Feedback Joypad

 

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Overview

I regularly perform with a custom built feedback instrument that is controlled via USB joypad. I created it to provide myself with a way of performing with electronic music in a more spontaneous and 'instrumental' fashion. Although the sound world is nothing new and the controller itself is not out of the ordinary, I have spent a lot of time developing the mapping between the two to create a very natural, very flexible instrument. I have been performing with it in it's present state since summer 2008.

The instrument is essentially a physical model, in that it models a feedback loop within the software by using delays, and by filtering the sound in various ways and altering delay parameters it can be controlled quite tightly. For example, the delay line passes through a bank of very narrow bandpass filters which allow me to tune the feedback to specific pitches. These pitches are determined by the joypad in a trumpet-valve type system allowing for chromatic pitches over two or three octaves.

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Feedback Joypad at Ether Festival

The Feedback Joypad was recently featured at 'Enter the Ether' as part of London's Ether festival. A slightly simplified version of the instrument was installed in the Royal Festival Hall for the public to try out, and I performed with the instrument at a concert at the end of the festival.

the Feedback Joypad set up in the Royal Festival Hall	The accompanying description

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Feedback Joypad preseted at 'Outside the Box' Conference at City University

The feedback joypad was demonstrated in relation to a presentation entitled 'Creative Mapping Techniques' given at the AHRC 'Outside the Box' conference.

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Audio:

With Lawrence Williams (sax):

|- Live at Interlace:

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|- Studio Excerpt:

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Solo:

|- Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival - Laptop Revolutionaries (13-11-08)

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|- Miniature #2

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Example Videos: