1. Sonic Alchemies (Atherton & Paine) waterphone, steel bowls, water and electronics. The music explores the slowly evolving meditative timbres, through realtime electronic processing of a Waterphone (a series of tuned metal rods welded to a resonator) and metal bowls. The work explores sonic alchemy by establishing an open score which contains a wide range of musical gestures for the Waterphone including: combinations of bowed, struck and plucked; sounds modified by water in the resonating body; single note bows, chords, plucked single notes, plucked chords, glissandi, and drumming on the body of the instrument. These composed gestures are captured by the Capybara/Kyma system and subjected to algorithm composition which dynamically moves through the segments, re-ordering and transforming their pitch and timbre.

2. Cyberdidj (Atherton & Paine) Didjeribone – slide didjeridu, bilma, Capybara/Kyma System with Wacom Interface. The composition is a semi-improvised exploration of the Didjeribone’s rich timbres, an instrument that through its slide mechanism acknowledges the tuning systems of the west whilst maintaining the aura of the Aboriginal Dreamtime. This expressive base forms the grounding for an extemporization between experimental electronic synthesis using Wacom Tablet interface and the spectral richness of the didjeridu. The performers explore this conversation through the extension of the timbre of the acoustic instrument, shifting dronal material, vocalizations, and additive rhythmic patterns to create dramatic shifts in timbre, density and pulse.

3. Guitar Moog (Atherton) is an essay in ‘comprovised’ performance by Michael, capturing and shaping sounds via electrostatic pickups on a scordatura tuned Stratocaster guitar prepared for improvisation. Sustain, octave, chorus and compression pedals are operated in real time and combined with GRMTools. Grunge, broken riffs, pitch bends, and

4. Electrofusion (Paine & Atherton) - electric guitar and electronics. This is a semi-improvised exploration of the world of the ‘old skool’ – the fortepiano and the world of rock and roll – the electric guitar. Imbued with spirits, stretched into mellifluous timbres, this work seeks to place the old and new into the cauldron of post modern musical landscape, taking known reference points and recontextualising them through the use of the Capybara/Kyma engine controlled by a Wacom Tablet.

5. Fue Shõ (Paine) - concert flute and electronics. The composition is composed and performed by Garth. It weaves a path between melody, pitch, noise and texture, drawing from the idiom of the western concert flute (in C) and broad, spectral sounds, similar to overblown Asian wind instruments (i.e. shakuhachi) and the timbral quality of a traditional Shõ orchestra. Fue Shõ uses a modal harmonic framework common in the music of Asia Minor, specifically the Japanese musical tradition of Gagaku, and also utilised in some western spiritual music.

6. Bowl Chant (Paine & Atherton) - Tibetan prayer bowls, bells and electronics singing Bowls, Hand Bells, sensors and Capybara/Kyma system. The gongs of Asia ring out with full vigour, infusing Kyma synthesis algorithms with a startling call to attention, to dance, meditate and to celebrate – bringing a new meaning to these signifiers within an ever evolving musical language.

Garth Paine is a senior lecturer in Music Technology and Researcher at the MARCS Auditory labs, University of Western Sydney, where he leads the Virtual, Interactive performance research project (VIPRe). He is internationally regarded as an innovator in the field of interactivity in new media arts. His immersive interactive environments have been exhibited in Australia, Europe, Japan, USA, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Garth has composed many hours of music for theatre, dance and documentary. SynC is the research space in which he seeks to establish new dialogues between the digital and the acoustic, sculpting sounds in real-time that are viscous and fluid. Garth has a particularly deep feeling for the quality, the texture and weight of sound, creating a rich and rewarding musical experience that reflects the physicality and potential of computer-based digital re-mediation of the acoustic sound.

Michael Atherton is a composer-performer, professor of music and associate dean (research) at the University of Western Sydney. In 2003 he was awarded a Centenary Medal for services to Australian society. His book, Australian Made Australian Playe: a study of Australian musical instrument makers and subsequent publications, have raised international awareness of Australian innovation. Michael was recently a featured composer in the Aurora Festival (2008). His five world premieres included Songs of Stone and Silence, a setting of David Campbell’s poetry composed for Halcyon, commissioned by by Ars Musica Australis; Runsten, a suite commissioned by the ABC for lutenist Tommie Andersson; and Utility Horn Groove for mixed ensembles, percussionists, rap artists, dancer and performing cars, which was televised around the world. Michael’s recordings include Ankh - the sounds of ancient Egypt; Ankala with didjeridu master, Janawiri Yiparrka; and Parallel Lines with Garth Paine.

Parallel Lines was recorded in Sydney, Australia by Garth Paine and Michael Atherton in 2007 and is the first disc they released as SynC

Focusing on the interface between acoustic and electronic music, SynC is an experimental ensemble for acoustic instruments and live electronics, including the processing of live input, cross-synthesis and synthesis artefacts. This composition/performance collaboration seeks to contextualise ancient and modern musical languages within a single form. It does so by utilising ancient acoustic musical instrument (Oud, HurdiGurdi, Gongs etc) as the sonic foundation for complex live electronic processes, which generate a vast array of timbral environments, responsive to the acoustic input, but simultaneously independent. This exploration seeks to re-contextualise the ancient acoustic instruments, whilst also grounding the live electronic sounds within a rich heritage.

This musical practice also engages with discourse around notions of composition and performance, particularly how they can be defined as potentials rather than as fixed inscriptions, and how within a computer music/software based environment, the notions of instrument, composition and performance become blurred and possible take on new meaning.

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