Jean-Francois Charles

Cycling74 just released Max 8 , the new version of the graphical programming environment for music, video, and more generally interactivity with new media. I won't tell you about all of the new features (multi-channel objects and patch cords, etc.), you can read that on their web site. Rather, I'll celebrate with a picture I took when I attended the first Expo 74, in San Francisco, in 2009. Yes, at this time, cycling74 had offices in San Francisco! An interview with David Zicarelli Here are a couple of sentences from an interview with David Zicarelli , cycling74's CEO. I believe the interview took place in 2001. I find reading these sentences so enjoyable, I hope it will make you happy as well! Are you surprised at the affection that users hold for Max? In order to get anything out of the program, you have to get into it in a way that demands a certain level of commitment. In many situations in life, commitment and affection are found together. What version of Max i...

This Fall, I started teaching the third version of the course Digital Arts: an Introduction at the University of Iowa . Here are a couple of memories from the Spring 2018 edition of the Final Project presentation: See also the Digital Arts Creative Projects 2017 .

Tonight, the Nebula Ensemble with guest conductor Kornel Thomas are performing Gentiana , a new composition for trumpet, guitar, percussion, violin and cello. Concert is taking place at 7:30 p.m. at the Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church in Denver. True-digital synth for string instruments I adapted Andrew Bentley 's true-digital synth original design to string instruments: Violinist Arlo Adams and cellist Julia Emery trying out the instruments during yesterday's rehearsal: Program Notes Gentiana evokes characteristics of the alpine flowering plants used to produce herbal medicine or distilled beverages. During the three sections of the composition, Esprit , Vertige , and Racines , the musicians connect traditional techniques to the physical nature of their tools.

On Thursday, June 28, Françoise Kubler and Armand Angster are going to première Nattie's Air , a composition for mezzo-soprano, bass clarinet, and cymbal with live electronics. The cymbal is similar to the instrument I used to perform Absalon Crash during the NIME 2018 conference . The concert is part of a three day festival: Ensemble Accroche Note's Rencontres d'été in Strasbourg, France. A recital for soprano, clarinet, and electronics Here is the program of this exciting concert: Luigi Nono : La Fabbrica Illuminata for soprano and fixed media (1964) Luis Naon : Ultimos Movimientos for soprano, clarinet and electronics (2013) Jean-François Charles: Nattie’s Air for soprano, bass clarinet and electronics (2018) – world première François Bousch : Dualité Miroirs for soprano, clarinet and fixed media (2012) Philippe Manoury : Illud Etiam for soprano, clarinet and electronics (2013)

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 suppres...

I'm thrilled to take part in the NIME 2018 conference (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) next week at Virginia Tech . I'll be presenting a poster paper titled Using the Axoloti Embedded Sound Processing Platform to Foster Experimentation and Creativity . We wrote the paper with students from the New Musical Instruments class I taught in the Fall : musician and computer scientist Andrew Willette and composers Carlos Cotallo Solares and Carlos Toro Tobon. I'll be performing a new piece, as well. More on that later!

So glad after my most recent visit to the Record Collector store. Look what I found: an original Made in West Germany CD from the Art Ensemble of Chicago : The Third Decade. I remember when, middle ou high school student, I discovered the group's music with the Urban Bushmen CD, at the public library... The Third Decade is a great album; it also reminds me of my days in Lyon, when we attended so many ARFI shows ( Association à la Recherche d'un Folklore Imaginaire ).