Actual (current events)

Duo performance with Christoph Reiserer on December 11, 2015 at (Projektraum) Project Space Streitfeldstraße, Munich. Actually a quartet cause my experimental violin machine and Christoph's guitar robot co-operated during the performance.

wiring; control and audio flow.

Here is a brief recording of the work on the Violin Machine: laboratory and workshop notes:

Algorithm

I prefer formulas that build controlled structures from simple specifications; of particular interest are the boundaries where clarity and control get lost. For me this is satisfactory and the epitome of creativity. To me making music by rearranging pieces found on the internet is not of interest; makes me think of stock market speculation: profit from other people's work without sharing the achievement; not authentic

Amateur

"Amateurs make bad music, but can not be identified by the untutored common people, they also spoil the prices. They are economically independent and therefore can not be controlled as a potential traitor. Since they do not know (music~) history they reinvent the wheel every day“

Bass

In 1983 I finished playing the double bass. Since then I still occasionally play the electric bass with MIDI converter for live electronics.

Karl F. Gerber, Thorsten Klenze

Karl F. Gerber, Richard Vinton, Ron Hartwell

Cassette scene

K7 scene community

My activities with the ensemble ”Négligé - electronic underwear“ and other stuff from the 1980s is documented by Günter Schroth’s label ”Archegon“.

Commission

In addition to the commission for VC3e by Stephanie Knauer I got another commission from the Siemens Foundation together with the Münchner Gesellschaft für Neue Musik e. V. (MGNM) for ”Unarie Unaccompanied“.

Composition

Anyway, I do not see myself as an "assembling craftsmen". As a service to the artist I strive for exact determination (Loops). But in its interpretation I do not monitor the conformity to the  original score in a “godlike" manner.

Concept Art

For me mostly of little interest, if only a single idea is overused without regard to the result. The responsibility for the result can not be delegated; like in scientific experiments one has to take responsibility when deciding on the overall setup.

Dance

"Improvisation with integers"

was played by live edited formulas for the Dance Company of the University of Michigan.

"Beautiful Numbers" received an award in the category Dance in Bourges (France).

DeGEM

(German Society for Electroacoustic Music) Elektroacoustic, up to date, and demanding. And I am a member.

Doomsday

The track of the same name was the only one with algorithms on an electronic music sampler in Munich 1988.

Formula Improvisation

Doing live coding I do not want to start with a blank screen. I prefer to set the musical thinking higher than coding skills at live coding. For that I have developed the term ”formula improvisation“. It also sets the process apart from graphical editing.

Harpsichord

In my piece of music VC3e (for harpsichord) polyphony and rhythm create an almost electronic feel.

Improvisation

The measure of depth and immediacy of improvisation for me is the history of Jazz.

Interactivity

The most difficult area in computer music. The possibilities of spontaneous control (shaping) however do not go beyond registering church organs or traditional conducting.

Jazz

For me, the ideal form of music even in a more theoretical view of the use of musical means and possibilities: freedom versus determination, sound versus harmonics, tension, (micro) rhythm, personal sound of the individual performers, direct interaction and communication among the performers themselves, direct communication with the audience; relation to other arts and media (unfortunately less with electronics).

Live Coding

Since 1998 I edit musical formulas on the screen. In only a few cases I showed the audience the screen; nothing should distract from the music, which was the most important to me. This method is far superior to ”live coding“ for my purposes, as on one side much can be prepared to the structure and on the other deep interventions in real time are possible, all of the formulas are displayed on a screen.

"mod=\" after more than 15 Years! 

Unfortunatley no video available; video shows stills; screen was not "shown"

... no beamers, camcorders, smartphones...

Karl F. Gerber is improvising by editing and recalling 20 formulas. Four channel audio. Instruments: Two Roland SC88MkII, Yamaha A3000, Notebook: Siemens Nixdorf Scenic Mobile (CPU PII@400MHz?) using two RS232 ports plus MIDI/Game-Port. live @ Musikfest der MGNM 1999 Einstein, München.

Mathematics

It is not surprising that mathematics can describe musical or sonic phenomena. Therefore these phenomena won’t become more valuable. Conversely, not everything that can be mathematically described is even musically interesting. I did not set to music the stock markets . . . On the other side, math is a powerful description tool: with simple formula a lot of complexity can be controlled, documented and analyzed.

Mechanical Instruments

The fascination with the mechanical "acoustic" sound making device connected to the access to the "unplayable" led me to Recordings with Disklavier and the design and construction of the "Violinautomat - Work in Progress", premiered at the Deutsches Museum Munich.

MGNM

The Munich Society for New Music is characterized by a rare combination of openness and professionalism. Even composers who criticize the term ”Neue Musik“ publicly in panel discussions, still welcome their support . . .

Multichannel

Multichannel playback and surround sound, spatial allocation, I understood as a parameter in concert and studio recordings.

Notation

Conventional notation (Loops) can be generated automatically, and in real time with my formula improvisation system.

Passionatepolka

Formula improvisation; live-coding. My piece named after the intelligence's malware.

Sound Installation

"Perseus" took place in 1987 in the Gallery X in Munich. A four-week interactive sound installation by Karl F. Gerber on the exhibition of the artist WTH Regensburger.

Equipment: 8-channel audio, MIDI expander and SPX90, Atari ST1040, eight simple light sensors.

Symposion

Symposion MGNM 2010

In 2010 I chaired the sessions of Munich Society for New Music (MGNM) symposion where the listeners role in contemporary music should be explored.

Synesthetics

Even not synaesthete myself, I brought together picture and sound on a common algorithm (All Titles Are Misleading: Synasthesie Video, Karl F. Gerber 1993); the subject is exploring possible perceptual relationships across the people . . . also with analog electronics (What You Hear Is What You Get . . . What You See Is What You Hear, by Karl F. Gerber 1990).

Youtube | I run a channel for my own music EIGENKLANG and another older channel for miscellaneous items KFG4.