Now for some current events: "Sammensatt Guitar #1" recorded live at the Fulton Porchfest in Fulton, NY.
https://on.soundcloud.com/PdKZSapxpZkG6n7MEE
The Sammensatt Guitar was my thesis project for my MFA, an augmented guitar with effects and signal processing in Max MSP.
Here's some of the intro of my paper, because why not?
Sammensatt is the Norwegian word for “made up of”, “composed of”, “composite”, or “complex”. While traditional musical instruments consist of one object that produces sound, it is also reasonable to refer to a framework, system, or collection of components as one singular object. This is the logic upon which this thesis is based. The Sammensatt Guitar is a framework of components both physical and digital that is designed as a single instrument. The combination of these components creates and facilitates a distinct musical practice and ideology that, while derived from firmly established existing practices, stands on its own as an improvisational approach to performance and composition with the electric guitar.
The Sammensatt Guitar, in the scope of this thesis, is designed primarily as a vehicle for a solo improvisational performance, experimental in nature, that aims to expand beyond the stereotypical confines of the instrument. The electric guitar typically has an associated frequency range, note envelope, and timbre. The intent here is to preserve these intrinsic qualities, while using signal processing to augment them and create additional sounds that surpass those limitations. The ideal performance should include the original sounds of the guitar as well as other sounds derived from them, each to the extent that the performer wishes to include them. The signal processing techniques will allow the derived sounds to occupy a frequency range, create envelopes, and create timbres not otherwise possible in stereotypical guitar performance.
