UFO Performance

I was invited by my friend Richard Powell to perform at the the UFO pavilion in Northampton. I suspect Richard was hoping I would bring along my intonarumoris,  but I saw this as an opportunity to trial my Bombe. Unfortunately I was making the machine 'performance ready' the morning of the day. Which meant I had no time to practice and to appreciate how it was going to play and sound.

As much as I would have liked the UFO (Racecourse) pavilion to be a homage to the heavy metal band of my youth or SciFi conotations, it stands for the more worthwhile Umbrella Fair Organisation. The event was part of Graham Fudger's 'Illuminating Art' project.

This shows the unfinished keyboard and cam note sequencer. To be quite honest the performance was not good. I thought I could 'wing' it but without a proper sound check and practice it felt too harsh and disjointed. Still I learnt a lot and people made a number of helpful suggestions at the end which I will act on. Here's the recording. Note I apologize half way through at some of the harsh notes.

 

The Bletchley Park Bombe near completion.

Things are starting to come together. I've completed the main body of 'The Bombe' and made a submission to the MK Gallery open for next year.

Bombe Front

Bombe back, showing cam sequencer unit.

I've still to explore the machine properly. Here's a short video of it playing.

I quite like the gentle sound it produces and the added bird song.

Here are my machines to date.The classic four piece rock band or quartet set up.

I've been invited to play at the Umbrella fair in Northampton 20th July, The UFO Pavilion.