My journey from Mac to PC(Windows’ laptop)

By JyKang in Computer, Ji's 0 Comment

My last Macbook pro is from 2011, still working AFTER changing the motherboard once, years of not being able to use USB ports and so on, but still it works fine. I felt I needed a new laptop before it really dies in the middle of a performance, as it was really getting old. Then.. for more than half a year I couldn’t decided if I should get a new Macbook pro, which is

1. Very expensive,
2. Having stupid issues like the keyboard getting stuck by dust,
3. More and more closed format both in hardware and software,
4. The touch bar, and lack of ESC and Fn key and because of that,
5. Need tons of dongles to connect all my other hardwares, accordingly
6. Buying this laptop wasn’t going to be the end of spending money.

But it wasn’t easy to decide whether or not I should go to another world because I need to admit that the OSX is secure and stable and I already have multiple projects that require Mac apps. Although I didn’t like the interface really much, but it was secure, let’s say, less trouble with malware, not much of driving installation, and I hardly ever had any problem with any of my sound gears. It was quite sturdy.
I knew that Window wouldn’t give me the same story like this.

But then, thinking about my past when I had used Windows until 2006. I had a desktop computer with Windows(XP was the last one I used), and I felt good with it, and had no big trouble that I can recall as serious. Yes there was no trouble back then! So why not trying again?

What I really wanted, however, wasn’t Windows. If I have a Windows’ laptop, then of course I should go for Linux!!!! Yes Linux!!! I already thought of the Windows as an option for installing some software that I was using at OSX, such as Adobes, MaxMSP, and perhaps my audio interface will work better. Wondering if you should you outsource your IT department to improve your business production and service? Visit this site.

So I did some research on the type of laptop I wanted, important issues were:
1. Light weight and very portable (as I really couldn’t carry my 15′ Macbook pro daily. It was just too heavy.)
2. Working well with my old soundcard RME Fireface 800!! (Yes Firewire)
3. Some ports are still available.
3. Having enough operating power that I can realize I have a brand new laptop. 🙂

My choice was: Lenovo Carbon X1 6th Gen. This was super light(1.03kg), and working well with Linux, and not too expensive(and Lenovo offers major discount from time to time), and have 2 USB-3s, Thunderbolt 3 port, HDMI ports available. Oh and micro SD card slot! I chose i7 Quad core, 512GB storage, 16G memory, and the impressive screen HDR WQHD IPS glossy with Dolby Vision, 500 nits. It is almost the same(better) spec as the Macbook Pro 13 inch, and I got around 800 euro cheaper than that.
Buying this from Lenovo website was a pain. I had to wait for a long long time (travelling from China after few days) because of the customized build. But I meditated..!!

So now it’s been almost 3 months, now it’s time to talk about what’s good and bad.

My Linux desktop setup with i3wm/tmux/scvim

What’s satisfying (with Linux, not with Windows)?

1. I can configure almost everything.
This I missed very much to configure everything so that this environment is completely mine. If someone sits with my computer, one can’t even open a web browser. I like more keyboard than mouse clicking. My hands are just sitting on the keyboard and saves lots of energy and keep me focusing on the task.
I can not only configure the environment but also the applications, and how I would like to operate them. Almost everything is configurable, and this is for me the most fun part to have Linux.
Currently I have installed Ubuntu, using i3wm desktop manager.

2. Super fast
I have tested in a very simple way three different operating systems: just boot up, open one chrome web browser, see how much CPU would be used.
First of all, the OSX I could test was of course on my old mac (i7 quad core, 8G ram) but still it was faster and Window (only 10% CPU used)
Windows 10 both had quite a jumpy response, from 13~30%.
Linux: 1.3% stable.
Of course this isn’t a very fair test as there are some background process going on. Still in both systems, I tried to minimize those background process. I see that this is a stunning difference between two operating systems.

3. It actually requires my brain to work
This is up to how you use your system. If you are using Linux, looking more like OSX or Windows, (yes that’s very possible) than probably bit less effects on changing the way your brain works. But if you are using text based desktop manager like i3wm, there are many things you have to remember including keybindings for almost everything even how to turn on and off the laptop. And some bash script knowledge is necessary to do simple tasks. I am not having a single icon in any place, meaning that everything is based on text. This way I am pretty sure my brain works differently. Just to do a task with this environment requires to focus on every step. I love this character.

4. Only few dongles
Quite amount of recent Windows laptops still offer lots of ports like HDMI and USB-type B. This basically makes you to save money. I mean, we all still have usb typeB devices.

What’s disappointing?

1. Soundcard and hassle (Audio driver mess)
Ha… A couple of times I felt like returning this laptop because of the soundcard issue. As mentioned above I have a firewire device, which is super and working very well. And it is expensive that I don’t want to spend even more.
First of all, there is no laptop that comes with a firewire port these days. I only had a dirty way of doing it by converting from Thunderbolt 3->thunderbolt-2->Firewire. This is smoothly recognized. But the problem with the driver.
At the beginning, I used Ffado, but this was not stable: quite often it gives a strong buzz noise that I couldn’t figure out why it is happening.
I did more research but in March there is new firewire driver for Alsa (Yeah!!). There was no specific driver for FF800 I have. But I tried anyway. I had to upgrade my Linux kernel, and manually installed the Alsa driver and it works nicely! Only that I couldn’t figure out how to turn on/off the phantom power.
The system sound is bound to Pulseaudio driver. Then I have the bridge between Pulseaudio to Alsa, so all sounds come from one device. Of course for mac users, this is ridiculous that one has to worry about system sound and other apps’ sound coming in one device. This type of issues are there in Linux. But it’s matter of solving it. I solved it!

2. Occasional trouble with waking up/sleeping/etc
Not always but sometimes when the laptop is in suspend mode and waking up from it, it is frozen. I still don’t know if this is lenovo-linux compatibility issue or simply lenovo issue. There was a BIOS update which made this suspend mode well. But sometimes it creates trouble. But I don’t see it as a major issue to worry too much about.

Conclusion

So those are how I have felt about my new laptop. May I am biased because I bought it. But so far I am very happy with it. The laptop is powerful, the new environment is challenging me much that I am having fun by solving and figuring out every single matter. I replaced not only the hardware but also a number of applications, which feels I am learning a lot. I spent quite some time to study deeper in bash script so that I can use the system more effectively. (Yes this is also something that one can actually go further and further with the system.)

I wouldn’t say the transition is easy after being tamed by one system. But it is not difficult as there are a number of good communities and documents to help you to go step by step in every matter. Worth trying. I am no longer an Apple slave. 🙂



2018 in a Nutshell

By JyKang in Arts, Composition, Concert/Festival, Ji's, [EA]ComputerMusic 0 Comment

I know that the year 2018 has already gone long ago… Still, better writing about some memorable musical activities from the year rather than not! And eventually it will make me to go further. It has been indeed quite a busy and productive year. I worked hard, and made lots of new music and performances, so here I’d like to share some of them.

1. ‘Identifying’ in sonADA, Aberdeen/UK //Feb

It’s not the first time to visit in Aberdeen. 4 years ago, Mei Yi (Percussionist) and I went there, performed several pieces of mine, invited by sonADA festival, which my dear friend and admired composer Suk-Jun Kim is organizing. This time I went alone, performed ‘Strings,’ ‘Singing Bowl,’ and ‘Two Bamboos,’ the most recent live sets. Although it was quite demanding to perform several sets at once, but I had a pleasant time! When you are performing at one festival second time, then you become a friend with it.

2. Rewire Festival 2018 //Apr

photo by Peter Balkema for 3voor12

It’s always great when performing at the local music festival. Since I’ve been in Den Haag, I have never had a chance to perform at Rewire, one of the most popular music festivals in Europe, and this time I got the honer and was very thankful about it. I performed a newly developed set with Bamboo and Gong at Koorenhouse hall, the very heart of the center. It was great, especially you know that most of your local friends are in front of you!

3. ‘CHI’ vol.2 //Jun

Finally after so many years, the CHI volume 2 happened at Studio Loos, the dearest place. CHI Vol.1 happened in 2013, performing with Mei Yi and Sonolab, with a guest performer (Henry Vega at Vol1). This time, I composed two new pieces, ‘Rolling stones’ and ‘Drinking alone under the moon’ and performed a piece from Vol.1 ‘BamBoos,’ and another premiere of a piece for a Bass Drum, performed by Sonolab Duo. The guest performer was Yota Morimoto, another dear friend from my first year in NL. After very nervous stressing time passed, it was very relieving to perform all the pieces. I hope this series could continue.

4. TodaysArt Festival – Azimuth-x //Sep

photo by Mike Rijnierse

Normally Azimuth invites composers/performers to perform with their specific multichannel system, but this time was MONO! It was special as the concert was part of the TodaysArt Festival in Den Haag! I performed a newly developed set ‘Cross Wired’ :the main idea was to modulate a CV voltage with an analog amplifier with feedback signal. This chaotic signal was enough to manipulate with the signal processing. But still I needed some more materials to fill 30 minutes of performance. So I added some voice and processing at the intro, explaining what I am actually doing physically, but the audience can’t understand what I am talking about in time, as the sound is turning into a very noisy sound. It was really fun.

5. UTOPA Organ – Conlon & Orgelpark //Nov

UTOPA Baroque organ is a special organ that one can control its keys/stops/registers via MIDI or OSC. This gigantic machine(?) was quite challenging as it can do a number of different things that normal Baroque organ can’t do, such as air control, making continuous pulses/staccato, controlling each register individually, etc. I thought it’d be a good idea to make the concept and the piece simple, so that I focused on the characteristics of the organ as a ‘Machine.’ Accordingly the title of the piece is ‘Machine Breathing .’
The project is commissioned by Orgelpark. We, the Conlon foundation, were participacing the project as a composer and also as an assistant for other composers.

6. Pentacle 15.3 – NEXT Festival, Bratislava //Nov

photo by Nina Mik

It was an exciting opportunity to perform in Bratislava, as it was the first time in Slovakia, and I could meet some old Sonology friends who are very active there. Above all, the commission is to perform a live electronic muisic for 15.3 channel Pentacle system! Commissioned by NEXT Festival and SonicActs Amsterdam, I could perform with it. Pentacle is developed in STEIM by Fedde ten Berge and Jesse Meijer. The spatialization works with audio signal using FFT bins. All the composers did a few days of residency in STEIM and the NEXT festival was the premiere. I renewed the live set with two Bamboos and a gong. I had a wonderful time there.

7. PRISM#1 – Live music for Live film projection by Lichun Tseng //Dec

decomposed landscapes @ sound//vision IFFR with Ji Youn Kang (excerpt) from lichun tseng on Vimeo.

Ever since I worked with Filmwerkplaats Rotterdam, I missed working with them. And dear Lichun Tseng, one of the filmmakers there offered me this chance to make a live sound for her live film projections with 16mm projectors. This time at Nantes, France, we performed 40 minutes of live set. We practiced only 2 days, due to the complexity of booking the location and her heavy loaded setup, so it made us nervous, but we made it well. We drove 9 hours to Nantes, was quite an adventure, but all were memorable.

I am again looking forward to this year’s activities! Hopefully another productive year!

2017 in a nutshell

By JyKang in Composition, Ji's, SuperCollider, [EA]ComputerMusic 0 Comment

How was your year? It’s always exciting to look forward to a new year, making and setting up a fresh plan with a full of motivation! At the same time, it is very important to think about the past year, what are the achievements, and what I have missed. 

This post is about my memorable activities of the year 2017. I selected 4 activities:

  1. DELETION at International Film Festival Rotterdam


    ‘DELETION’ is a short film made by Esther Urlus, who I met two years ago for Light Leak project with Filmwektplaats. She’s a special filmmaker in The Netherlands, who create DIY 16mm experimental films. The length of the film is around 10 minutes, completely abstract, accordingly there was enough space for me to explore with sounds. The film is about a murder scene -accordingly, a horror movie!- but you don’t see or recognize anything through the screen. The story is behind the complete abstract scenes. The soundtrack therefore has a big role for audience to follow the story line.
    Thankfully this film was nominated at Tiger Competition for Short Films 2017 at IFFR, which gave me a totally new experience to attend the festival, sitting there with other amazing filmmakers and actors/actresses. Even though the film wasn’t the winner, it was for me a great achievement. I hope to have more opportunities working on films. I quite like it.

  2. Azimuth #3

    ‘Azimuth’ is a foundation that their multichannel system offers composers/artists to create spatial music/arts with the system. Azimuth #3 was my first experience with it. The piece I wrote is ‘Punky-Pulse-Pool’ for 32 channels.
    The materials were created from a short theme, a gesture using pulse oscillator, and as in variations on a theme, it was developed, manipulated, and re-synthesized into diverse forms. Then instead of presenting them one after another, they were massively and randomly thrown in time and in space. As if one freely plays a puzzle with multiple different blocks, the layered and squeezed sound materials are then sculpted and re-organized not only musically but also spatially. In that way new relationships between sound events are revealed, and the allied, survived sound parts are newly developed from there with a found connectivity.
    I wrote the blog post about my experience in more detail.

     

  3. ‘Bamboos’ for Bamboos


    Some might remember those Bamboo instruments that I made a piece for some years ago. Then I wanted to do something different with it, and here I made a live piece using them. Here I use(make) them as resonating ‘electronic flutes’ using audio feedback system. When I close the holes, their original tone varies. The feedback works like ‘breathes.’ Then I apply a number of signal processing. Together with it, I attached small metal rings on the holes that are wired to Arduino that gives a low voltage flow. My touch could change its voltage as I am also connected to another analog circuit. In other words, the voltage flows throughout my body and whenever the contact is made between me and the instruments, it changed. The variation is chaotic, unpredictable. Then this signal is added to the feedback sound, which is related also to the movement of my fingers. The program note for the piece is below.

    Notes on “Bamboos”: Bamboos, their bodies, their own resonating voices. Every other gesture drives from there, as the performer continuously tries to distort, differentiate, and control them until the instruments and performer become strongly linked together. The whole space, occupied by bamboos’ stubborn voices whose struggles are running and jumping all over, later on becomes part of the resonating body, singing and breathing all together.

  4. Staff at the Institute of Sonology


    Probably the most surprising news was that I became a staff member in Sonology, where I studied and achieved Master Degree, for which I came here in The Netherlands. Somehow, probably it was my dream, one day, teaching here. Luckily and thankfully I got this opportunity.
    The subject I am teaching is ‘Spatial Music Composition for WFS system.’ The course is designed for students to plan and proceed their project with the WFS system and I give lectures on Spatial music with tons of musical examples of other composers, history on spatial music and spatialization system/tools, the meaning of space, musical space, and practical knowledge on how to use the WFS system. It demands quite some research that I enjoy very much. It is definitely a new experience for me, and there is far more to become better.

Well, that’s it. Now it’s the beginning of the new year 2018. I am very much looking forward to seeing what will come to my life. Hopefully it becomes a very creative, more musical, and inspiring year. It’s mostly up to me. 

I wish all of the readers a very happy new year!