June, 2006, http://event.electro-music.com/.

RECENT EVENTS AND PERFORMANCES, with thanks to Dr. Phill Reed for being a gracious host in the Kutztown University Planetarium:
















In April 2012 two students (Matt Basta & Jeremy Parson) and I performed the HexAtom game, that we had premiered in Grim Planetarium on March 20 (see above), at the 2012 PACISE Conference at Millersville University.

In April 2010 several Java Programming students and I performed Scrabble-to-MIDI for the 2010 PACISE Conference (PA Computer & Information Science Educators) at West Chester University of PA. I also gave the talk and performed with Millersville students at their annual Computer Science Symposium in April 2010.

September 30, 2009 Audio Seminar: Howard Moscovitz and I hosted a computer audio seminar in the evening, including a performance of Scrabble-to-MIDI by Raphael Francis, Ryan Huber, Steve Solomon and myself, that my Java Programming students and I wrote in Fall 2008 and Spring 2009. Here is a Reading Eagle second-page news article, including a photo, on the Scrabble-to-MIDI project. We also got a first-page lead-in with a photo of Ryan's game board GUI.


Here is a diagram of the speaker locations in the Grim Planetarium, looking up at the dome. (Note the orientation of east & west when lying on your back, looking at the sky.) The subwoofer sits on the floor near the north podium.