Imagine the Disklavier in the center of the stage, the composer/ performer somewhat distant to the side. Several microphones are put into position not over the strings, but this time at the hammers and keys. Remotely controlled by the composer/performer, the piano produces constantly rumbled and crackled noises, often very rhythmically, occasionally ringing strings are added on top, or stopping for a few seconds on a chord.
On a musical level this piece explores the sonic capabilities of the Disklavier machine. Technology tends to be used in obvious ways, and automated instruments like the Disklavier or the LEMUR Guitarbots are often used to present the "superhuman" capabilities of these machines. But these instruments also have hidden sonic qualities, and I try to explore these the same way I do with guitars for 20 years. The music will develop slowly, as there is a lot to discover for the listener.
On a technical level the Disklavier is fed too much information at the lowest possible volume. At this point the hammers do not have enough power to bang the strings anymore, and ideally they only vibrate to produce a low rumbling sound. Occasionally the MIDI brain even stops for a few seconds on a chord due to the data overload, hence the title "Choking Disklavier".
LEMUR GuitarBot
The LEMUR GuitarBot (www.lemurbots.org), a collection of four MIDI-controlled monochords built by Eric Singer, is a beautiful soundsource, especially when also recorded with microphones to capture all the mechanical noises that surround it.
Primarily I set the computer to algorithmically generate two kinds of sounds from the robots. First the scraping sounds of the slowly crawling frets, and second those from crashing the frets vigorously against the bridge. The third sound - a high pitch you hear throughout the piece - comes from the circuit boards, picked up by the microphones. These sounds feed in turn the computer processing unit (basically a modified version of my Endangered Guitar software), which again converts them into MIDI information to play the robots.
This feedback loop can go on for a while, and what you hear is a multi-channel recording of the guitar pickups, several microphones and computer processing channels, mixed down to 5.1 surround. The piece has three movements, occasionally I interfere with the balance of power to give it a new direction, until at the end, as usual, that balance gets out of control.
The original piece is in 5.1 Surround Sound, making extensive use of the spatialization of sounds. The piece was presented on surround sound installations and presentations in the US, Germany and Bulgaria. The uploaded version is a stereo mix / recomposition of the 5.1 piece.
