Variations A Released

November 8th, 2023

My typical way of working in the studio for some time now has been to create a patch (the set of connections of a modular synthesizer), explore it until I’m satisfied, make one piece from it, then remove all the connections to start over from scratch for the next piece. For Variations A I decided make one patch with which I would then make multiple recordings. Even within one simple patch, there is a lot of potential for variety and I wanted to explore the continuum of similarity and difference.

Even More Less Exquisite Released

November 8th, 2023

Our earlier album Less Exquisite continued the original pattern that we developed for Exquisite Coast where we created pairs of solo pieces asynchronously. The subsequent More Less Exquisite was our deep exploration of Less Exquisite in real time. While the goal of More Less Exquisite was to bring our process to a live context, during the preparation for each rehearsal we continued to record solo versions of each patch before coming together in performance. Our latest release, Even More Less Exquisite, is a selection of the tracks recorded ahead of these live sessions.

More Exquisite Released

April 3rd, 2023

The latest release in the Exquisite series, my collaboration with John O’Brien, is now available. More Exquisite continues and expands on the work done for Exquisite Coast, which used a tight set of technical constraints as an artistic challenge to encourage a deep exploration of an instrument. While Exquisite Coast focused on a single instrument (the Make Noise 0-Coast synthesizer), with More Exquisite (as we did with Less Exquisite), we have expanded the concept to allow for a second synthesizer, the Moog Werkstatt, as well as a small complement of external synthesizer modules. Though the sonic palette has grown, More Exquisite continues in the same spirit of sonic creation within a strictly defined set of constraints. As before, a prompt piece is created, then the connections and settings of the instruments—the patch—are shared and used to create a response piece.

Learn more and get it now on Bandcamp.

Slower now Finished

March 29th, 2023

Though you may have seen the album develop over the past three months, I am now declaring the album Slower finished so you may now get my latest release in its entirety. Clocking in at just over an hour, it’s my longest solo release since 2004’s Adams & Bancroft! I enjoyed the process of releasing the album over time rather than all at once. That this is possible is a great benefit of a platform like Bandcamp, so much thanks to them for creating a platform that can host experiments like this.

April is going to find me working on other projects, but I will return to this idea soon. In the meantime, I’ve got another similar experiment going with John O’Brien in our Exquisite series that you can watch develop on our Bandcamp.

Both albums are free/pay-what-you-want, as all my releases have been for some time now.

Thanks for listening.

Less Exquisite Now Streaming

March 10th, 2023

Less Exquisite is now available on select streaming services.

And of course it’s still available at Bandcamp for those who prefer a download to a stream.

Another New Release (in progress) – More Less Exquisite

January 6th, 2023

John O’Brien and I have a new release in our Exquisite series – More Less Exquisite. While the original Less Exquisite (also available on our Bandcamp) continued the original pattern of creating pairs of solo pieces asynchronously that we developed in Exquisite Coast, More Less Exquisite is our deep exploration of Less Exquisite in real time. Twice a month, until we decide we’ve had enough, we will record a new version of the piece and add the track to this album.

Get it now on Bandcamp.

Stay tuned for more Exquisite releases coming in 2023!

New Release (in progress) – Slower

January 3rd, 2023

I’m ringing in the New Year with the first track of an album that will grow over the coming months. Slower is a continuation of the work that started with the Character Weekend and 1 Vox series. This time, however, each track proceeds at a more measured pace. Not quite drone, not quite ambient, Slower develops sounds with patience. A new track will be added every week or so until…well, I decide that it’s done.

Get it now on Bandcamp.

little words

December 22nd, 2022

no notifications
no achievements
no stats
no streaks
just little words

little words is a jigsaw puzzle with letters. it’s a game with a simple goal: to break big words into smaller words. the game resets at midnight and noon local time.

littlewords.rustle.works

little words is the second game from rustle works, a software studio created by betsy nagler and me.

Less Exquisite Released

November 1st, 2022

A new release in the Exquisite series is now available. Less Exquisite is an evolution of the game developed by John O’Brien and I for Exquisite Coast One and Two that uses a tight set of technical constraints as an artistic challenge. The instrument has been expanded – the Make Noise 0-Coast is now augmented by the Moog Werkstatt and a handful of Eurorack modules – and we’ve added a conceptual constraint. In the original Exquisite Coast we had defined only the instrument and a rough time limit. For Less Exquisite we came up with a textural/formal constraint that we came to simply call “slower.”

Get it now on Bandcamp.

Stay tuned for one more Exquisite release coming in 2023!

Bandcamp Pricing

October 26th, 2022

All of my Bandcamp albums — solo, the Exquisite project (with John O’Brien), and Donkey (with Hans Fjellestad) — are now available at the “pay what you want” price tier. Have at it.

Disting mk4 Quick Guide Update

October 20th, 2022

My Disting mk4 Quick Guide — a web-based cheat sheet for the Expert Sleepers Disting mk4 — has been updated for the latest firmware (4.23).

Moog Mavis Added to Exquisite Coasts

October 18th, 2022

The Moog Mavis synth has been added to Exquisite Coasts, a shared patch game I developed with John O’Brien that uses a tight set of technical constraints as an artistic challenge to encourage a deep exploration of your synthesizer(s). In addition to the Mavis, you may play Exquisite Coasts with the rest of the compact semi-modulars from Moog (Mother 32, DFAM, Subharmonicon, Werkstatt) as well as those from Make Noise (0-Coast, Strega, 0-CTRL).

Learn more and join in at ec.rustle.works.

Bandcamp Friday/Labor Day Sale!

September 2nd, 2022

Feeling Bandcamp Friday fatigue? Then enjoy a free gift from us. All albums from the Exquisite series (Damon Holzborn and John O’Brien), Donkey (Hans Fjellestad and Damon Holzborn) and my solo releases are free/name your price through the holiday weekend.

Have a great Labor Day! Thanks for listening.

1 Vox, Vol. 2 Released

May 13th, 2022

Better late than never, the follow up to 1 Vox, Vol. 1 finally makes it out into the world. 1 Vox, Vol. 2 is the second set of etudes that employ tight constraints to encourage focused exploration of the capabilities of my small modular synthesizer. Each piece uses only one voice (that is, one sound generator) plus the small set of modulation and utility modules in my rack. In order to center my attention on the capabilities of the system, I used no external controllers or sequencers. I’ve long focused on radical constraints in my work, so while this performance interface is more limited than many of the instruments I’ve built, a tightly controlled possibility space is a natural place for me to explore.

Available now on Bandcamp. Coming in June to select streaming services.

Exquisite Two Released

December 28th, 2021

Sneaking in just before the end of the year, Exquisite Coast Two is the second in a series of albums of synthesiser improvisations created in collaboration with John O’Brien. In the spring of 2020, as the Covid-19 lockdown got under way, John and I started talking about ways to collaborate remotely after realizing that we both owned a Make Noise 0-Coast semi-modular synthesizer. By sharing patches—the state of the synthesizer, including the positions of the knobs and how the signals are routed from one part of the synthesizer to another—we created pairs of solo pieces that shared a common configuration. Each week, we made two recordings: one based on an original patch—the Prompt—and then a Response based on the other person’s patch.

You can get it now on Bandcamp.

Exquisite Coast One Now Streaming

August 12th, 2021

Exquisite Coast One is now available on all major streaming services.

And of course it’s still available at Bandcamp for those who prefer a download to a stream.

Exquisite Coast One Released

July 29th, 2021

I’m excited to announce the release of a new album in collaboration with John O’Brien. In the spring of 2020, as the Covid-19 lockdown got under way, John and I started talking about ways to collaborate remotely after realizing that we both owned a Make Noise 0-Coast semi-modular synthesizer. By sharing patches—the state of the synthesizer, including the positions of the knobs and how the signals are routed from one part of the synthesizer to another—we created pairs of solo pieces that shared a common configuration. Each week, we made two recordings: one based on an original patch—the Prompt—and then a Response based on the other person’s patch.

Exquisite Coast One is the first of many albums in a series that we will roll out over the next year or so. You can get it now on Bandcamp.

You can play Exquisite Coast too! If you and a friend have any of the small semi-modular synthesizers from Make Noise or Moog and would like to play the game yourselves, we have publicly released the web app we used to notate and share patches. Visit ec.rustle.works to learn more.

Exquisite Coast Web App is now Exquisite Coasts

July 25th, 2021

Exquisite Coasts is a shared patch game created by Damon Holzborn and John O’Brien (original announcement here) for the Make Noise 0-Coast semi-modular synthesizer. We have now expanded the game to include additional synthesizers from which to choose. Now, in addition to the 0-Coast, we’ve added additional small semi-modular instruments from Make Noise (Strega, 0-CTRL) and Moog (Mother 32, DFAM, Subharmonicon, Werkstatt). Learn more and join in at ec.rustle.works.

Quaxtrip Update

April 11th, 2021

I’ve made the first major(ish) addition to Quaxtrip since launch. Rather than use a hardware mixer to get my synth setup into the computer, I tend to go directly into my multi-channel audio interface and do the mixing in software. Since Quaxtrip’s release I’ve developed an evolving set of patches to manage my personal integration with Quaxtrip. Figuring that there are likely others who work the same way, I decided to build this functionality into Quaxtrip. When you launch the mixer, you can combine up to eight stereo or mono channels to send to your remote peers as a mono or stereo mix.

There are a few other changes to the patch as well. Two separate mutes — local and remote — were added to the Local Input. This allows you to isolate the remote signals for local monitoring or prevent your signal from being sent to the remote partner(s), respectively. There also were changes to the send and receive objects you can use to hook into Quaxtrip in your own patches. This is a breaking change, so sorry about that, but the old strategy was too confusing.

There was also a minor bug fix or two, so I do recommend all users download this version.

I am planing more features in the coming weeks or months. Here’s some of the stuff I’m thinking about adding:

  • Synced recording of the local input of each performer.
  • Remote clock signal sharing (although it recently dawned on me (duh) that if you have a device with tap tempo, you can pretty much accomplish this manually without fancy clock sharing, but I never met a problem I couldn’t over-engineer…).
  • More robust text chat.

If you think of anything else you’d like to see added to Quaxtrip, don’t be shy. I’d like Quaxtrip to be useful for Max experts and novices alike, so I’ll do as much as I can to make it useful for a wide variety of users.

Find installation instructions and join the conversation over at the lines forum.

Announcing Quaxtrip – low latency audio over the internet in Max

December 1st, 2020

Quaxtrip is a set of Max patches that makes low-latency uncompressed audio and messaging interconnections over the internet, intended for musicians wishing to play together remotely.

Quaxtrip runs Miller Puckette’s Quacktrip Pure Data patch within Cycling ‘74’s Max. Quacktrip, in turn, is an implementation, in Pure Data, of Chris Chafe’s JackTrip network protocol, based on jacktrip.pd by Roman Haefeli and Johannes Schuett. It establishes a low-latency, point-to-point connection between two sites, with no audio compression. Quaxtrip allows up to four of these connections, allowing an ensemble of up to five players at once.

Learn more and join the discussion on the Lines forum or download the patch at GitHub.