In this workshop, participants will examine the elements of sound synthesis, with a focus on these particular topics:
– Oscillators
– Harmonics
– Ring Modulation
– Filter Modulation
– Frequency Modulation
These topics will be covered through Pure Data. No previous experience with Pure Data or electronic music making is required – this workshop is geared toward beginners.
About the instructor: S.M.O.M.I.D (string Modeling midi device) is a project by Nick Demopoulos, who is a musician and instrument builder. As Smomid, he utilizes instruments he has designed to create audiovisual performances. These instruments create sound, emit light through high powered LED displays embedded in the instruments and control video animations. He has toured throughout the United States and Internationally, with appearances at Lincoln Center in New York, the Vrystaat Kunstfees in South Africa and the 2023 Jogja Noise Bombing Festival in Indonesia. As a guitarist Nick Demopoulos worked with NEA jazz master Chico Hamilton and recorded on the albums The Inquiring Mind, Revelation and Euphoric. He also released recordings with Exegesis, a group that mixes jazz and electronic music. In 2008, on behalf of the U.S. State Department, Exegesis worked as cultural diplomats, performing in Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, U.A.E and Kuwait. Other artists he has performed and/or recorded with include Vernon Reid, Camille Brown, George Bohannon and Jimmy Owens. There are four full length albums of music created with Smomid and Pyramidi instruments, Cyber Solstice (2022), Pyramidi Scheme (2019), A Smoment in Time (2017), and Rhythms of Light (2015). Nick has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center Film Society, Montreux Jazz Festival, LACMA, the National Geographic Museum, the Museum of Technology, the Whitney Museum, Hamberg Jazz Festival, the Phoenix Festival, and been featured with his self designed instruments on the Discovery Science Network, Guitar World, Create Digital Music, BOMB magazine, and Metal Injection among other media outlets.