Disco Interface

Julian Siffert: Disco Interface (2017)

Julian Siffert: Disco Interface (2017)

for MIDI-controller, variable performers and live-electronics
2017/01/11, Pony Days Club #1, Romantica, Stuttgart.

Felix Nagl -­ MIDI­-controller
Thilo Ruck ­- e­-guitar
Nina Kazourian -­ viola
Lucas Gérin -­ snaredrum

„The core of Disco Interface is a simple sort of generative video­game that has been programmed for the AKAI APC40 with max/msp. Its various tasks (e.g. beat­matching, color­matching, tuning, pattern recognition) are designed to initiate a diverse set of interactions between performer and controller that directly produce different kinds of rhythmic and sonic structures: the sounds of its haptic interface.

The MIDI­controller is being transformed into a percussion instrument while the game itself is the score of the piece. Since being almost inaudible in a live­context, a contact microphone on the MIDI­ controller captures and feeds these sounds into the other performers headphones who have to reproduce them with their instruments in real­time, decoupling the sounds from their original context and presenting them as aesthetic material rather than a simple byproduct of the game/score. Furthermore, the use of a contact mic amplifies not only the interaction itself but also the sounds of the internal electronic circuit, leading to two different sonic layers between which the performers can choose freely.

The live­electronics and the synthesizer are controlled by an algorithm that measures different aspects of the interaction between performer and controller (reaction time, amount of needed attempts, failures, amount of finished tasks etc.). All of the live­electronics‘ material consists of the originally produced sounds.
Disco Interface has been written for and is dedicated to Pony Says“
(Julian Siffert: http://cargocollective.com/juliansiffert/Disco­ Interface )