EIS/Deep Listening Band

[Morgan Lang <mhl21@columbia.edu>]

Hi, all:

Thanks for the many great replies to the "computers vs. things" 
question--I've
learned a lot. I was wondering whether anyone on the list has heard/read 
about
the EIS ("Extended Instrument System") originally developed by Pauline
Olivieros in the '50's (at the San Francisco Tape Music Center) and now 
fully
integrated with computers (yes, in a "live" performance) by David Gamper? 

I checked out the Deep Listening Band a few months ago (Olivieros, Gamper, 
and
Stuart Dempster) and was amazed by the fact that the whole show was 
basically
being "conducted" via a series of linked laptops, one per performer. I 
recall
remarking to my friend that the show could come to an unpleasant and abrupt
end if someone hadn't partitioned their hard drive correctly! We snickered 
at
the thought that the rather somber music might be interrupted by the Mac 
OS's
obnoxious "error" bleep any moment. I guess if the musicians were really 
cool
about it they would've pretended it was part of the music. "Bleep! Bleep!" 
The points that have been raised about the risk and inconvenience of using
computers in a live setting are well taken.

Olivieros has written volumes on the uses of tape and electronic media to
facilitate live improvisation. She describes the EIS as "a performer
controlled, delay-based network of digital sound processing devices which 
are
used to create an improvising environment for acoustic musicians." 
Translated,
I think this means that some MIDI-capable delay units are linked to a 
network
of computers and the "acoustic" instruments can either be used as such or 
as
controllers. Not a shockingly unique setup, really, but interesting 
because of
the deliberate forgrounding of the human/machine and art/technology
relationships that often get taken for granted. 

I would recommend that interested parties check out 

http://www.artswire.org/pof/EIShome.html 

This page gives some technical info on the EIS and provides links to 
articles
about it. What do Loopers think about it? 

Best,

MHL.