The CLEAT Series has an incredibly special November edition planned with visiting artists Sarah Belle Reid + Ryan Gaston visiting Chicago and presenting new work for 16 channels. Reid and Gaston are presenting a structured improvisation for piccolo trumpet, MaxMSP, and homemade electronic instruments. The piece was developed over the course of the 2024, using the 16-channel CLEAT system. Much of the sound material explored in this work is created from very short bursts or grains of sound, which are strung or clustered together to form larger gestures. To accomplish this, they use a granular sample player built in MaxMSP, and a hardware-based pulsar synthesizer—a new instrument developed by Gaston specifically for use in this piece. The result is a dynamic, unpredictable soundscape that swings between sparse, delicate textures and frenetic swarms of noise.
