Live in Utrecht, syncing

June 24th, 2009

flyer_ekkoGetting a set together for 030303 again in Utrecht…I haven’t been able to play with the 303 and other hardware for a few years because Ableton’s sync has been really unstable, drifting within a couple of bars.  Couldn’t figure out where it had all gone wrong, loading up Cubase on my old PowerBook recently was absolutely fine…no problems setting something up in Max either, but I wouldn’t want to try and play a full set in it – not for this kind of thing anyway.  I have about 7 years worth of old Ableton sets kicking about and I’ve got used to just dragging stuff about.

The solution?  Switching back to Windows!  Downloaded a copy of Windows 7 and installed using Boot Camp…it took the best part of the day to get everything sorted…had to reformat, once all installed a bit slow moving stuff back and forth as Windows insisted on being installed on an NTFS partition…it was worth it though…once I had Live up and running the sync was absolutely fine…little jitters every now and again but nothing major, and hasn’t drifted at all yet.  It’s been really nice building up a set again like I used to, with the 303, 606 and 909 going into their own channels in Ableton with compression etc…might even start writing some acid tracks again when this is all over!

030303 have updated their website with some videos I’d forgotten about from the last time I was over there…so here they are!  Really looking forward to getting back there.


Charles Shows , , ,

Itaewon Hotel Mix March 2008

May 2nd, 2009

This is a mix I made when I was in South Korea last year.  Mostly unreleased tracks and loops from the last 5 years or so, a couple from around 2002.

Click here to download.

Tracklist:

Itaewon Intro
Curtain/Pleasant
Not Now/Purple
Trees
Time
Tributary
Strap
Stop That
Gatwick
Keo/Slope
The End
???
Problems Upstairs

Charles Mixes, Original

Free Universal Binary Audio Units

April 25th, 2009

Out EP (2006)

April 25th, 2009

I released this as a free download on my website in 2006.

Tracklisting:

1. Acid Police (6:03)

2. Cold Breeze (4:31)

3. Interlude (0:35)

4. Dead Rats (3:24)

It’s a short collection of acid tracks I was working on that didn’t seem to fit into anything else but worked quite well together.

Charles Releases

Automatic Gamelan Screenshots

April 19th, 2009

Just a few screenshots from the development of the Automatic Gamelan software in 2008:

batikscreen.jpg

Picture 1 of 6

Charles Max/MSP

Photos from Java

April 19th, 2009

This is a selection of photos from my trip to Java last autumn (didn’t manage to take very many!)

Charles Photos

April 2009 Mix (gamelan/electroacoustic/percussion)

April 19th, 2009

This is a mix of some music and sounds I’ve been enjoying lately. I haven’t put anything together like this in ages (in fact I haven’t really been mixing at all) but hope I can find some time to do it every once in a while, really enjoyed this one.

Click for 17th April 2009 Mix

Tracklisting:

mixGong Luang Ensemble – Manukaba
Alvin Lucier – Music for Alpha Waves, Assorted Percussion, and Automated Coded Relays
Krzysztof Penserecki – Utrenja (ewangelia)
Iannis Xenakis – Metraux
Parmegiani – Jeux
Luc Ferrari – Heterozygote
Sonic Youth – +- (Takehisa Kosugi)
This Heat – Graphic/Varispeed
Pigface – Cylinder Head World
Joko Purwanto – Waktu dan Ruang

Charles Mixes , , ,

“Stop That” and Smashback remix on Data Trace

April 11th, 2009

Data Trace are a fine label from Manchester that have been going for about a year now and have just released one of my tracks “Stop That” on their third EP.  It was pretty much done in a couple of sessions which is really rare for me and hence quite raw sounding…I had sent a rough MP3 round to get reactions and that’s what Rupert wanted on the release..

Strategems EP 

Last year I did a remix for Smashback that appeared on the same label…it’s kind of minimal and spiky:

Fall of Liberty EP

Edd Smashback has just finished a mix of one of my tracks that should be appearing on Balkan soon.

Charles Releases

Back In

April 10th, 2009

This kind of slipped by a while back, but if you’re interested in hearing something a little different it’s still worth checking out.  I wrote these tracks in the summer of 2004 when I was going through a bit of a rough time and they’re still very special to me.

Back In on iTunes

Charles Releases

Trigger

April 10th, 2009

I’m playing at the next Trigger in the Rainbow Warehouse in Birmingham on the 16th May.

I haven’t played out for a whole year now…last time was at the Dogstar in Brixton for Bassweight 11th April 2008…which is really weird to think about considering how much I used to get out…and pretty much the only people who could have coaxed me out were Trigger…they have a great philosophy and an amazing rig to boot.

Am working on a new set in Live 8 + either Max or Supercollider now, and hoping it’ll be pretty much all unreleased stuff although there are a couple of old tracks I can think of that I’d really like to throw in.

Details at the Trigger page on Myspace

Charles Shows