mostly noise

Designing and Playing Alternative Controllers (Spring 2017) from Nicole Carroll on Vimeo.

Orrery Arcana debut at QCGU from Nicole Carroll on Vimeo.

Orrery Arcana debut at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University Nicole L. Carroll April 30, 2018

Orrery Arcana is a system for real-time audio-visual performance. The system includes a self-made modular hardware controller and custom software that allows the performer to manipulate sound during performance. The hardware controller is used to navigate systems that encompass chance operations, conceptual mapping, and data mapping, to control audio generation and processing. These process systems are based on NASA lunar data, the esoteric system in W.B. Yeats’ (1865-1939) A Vision (1937), and the numerology and symbolism of the tarot. Sound sources include generated audio as well as field recordings that represent elemental correspondences. Samples also include those taken from the Domino instrument. The controller features modular control objects in the form of concentric rings that represent a tarot deck. The major arcana cards control macro parameters and development trajectories, while the minor arcana cards control selected synthesis and processing parameters. The hardware interface is housed on a planetary gear system, which allows the performer control over timing and sequenced events through manual gear rotations. Each gear is equipped with a sensor plate upon which light, magnetic, and capacitive-touch sensors are mounted. These sensors are manipulated via concentric rings of various colours of acrylic and embedded magnets. The physical system allows the performer to navigate through several underlying systems in order to manipulate sonic fields. The compositional objective is to navigate through these independent but intertwined systems that work both with and against each other in different capacities to produce a listening experience that takes the audience through various sonic landscapes. Aesthetically the audio crosses the boundaries of noise, acousmatic, ambient, and soundscape genres.

Orrery Arcana from Nicole Carroll on Vimeo.

Orrery Arcana @ Dissertation Concert Nicole L. Carroll Brown University, October 2, 2018

Orrery Arcana is a system for real-time audio-visual performance. The system includes a self-made modular hardware controller and custom software that allows the performer to manipulate sound during performance. The hardware controller is used to navigate systems that encompass chance operations, conceptual mapping, and data mapping, to control audio generation and processing. These process systems are based on NASA lunar data, the esoteric system in W.B. Yeats’ (1865-1939) A Vision (1937), and the numerology and symbolism of the tarot. Sound sources include generated audio as well as field recordings that represent elemental correspondences. Samples also include those taken from the Domino instrument. The controller features modular control objects in the form of concentric rings that represent a tarot deck. The major arcana cards control macro parameters and development trajectories, while the minor arcana cards control selected synthesis and processing parameters. The hardware interface is housed on a planetary gear system, which allows the performer control over timing and sequenced events through manual gear rotations. Each gear is equipped with a sensor plate upon which light, magnetic, and capacitive-touch sensors are mounted. These sensors are manipulated via concentric rings of various colours of acrylic and embedded magnets. The physical system allows the performer to navigate through several underlying systems in order to manipulate sonic fields. The compositional objective is to navigate through these independent but intertwined systems that work both with and against each other in different capacities to produce a listening experience that takes the audience through various sonic landscapes. Aesthetically the audio crosses the boundaries of noise, acousmatic, ambient, and soundscape genres.

Moon in Scorpio from Nicole Carroll on Vimeo.

Moon in Scorpio Hannah Reardon-Smith Nicole Carroll

April 30, 2018 Queensland Conservatorium/Griffith University, Brisbane, AU @ Nicole Carroll's "Orrery Arcana" debut concert

Hannah and Nicole perform a live improvisation incorporating acoustic flutes, live processing, and electronic instruments. Nicole’s electronic instruments provide textures and spatial movement across the listening space, while Hannah’s flutes explore a dynamic and melodic range to blend and juxtapose the noise textures. Their improvisation is guided by drawing tarot cards prior to the performance. The interpretation of abstract relationships and numerology of the tarot are reflected in the macro and micro structures of the piece. Textures, melodic fragments, rhythm, density, and overall form are derived from their interpretation of the card reading. The performers discuss some elements of the interpretation and how that might be reflected in the performance, while some elements are left unsaid, so as to allow spontaneity.

Hannah disrupts the impressionist references of her instrument by live processing the sound with Ableton Live. With this, and through different placements of the microphone, she can find and exploit the monsters in what is traditionally treated as a ‘beautiful’ melodic instrument. The processing also creates a timbral bridge between Nicole’s electronics and the acoustic flute.

Orrery Arcana from Nicole Carroll on Vimeo.

"Of the Moon, Under the Moon," for Trumpet, Live Electronics and Video, premiere performance from Nicole Carroll on Vimeo.

Premiere performance by Sam Wells at SPLICE 2016

Carroll_Everything_in_its_Place_CLIP_perf0615 from Nicole Carroll on Vimeo.