It’s been..

Seoul, 2025

Greetings! It’s been a while. I must admit I’ve been neglecting this space.

When I first started this blog, it was a very important task. It was about a dream, to learn, to meet people, to share knowledge about music, and to be shared in return. But as life grew busier, some things slipped away, and this blog was one of them.

For quite some time now, I’ve felt the desire to write and share my thoughts again, to communicate with readers outside of social media. (By the way, I’ve quit social media altogether.)

What I really want is a place to talk about what I’m doing, what interests me, and what I’m thinking, while hopefully also receiving feedback from people I don’t yet know. That’s one of the reasons I began making music in the first place and why I wanted to become a composer and performer.

So, I’ve decided to return with more regular updates. I’ll write about various topics, sometimes in Korean, sometimes in English (or both, if I can manage). I’ll share whatever feels worth sharing.

The posts won’t only be about music. I also want to write about life, books, politics, and people,the things I’m fascinated by, what I’m listening to and reading, and the simple habit of writing itself.

It may get a little messy, but who cares! What matters is coming back here and writing. I hope to meet new people and have conversations along the way.

I’ll also share some of my past pieces, the works I’m writing now, and performances I’ve given or attended. And sometimes I’ll dive into literature, books, articles, parts of my research, questions, and results.

See you here again soon.

안녕하세요! 오랜만입니다! 너무 오랫동안 글이 없었지요.

이 블로그를 처음 시작했을 때는 저에게 아주 중요한 일이었습니다. 전자음악에 대한 배움에 대한 꿈, 사람들을 만나고, 음악에 대한 지식을 나누고, 또 나눔을 받는 것이었죠. 하지만 삶이 점점 더 바빠지면서 많은 것들이 잊혀지고 미뤄지고, 이 블로그도 그중 하나가 되어버렸습니다.

꽤 오랫동안 저는 다시 글을 쓰고 제 생각을 나누고 싶었어요. 소셜 미디어가 아닌 공간에서 독자들과 소통하고 싶었어요. (참고로 저는 모든 소셜 미디어를 이미 그만두었습니다.)

빠르게 흘러가는 공간이 아닌, 차분하게 제가 하고 있는 일, 관심 있는 것들, 생각하고 있는 것들을 제 마음대로 이야기할 수 있는 공간이 필요했고, 가능하다면 아직 알지 못하는 이들로부터 피드백도 받고 대화도 나누면 너무 좋겠지요. 사실 그런 공유과정 자체가 제가 음악을 시작하고, 작곡가이자 연주자가 되고자 했던 이유 중 하나이기도 합니다.

그래서 저는 더 규칙적인 업데이트로 돌아오기로 했습니다. 되도록이면 한국어와 영어로 글을 쓸 것이고, 공유할 만한 것들을 올리려 합니다.

글의 주제는 음악에만 한정되지 않을 것입니다. 저는 삶, 책, 사회/정치, 사람들에 대해서도 쓰고 싶습니다. 제가 흥미를 느끼는 것들, 듣고 있는 음악읽고 있는 책들, 그리고 단순히 글을 쓰고 읽는 습관 그 자체에 대해서도요.

조금은 뒤죽박죽이 될지도 모르지만, 중요한 것은 이곳에 돌아와 글을 쓰는 일입니다. 새로운 사람들을 만나고 함께 이야기를 나눌 수 있기를 바랍니다. 편하게 댓글 달아주세요.

또한 제가 예전에 쓴 작품들, 지금 쓰고 있는 작품들, 제가 했거나 본 공연들을 나눌 것입니다. 그리고 때때로 문학, 책, 글, 제 연구의 일부, 질문과 결과에 대해서도 깊이 들어가 보려 합니다.

곧 다시 뵙겠습니다!

My journey from Mac to PC(Windows’ laptop)

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

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!