Absalon Crash @ NIME 2018

Absalon Crash is a composition for cymbal & live electronics. I performed the piece during the NIME 2018 opening concert. With composer Alex Christie and Virginia Tech's L2Ork laptop orchestra, we had the pleasure to perform right before Ikue Mori's 30 minute audio-video set!
This piece consists in an interpretation of Mirrored Resonances, the theme of the NIME (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) 2018 conference: the sounds build on the natural resonances of the cymbal, which are delayed, transposed, reversed – in a way, mirrored – by the effects pedal.

Program notes

Absalon Crash, a composition for cymbal and live electronics.
Homage to Søren Absalon Larsen.
A cymbal is equipped with a piezoelectric sensor and a transducer. They are connected through a custom-built effects pedal to form a feedback network. A performer acts on the system to explore different sonic worlds. The performer shapes the sound by using her/his hands on the cymbal to muffle or suppress certain frequencies from the resonance spectrum, and by adjusting the settings of the effects pedal. Absalon Crash fits in the tradition of electro-acoustic works exploring the resonant characteristics of physical materials, like David Tudor's Rainforest.

Feedback

The feedback loop in Absalon Crash:

For large halls like the Fife Theater, the possible amplification set-up:

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