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This is a photo the massive setup I used at the Luggage Store Gallery earlier this month.



You can see more at the original post at CatSynth.com.

This was a really impressive setup, and fun to play, and not even that hard logistically. But I think I want to go much simpler next time.

Well, the first big solo show since moving to the city is nearly upon us. And it's a big one, at least in terms of the setup and preparation. Indeed, this is the largest and most complex setup I have used for a live show in quite a while, with both Mac and PC laptops, the tablet, MIDI keyboard, the Evolver synth, and the Proteus 2000 module. And of course the rather byzantine wiring and signal routing to keep it all together.





In the photo, one can see not only the equipment, but a couple of the acoustic instruments I will be playing including the ektar and the gopichand.

Why such a complex setup? Well, I wanted to a variety of pieces for this performance, combining both the newer simplified performances (such as those I did last year on tour with Polly Moller and Company), with some of the older more complex works. I also wanted to play the tablet, which I haven't done in a while, and it only runs on the older PC laptop; and include a couple of pieces from the CD, including Chimera and a variation on Xi. I was a little bit concerned about pulling out the old laptop for this performance, but after some effort it's running decently, and it's great to be able to blend elements from my older performances with the more recent ones. And in truth some of the older pieces are more fun to play, such as Chimera on the tablet, and the patch that responds to live drumming (officially called "drummer boy").

Luna has of course had to make her presence felt during the rehearsals, as you can see here.

After a shaky start, the program has come together quite nicely in the last few days, and I am now looking forward to performing tomorrow.

For those interested, the time and location is:

Thursday, May 8, 8PM
Luggage Store Gallery
1007 Market St.
@ 6th Street
San Francisco, California

More details can be found here at MySpace.


[originally posted at CatSynth.com.]

Yesterday was the "kick-off" performance for the tour of Polly Moller and Company, at 1510 8th Street in Oakland.

It was a good show, both the solo set and our group performance afterwards - as a trio this time, the full group heads north tomorrow.

You can read more and see some photos at CatSynth.com.

Watch this "movie trailer" for Barack Obama's rally last week in New York:



The rally has come again, but I think it's worth seeing, and if you want to find out more about the music (and why I would be posting this), visit my CatSynth site.

We're in day five of CatSynth being down due to the fact that our ISP neglected to renew our parent domain name ptank.com. This actually messes up everything for me, not just CatSynth, but also my main music site outside of myspace, my primary email, the CatSynth Channel podcast (that's why the podcast widget here is empty), and so on...

This is not cool.

We do have a temporary home for CatSynth in the meantime at blogger, a "fema trailer" if you will...

Here's the first entry from my blog documenting my participation in the RPM Challenge to conceive and record an album within the 28 days of February:


Well, it's the eve of RPM 2007. I have taken the organizers' advice and will not begin either composition or recording until tomorrow. But that doesn't mean I won't start planning in advance. I have an overall idea for the structure of the album, with the pieces fitting together as a single unit, and moving in an arc from more beat-based music to more free-form and experimental, though I haven't decided how it should end up. I am also preparing things technically for the project. Most of the work will be done on the computer using software synthesizers and sequencers - I will likely use some hardware instruments and acoustic samples as well.

The goal is to do the creative work (and hopefully much of the recording) in 2 1/2 weeks to mirror the appromixately 2 1/2 years it took to complete my last album Aquatic...

Hi all-

I am hosting a "Guess the electronics" game at my main blog CatSynth.

Simply listen to each of the challenges below and leave a comment on how you think each was one created. You can also take a guess as to which examples include acoustic material.

C'mon, it's fun! And I know a lot of you end up here because you're into electronic music.