46 Improvisations on 46 different Instruments

At the Emergence Pod 1, Barnsley, 23.February 2010. (Picture © 2010, Bob Clayton)On Tuesday I participated in that challenge about ageism: I pledged to perform 46 improvisations on 46 different instrument. This was a good test for the new MAESTRO-2 computer with Sonar 8.5 and the Garritan Personal Orchestra 4. I arrived around 16:00 at the gallery. It took about one hour to get the stuff from the car and set up everything. Then from 17:00 - 21:30 I played as if I would be at home: anything that came into my head. The Sonar template had a total of 250 different tracks, for the MIDI and the synths. I had chosen to use several variants of the instruments but still count them as on (for example I used 3 violins, 3 celli, several flutes etc. In the end I did not use all these variants, but I was able to fulfill my pledge and create a total of 50 improvisations. Had the MIDI recording running, so I might eventually go through and release these recordings.

At the event itself there was not a large audience. During the day the press and even TV (BBC Look North) had been here, interviewing Brian Lewis who had pledged to create 73 paintings in 24 hours. But when I came, the media buzz had been over, and there were only two painters, a photographer, and a poet there. I played my improvisations - and I hope that my music had inspired them a little.

"Gig" in Barnsley, 23.February 2010, 14:00-evening

Through the project The Rivers Movement in which I am involved as the "technologist", I got "sucked into" a project about ageism: at this event on 23.February 2010 which takes place in the Emergence Pod 1 in Barnsley, May Day Green, artists will create something related to their age. The main organiser, Brian Lewis (age 73), will create 73 paintings in 24 hours.

I have pledged to play 46 improvisations on my new MAESTRO-2 synthesizer computer... using 46 different instruments. Have set up 23 Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO) instrumental groups so far, and have added more Cakewalk TTS synthesizer tracks in Sonar. During setting this up I had a few crashes of Sonar while adding TTS tracks. I hope the final version will be stable. The hardware setup will include my Roland A30 Midi controller keyboard. Got a pair of wireless speakers from Maplin for a cable-free setup in the exposition room.

Hopefully I will be inspired enough on 23.February. I plan to start there at the exposition place around 14:00 and will go on into the evening. The improvisations will be saved and will later be recorded and distributed on a CD or online.