nan is an audio-visual composition based on the timbre and rhythmic gating of the NAND-gate feedback circuit described by Nick Collins in Handmade Electronic Music. Even though the system is quite simple (producing repeating phrases consisting of square waves, filtered noise, and silence), each gesture has microvariations that increase the entropy and attract my attention endlessly. My favorite timbres from this circuit occur while parameters are being changed–when capacitors are firing at surprising times, before they can settle into a stasis.

My transliteration project is a book series that visualizes digital audio using different representations, such as waveforms, binary data, or fourier transformations. These images feel like a microscope and a pause button, allowing us to sit with one moment in time, look at it very closely, in a new way, and appreciate the specificity, detail, and care it can convey.

created with the [Switch~ Ensemble]: Zach Sheets, flute T.J. Borden, cello Wei-Han Wu, piano Megan Arns, percussion quartet is a remote collaboration between myself and the [Switch~ Ensemble] designed to engage with the added technological mediation at play during the pandemic. The sonic source material of quartet is about two minutes of eurorack synthesizer recordings transcribed for the [Switch~ Ensemble] to record. These recordings were then subjected to data analysis using audio descriptors and machine learning algorithms using FluCoMa.

hold is a tape composition commissioned by Chicago Civic Orchestra for their 100 year anniversary live stream, March 29, 2020. It was created using samples of individual orchestra members playing their part to Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony along with other electronic sounds, including feedback bassoon sounds made with collaborator Ben Roidl-Ward. This work is not only to celebrate Civic’s 100 year history, but is also a reflection on the COVID-19 crisis, which is the reason the event was changed from a live performance to a live stream.

My friends at line upon line percussion asked me to come up with an idea for a short piece that could be created collaboratively with them during the COVID time of physical distancing. In turn, I asked for videos of them making a collection of sounds that I could then combine into some groovy video thing. The videos are played using custom software in c++ created with openframeworks, however all of the sequencing was done with patterns in SuperCollider.

Music composed by Scott Miller: Solstice Orrery on Raba (New Focus Recordings fcr198) Video design by Ted Moore Scott asked me to create a video design for this track (Solstice Orrery) on his New Focus release, Raba. An “orrery” is a mechanical model of the solar system (as can be heard in the music). I took inspiration from the title and used/created images of the sun in various renderings.