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Gestrument Pro in concert
Hi everyone - I just wanted to share this with you, I thought you might find it interesting to see our app used in a very different context! It is an excerpt from an orchestral piece that I composed recently.
In the piece ”Emerging from Currents and Waves” I have used Gestrument Pro both in the compositional process and in the live performance. Gestrument Pro is controlled by three Kinect cameras that are played by the soloist Martin Fröst and the conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Most of the time I have used the same settings when composing the score as I later used for the performers in the live situation. In that way the score and the live performance of Gestrument becomes very closely integrated. You can see the score here:
https://issuu.com/editionpeters/docs/ep14307a-p
https://issuu.com/editionpeters/docs/ep14307b-p
https://issuu.com/editionpeters/docs/ep14307c-p
From the program of the first performance:
"Emerging from Currents and Waves" is a work commissioned by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, IRCAM and the French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and was written specially by Jesper Nordin for Martin Fröst and Esa-Pekka Salonen. It was premiered during the Baltic Sea Festival 2018 in Berwaldhallen, Stockholm.
"When you stand very close to something that is transforming, or when you are in the middle of a process, you are rarely able to predict where it will lead. You might be able to imagine some of the implications, but you will not know for sure until afterwards. The emergence of social media, virtual reality and artificial intelligence is changing not only our culture, but our entire society, and those of us who exist in the midst of that process have limited possibilities to predict the outcome.
The amazing thing about art is that you can ask questions and conjure up visions at the same time. Where is art heading? Can the seemingly endless possibilities of technology also be a bridge to the depth of tradition? In what ways will art, artistic expression and the opportunities for practising it, be affected by new technology? Will the potential birth of artificial intelligence be as large an evolutionary leap as life emerging from the oceans?"
This is what Jesper Nordin himself writes about Emerging from Currents and Waves, which is part of a larger collaboration between Nordin, Fröst and Salonen where they explore the interaction between man, music and technology in a variety of contexts.
The innovative composition and improvisation tool, Gestrument, was originally invented by Jesper Nordin for his own composing. When universities and conservatories around the world became interested in it, he developed an app that anyone can download and use. What is particular about the software is that it exists in the boundary between an instrument and a composition, and likewise between what and how much we can control in a digital environment, and what we relinquish once we have established the rules.
The software is pre-set using what Nordin himself calls the “musical DNA”: rhythms, scales, melodies and sounds. Based on those parameters, the Gestrument can then be played, like an instrument. In parts of the piece, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra will be recorded in real time, sampled, and then played back using motion sensors – also controlled from the podium by Esa-Pekka Salonen. In addition to the coupling of acoustic and digital instruments, there is also a profound encounter between different art forms. Martin Fröst’s movements, when he plays the Gestrument, have been developed by a choreographer and with the help of a stage designer and a visual programmer, everything that happens electronically is portrayed in real time in the interactive installation.
Comments
That was amazing. Thanks for having created such a beautiful app. It confort me that the IPad will be the instrument of the futur and that the time spent on it is well spent!
nice!
Very impressive performance ! Amazing!
Gestrument is a very inspiration App. I have to invest more time in it... 😊
Wow. Not normally my cup of tea but loved the tension and drama in the piece. Interesting symbiosis of traditional instruments and modern tech. Love gestrument too but my noodlings aren’t quite as complex 😂
This is deeply inspiring!
@JesperNordin our devices have front facing cameras. Any chance a future version of the app will allow us to easily use Kinect style gestures using the onboard camera?
@JesperNordin Thank you very much to share the instrument and the artisitc performance!
@JesperNordin that is effing spectacular my good man! Bravo!
I found that quite brilliant and inspirational on many fronts. I really liked the interaction between the emotions ( conveyed by human actions) and resultant music. Also, the thought that the music would never sound the same twice! Big plus for me is that the music actually conveyed and marched the title of the piece.
Wow.
Thanks a lot for your kind words everyone!
@lukesleepwalker - it’s super tricky to do something similar with ordinary cameras! But without saying too much...we are on the case since quite some time, let’s see where it goes;-)
I think my brain melted at the sheer awesomeness of this concept and performance.
Thank you for sharing this. Very inspiring.
@JesperNordin I really wish I could have seen that live. Amazing use of technology and also the music is riveting.
You are an extremely talented individual. Thank you for the software but also for sharing why you do what you do!
Thanks again - you are all very nice;-)
@drez - it is planned for several more performances, both in the full version, but also the smaller piece "Emerge" for Clarinet, Orchestra and Gestrument that Martin Fröst is touring a lot with. And yes - this really is the reason for me to develop the technology behind Gestrument: to be able to take my music further and to try to do the music of the future! I'm extremely happy that so many of you are interested in joining the ride and using the app for your own goals!
For anyone who might be interested in trying out the Kinect connection to Gestrument, here is our old beta (but it only works with the first Kinect - 360 v 1414) - https://www.dropbox.com/s/t9ejwacml86gx7w/GestrumentKinectConverter.zip?dl=0
@JesperNordin - really amazing performance. Totally inspiring
Can you elaborate on what Gestrument is doing with the orchestra.
Are you live sampling sections and controlling the samples via Gestrument?
This is absolutely amazing.
@Mayo - there are many technologies in place during the piece (it is 75 minutes long;-), some of them are using live sampling, but then without Gestrument. With those technologies we let the conductor freeze or loop the live orchestra and then use that sound to move it around the audience (we had over 50 speaker around the hall).
When it comes to Gestrument it was used with sample banks (Vienna Ensemble) to let the soloist and the conductor perform on virtual orchestras. These virtual orchestras were set up in Gestrument using the same parameter settings that I had used when I composed the score, so I could have control over the "total" music but still give the performers some freedom.
AMAZING WORK !!!!
Yes. Beautiful work. Thank you for sharing your vision and for making Gestrument available to all of us!
Dear Jesper,
absolutely fabulous app. I am considering letting a dancer control Gestrument. How would you do the setup with the Kinect cameras? How many do you need? 3?
Thanks in advance for your reply,
Rob
This is amazing, thnx for reviving the thread
Consider using Holonist app
Sadly, iOS 13 introduced audio artefacts in some instrument combinations. @JesperNordin is aware of this but my understanding is that the issue is with Apple.
It’s still an amazing instrument. If you’re not aware, you can import Midi files, for instance from Piano Motifs, and then play that scale with the internal or external instruments.
Gestrument was one of the first apps I bought, but I haven't explored it properly at all. That's a good heads-up about the midi, thanks, I will definitely try that
Hi everyone - thanks for the kind words! As @Philandering_Bastard said iPadOS13 introduced some crackles, and Apple still hasn't solved this so we have done what we could with the worst sounds, but it is really a fault within AUSampler. We are looking at switching sampler, but it's a big project...
@robklotzby - we have our own KinectConverter beta software that we linked to higher up in this thread. It's not super stable, but we hope to be able to put out something better in the future!
Super, I’ll check it out. Thanks. How many cameras do you use?