[dorkbotatl-announce] reminder: dorkbot-atl tonight @ 7 pm

[Jason Freeman]

The first dorkbot-atl meeting of the year will be held tonight,  
Wednesday, September 5, at 7 pm in the Couch Building (music  
department) at Georgia Tech in room 207. This month, we have two  
fascinating presentations by Matt Simpson and David Lieberman  
offering different perspectives on the intersections between music  
and technology in live performance.

Full details on the presentations and directions to the building are  
available at:

http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotatl/

The Atlanta chapter of Dorkbot, the international forum on art and  
technology dedicated to “people doing strange things with  
electricity,” is sponsored by the Music Department. Its lectures are  
free and open to the public.

We hope to see you on Wednesday!

--

Matt Simpson: The Laptop Studio:  Performance at home, and the Studio  
on stage


With the advent of affordable multi-gigahertz laptop computers, the  
electronic music studio has shrunk from racks of costly synth  
hardware not just 5 years ago to a laptop and various input devices.   
As a result, the current and upcoming generation of electronic  
musicians are turning to the laptop as a full blown, self contained,  
multi in and out production rig without thinking twice. Coupled with  
the extremely rapid and robust development of music (and otherwise)  
software, new as well as long-desired sonic techniques have  
developed.  One primary example can be found in the synergy of the  
studio and the stage.  Software such as Ableton Live allows a laptop  
musician to instantly create multi-layered improvisations in his or  
her own studio just as easily
as taking what was meticulously crafted in the studio into a live  
setting for any and all sonic manipulation. This can most clearly be  
seen in the Laptop Battles, a tournament-style community-driven  
competition held in cities across the world. Rules are simple - one  
laptop, one input device, and 2-3 minutes.  What results is often  
unique and innovative, helping to break
the barriers between musican and music consumer, and ultimately  
introducing people interested in music making to comprehensible and  
powerful tools of sonic creation.

Matt Simpson is a native of Atlanta, with occasional stops in South  
Florida and the farms of South Georgia. Graduated 2004 from Georgia  
Tech with a B.S. in Computer Engineering, Co-Chair of Nophi  
Recordings, local organizer of the 2007 Laptop Battles, 2006 Atlanta  
Laptop Battle champion, former member of The Secret Life, current  
member of Harmaline and PASSWARDSZ.  Raised on a healthy diet of 8- 
bit sounds and FM synthesis, Matt has been a rabid consumer of all  
things audio since his earliest sound experiments at an early age  
(from jumping on the hardwood floor of his home to rhythmically skip  
Michael Jackson's "Thriller", to tossing a plush parrot with a record/ 
playback device embedded, timing the 'oof's and 'ahh's with every hit  
of the stairs).  Trained on the keyboard and viola, Matt has made  
computer music since 1996.  Matt initially learned on DOS-based  
trackers, and has steadily built a project studio that today  
encompasses nearly 30 synthesizers, drum machines, circuit bent  
devices, toys, and self-built miscellanea.

--

David Lieberman: Game Enhanced Music Manuscript: The Anigraphical Etudes

A unique set of developmental issues present themselves when applying  
game theory concepts to the creation of interactive music manuscript  
in video game format for concert performance (game-scores). Paying  
special attention to structural, mathematical, and sociopsychological  
similarities, those issues become apparent when observing the  
correlation between the two distinct human activities of performing  
music manuscript and playing games. Precepts from ludology (the study  
of video games) and structural issues applicable to traditional video  
game development require consideration too. Game- scores may then be  
evaluated within the context of the benefits and ramifications that  
result from the convergence of video games and music manuscript. The  
Anigraphical Etudes are a set of animated, interactive music  
manuscript for live concert performance in video game format. The  
pieces incorporate into traditional western notation the added  
dimensions of  decision-making, size, color, motion, and  
computational algorithm to enhance the live performance experience.

David Lieberman: Early training at the San Francisco Conservatory and  
with Canadian composer Harry Freedman. BM, MA, Doctor of Music from  
Northwestern University where his principal teachers were Ben  
Johnston, Alan Stout, and William Karlins. Additional graduate study  
at U.C. Berkeley with Gerard Grisey. Advanced Master Classes with  
Jacob Druckman and Bernard Rands (Aspen Music Festival) and with  
British composer Judith Weir (Oregon Bach Festival). Additional  
instruction with Samuel Adler and Milton Babbit. Taught Computer  
Music as Visiting Assistant Professor in Music Theory and Technology  
at the prestigious Oberlin College at the age of 25. Resident  
Composer Brooklyn College Computer Music Center. Adjunct faculty  
Union County College, N.J. Visiting/Guest Lecturer/Artist/Speaker:  
NYU, U. Mass. Amherst, Kobe Tokiawa College, Atlanta College of Art,  
Univ. Miami FL, College Music Society Southern Regional Conference  
(Univ. of Florida, Tampa), International Conference for the Web  
Delivery of Music (Wedelmusic/Interactive Music Network: Univ. of  
Leeds, England), Project Bar B Que (Interactive Audio Think Tank),  
Graphite 2006 (4th International Conference on Computer Graphics and  
Interactive Techniques-Univ. Teknologi Malaysia UT. Commissions: San  
Francisco Chamber Symphony, Stoney Brook Contemporary Players.  
Awards: BMI Student Composers, Highest Honors Northwestern U.,  
American Music Center, National Saxophone Society, Kensington  
Symphony, others. Grants: Meet the Composer, Ekstein Trust.  
Publications: Game Enhanced Music Manuscript, AMC Press. Currently  
not affiliated with a university and resides in Atlanta, GA.