Come join us Friday evening at Someday Lounge (http://www.somedaylounge.com). We've been invited to bring our particular brand of dorkiness and geekdom and show it off. This will be much like our usual meetings (so bring your toys!) but we'll also be giving folks the opportunity to make a lot of noise and get up on the stage.

The fun begins at 9PM and among the activities will be:

• Don, performing on the computer-enhanced bass guitar
• Jason and Jared, aka CRM114 Discriminator, performing an avant/noise piece originally premiered at ToorCamp
• Simran, with the feedback organ
• Peter, with his suitcase of mystery
• You!

Seriously, if you have something you'd like to show off, let us know and we'll get you some time on the mic. Preferrably, ping Jason, Don or me beforehand so we have some idea of what to expect, but don't worry if it's all last minute. We'll be setting up at 8, so feel free to come down early and to help out or just hang out and keep us company.

Here's a map if you don't know where it is -- but if you've been to one of the Monday night meetups, it's just around the corner:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=125+NW+5th+Avenue,+Portland,+OR+97209&sll=45.429522,-122.705794&sspn=0.00771,0.01929&ie=UTF8&ll=45.524901,-122.675765&spn=0.007697,0.01929&z=16&iwloc=A

__s_o_u_n_d_____s_y_n_t_h_e_s_i_s__
f e a t u r i n g __ P d

.......dorkbotpdx is proud to announce.......

A unique, free workshop geared at teaching sound synthesis fundamentals as explored and demonstrated through Pure Data.

Fascinated by orgies of towering analog synthesizes from the 60s? Mesmerized by how computers can generate sound that offends and elates? In this causal yet intense session, we will cover the basics of audio signal theory while exploring the common techniques and tricks used by sound designers and synth builders.

We will progressively cover theories/techniques from the ground up, so no formal experience is required. We will make some noise.

When?

Sunday, May 29, 2011 1-5pm PST

Where?

Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) Room 205, Portland, OR, US

Participants should bring:

• A mac/linux/windows laptop with a functioning Pd installation.
• A basic/rudimentary knowledge of Pd
• Headphones
• An eagerness to learn, develop, and share!

The Pd synthesis workshop is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Seating is limited (to about 30) on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The PNCA workshops are at the Pacific Nortwest College of Art (1241 NW Johnson St.) from 1-5 in the afternoon, usually in room 205.

Designing Experience with Sound

The Haunted Garden is a sonic environment that participants control by their mere presence. It is a room that listens to the notes in your voice and uses them to compose music and change the color of the room. As the project progressed, further opportunities for control were implemented. An interactive kiosk gives users the ability to choose instruments and control sensitivity and reactivity parameters. The next step was to insert audio from other times and places by playing field recordings (e.g., baby yaks in Tibet, the 8-line in San Francisco), allowing the Haunted Garden to actively respond to the augmented sonic environments.

Simran will discuss the challenges of designing with sound, and how he developed “listening agents” who react and comment on sound in the environment. He will relate experiences—both as software developer and sound artist—and explore sound as a medium. Topics will include what is sound sculpture, what challenges were uncovered in creating it, whether the experience worked according to plan, the challenges in developing applications for these sorts of interactions, the unforeseen consequences resulting from initial forays into these kinds of devices, and how an interface based on sound might change how we relate to sound and sonic devices.

About the Speaker Simran Gleason is an artist and professional nerd. He started drawing the day after getting a master’s degree in computer science (symbolic and heuristic computation) from Stanford and drifted through many media before arriving at his current focus: making algorithms that make music. Among his more successful installations is Haunted Garden, a room that listens to you, finds the notes in your conversation, and uses them to compose an ambient sound and lightscape. He also did the generative music and light algorithms for SWARM, a gaggle of open source someday-autonomous spherical robots. His work has been shown in galleries in San Francisco and Palo Alto, as well as installations at Maker Fair, Yuri’s Night, Coachella, and the special olympics of art: Burning Man. Kepler’s Orrery is his first iPhone app.

An Introduction to Pure Data DorkbotPDX is happy to offer a free workshop as an introduction to Pure Data (Pd).

When: February 23rd, 2014. 1-5pm

Where: Flux 412 NW Couch Street, #222 (map)

Instructors: Jesse Mejia, Alex Norman, Jason Plumb, Edward Sharp

Details: Pure Data (Pd) is a free, open-source, community supported data flow language and coding environment with an emphasis on sound, music, and multimedia. It was originally written by Miller Puckette (also the original author of Max/Max MSP) and runs on Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows.

Pd has been used widely in the creation of art -- such as music, sound art, visual art, generative, new-media, and interactive art. Pd interfaces readily with MIDI equipment and many popular microcontrollers.

In this 4-hour course, students will learn the basics of Pd and will have fun developing foundational Pd patching skills.

A link to the curriculum will be posted here very soon.

Beginners are welcome. No prior computer programming or sound programming experience is required!

Notes: Students should attempt to install Pd prior to the workshop...but if not, no biggie. We can help with that!

Seating is limited to 20 participants. Please RSVP to [email protected] to reserve a spot.

Attendees will respect Flux's code of conduct and will be asked to donate.

Sorry for the last minute notice! In appreciation of World Listening Day (today, Friday July 18th), I'll be guiding a soundwalk during the lunch hour.

Even if you haven't participated in active listening or other sound observation related activities before, I think you can enjoy a soundwalk. It's as simple as it sounds -- walking around (in our case an urban space) with the specific intention of hearing with our ears and contextualizing the sound content (mostly with respect to our physical surroundings).

For more info about World Listening Day: http://www.worldlisteningproject.org/2014/05/2014-world-listening-day-listen-to-you/

When: 12:01pm

Where: FlightStats cafeteria, 522 SW 5th Ave, 2nd floor

Be prepared to walk outdoors at a mild/moderate pace for about 45 minutes. We won't be stopping for food, so be prepared to lunch before noon or after 1pm. I will also take a binaural recording of the trek and archive it publicly.

See you then!!

-jason 503-809-9641

DorkbotPDX is happy to offer a free workshop as an introduction to Pure Data (Pd).

When: Sunday, November 15th, 2015. 1-5pm Where: Ctrl-H Hackerspace, 7608 N. Interstate, PDX, OR

Bring: A laptop and headphones

Instructors: Jesse Mejia, Alex Norman, Jason Plumb

Details:

In this 4-hour course, students will learn the basics of Pd and will have fun developing foundational Pd patching skills.

Pure Data (Pd) is a free, open-source, community supported data flow language and coding environment with an emphasis on sound, music, and multimedia. It was originally written by Miller Puckette (also the original author of Max/Max MSP) and runs on Linux, Mac OSX, Android, and Windows.

Pd has been used widely in the creation of art -- such as music, sound art, visual art, generative, new-media, and interactive art. Pd interfaces readily with MIDI equipment and many popular microcontrollers.

We have curriculum posted here: http://dorkbotpdx.org/wiki/intro_to_pd_workshop_2015

Beginners are welcome. No prior computer programming or sound programming experience is required!

Notes: Students should attempt to install Pd prior to the workshop...but if not, no biggie. We can help with that!

Seating is limited to 20 participants. Please RSVP to [email protected] to reserve a spot.

Attendees will respect The DorkbotPDX code of conduct and will be asked to donate.

Instructor: Amber Case

Sound is one of the most commonly overlooked components in product design, even though it’s often the first way people interact with many products. When designers don’t pay enough attention to sound elements, customers are frequently left with annoying and interruptive results. This practical workshop covers several methods that product designers and managers can use to improve everyday interactions through an understanding and application of sound design.

Understand the place of sound in design, and how it can make a difference in your product

Learn key concepts in sound design, with patterns and principles you can use to improve user experience

Learn how to integrate sound design into a project

Use exercises to help evaluate sound design

We have a limited number of scholarships for our workshops. If you need an application, please send an email to [email protected] with your complete name and contact information.

If you need academic credits for the workshops, please contact [email protected].