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Whilst I'm not an ardent fan of Philip Glass, (more like an amateur enthusiast), there are certain pieces of his that I do really quite like. The violin concerto goes without saying - some parts of that are wonderful. And I quite like the Low Symphony b…
Whilst I'm not an ardent fan of Philip Glass, (more like an amateur enthusiast), there are certain pieces of his that I do really quite like. The violin concerto goes without saying - some parts of that are wonderful. And I quite like the Low Symphony based on the music of David Bowie.
But the piece I like the most, but really have to be in the right mind for, is his opera Einstein on the Beach. The last time I saw through the whole thing was when it was live-streamed by Elbphilharmonie back in 2023 with the narrative poems read by Suzanne Vega. It was quite something.
But when you think about it, minimalist music actually ought to go quite well with microcontrollers, so this is a short experiment into programmatic minimalism by attempt to capture the essence of one of the movements of Einstein on the Beach - the Knee Play 1.
Warning! I strongly recommend using old or second hand equipment for your experiments. I am not responsible for any damage to expensive instruments!
I've used the circuit from my Pi Day MIDI Sequencer which is a I2C connected 4-digit seven segment display and a MIDI interface.
The Code
The seven segment display code was well covered in my previous projects so I won't repeat that here now.
The code supports four tracks of music as follows:
Ostinato, sustained bass in the organ part.
Two voice parts. These would ordinarily sing the numbers but I'm just having them "ooh" and "aah".
A numbers part. This will actually display the numbers to match the notes being "sung".
There is an array the top of the sketch with the main detail for a single full pass through the three bars of the main phrase. The three bars have 4, 6, and 8 beats in them and this pattern repeats in various different ways throughout the movement.
Musically there are three passes through this phrase with the bass only. Then there are two instances where the voices join in. From that point onwards the score shows a missing note at the start of one of the bars for the voices - different missing notes create variations of the music.
This is where I've gone more programmatic with the code in that I'm not encoding the entire score as written, but instead have a random number generator which picks a random number between 0 and 3 and depending on the result will skip the first beat of bar 1, 2 or 3, or if the result was 0 then it will play all bars fully. One of the benefits of my approach of course is that the music could go on indefinitely.
As the music has a steady pulse to it, I've encoded the 18 beats as a step sequencer with 36 steps. This allows me to have some silence between each sung note. The sequencer works as follows:
For voices, store a MIDI note number; 0 for a rest; or -1 to continue the previous note.
For numbers, store the number; 0 for blank (0 is not used in the music); or -1 to continue the previous state.
I have to keep track of the current bass or voice note playing per channel so I can send an appropriate MIDI NoteOff message when required.
The general logic for playing a step for the bass or voice parts is as follows:
void doBass (int i) { if (bass[i] == 0) { // Rest if (lastbass != 0) { MIDI.sendNoteOff(lastbass, 0, MIDI_CHANNEL_BASS); } lastbass = 0; } else if (bass[i] < 128) { // New note if (lastbass != 0) { MIDI.sendNoteOff(lastbass, 0, MIDI_CHANNEL_BASS); } MIDI.sendNoteOn(bass[i], 64, MIDI_CHANNEL_BASS); lastbass = bass[i]; } else { // do nothing } }
This is the logic for playing one step of the bass part. It is repeated for the voices too.
Sequence wise, I have several routines that decide which parts of the piece is being performed. There are three main sections:
Introduction - three times through the bass phrase only.
Two full passes of bass and voices (and numbers).
Introduce the randomness to start skipping the first beat of certain bars.
And then I essentially repeat the last step ad infinitum.
Find it on GitHub here.
Closing Thoughts
My initial thought was to use three Arduino tones to perform the piece, then I wondered about just building a "MIDI to numbers" device and adding it to my Lo-Fi Orchestra.
Finally, I settled on using MIDI generated from the Arduino as part of its scheduling of the numbers to display. I think that was the right choice and is a nice balance of useful timbres, suitably minimalist programming, and something vaguely reminiscent of the original.
Slimdan, aka Dan Silberstein, has developed a reputation among the underground indie scene for sweeping listeners into his world of velvety vocals, easy-listening melodies, and introspective songwriting. On his latest album, Second Dinner, slimdan s…
Slimdan, aka Dan Silberstein, has developed a reputation among the underground indie scene for sweeping listeners into his world of velvety vocals, easy-listening melodies, and introspective songwriting.
On his latest album, Second Dinner, slimdan showcases his moving yet comedic and playful approach. He displays a knack for not hiding the meanings of his songs with complex metaphors, as he lightheartedly cuts to the chase with genuine lyrics.
Slimdan was struck by the writing bug at fifteen, and dedicated much time to shaping his words intro songs as he came of age. Aside from his own songwriting, he's also produced for many other artists before landing a deal with Communication Records. He released his debut single, "MVP," in 2021.
Only three months into the year, he's already hit the ground running. He just finished his latest tour, and released two song collaborations, "Undercover Cops" featuring Lennon Stella and "Nosebleeds" featuring Devon Again. With the robust start, 2025 looks promising for slimdan.
We asked him a few questions about his musical journey, inspirations, upcoming release plans, and much more.
If you had to describe your music to someone who'd never listened to it before, what would you tell them?
It's like a white guy playing acoustic guitar.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences, and how have they helped shape your sound today?
I would say my musical inspirations start with Paul Simon, The Beatles and Crosby Stills Nash and Young. That's sort of what my mom raised me on, but it's also equal parts Black Eyed Peas, Flo Rida, Bon Iver and other stuff like that. I feel like I just fuck with stuff that is good. They all inspire me a lot, and I try to not let them inspire me sonically, but more so inspire me with how they make me feel.
What inspired you to write and record your album Second Dinner? Is there a song on the album that stands out to you for any reason?
I would say it was less of an inspiration to make an album and more so bullying done by my friends to make me put out an album. The notion of putting out an album was way too scary to me, but I'm really proud that I did it. It's hard to advocate for yourself and be like, "you, pay attention to me," but like also "pay attention to me please." They all stand out because I put them out and that's crazy.
What messages do you try to convey in your songs? Are there any particular songs that have deeper meaning than others?
I try to convey honesty and authenticity in my songs. I find that songs that are based on true stories usually connect more, so I'd say maybe the song "Wienerschnitzel" stands out because it's literally what happened to me.
I see you're just getting off your latest tour. Any particularly memorable moments?
My most memorable moment is losing my voice halfway through a show in San Francisco, and watching the look on my manager's face in the crowd as he realized. Sheer panic in his face.
If you could write and record with any artist today, who would it be and why?
I'd probably record a song with Jake Minch because he's awesome.
Listen on Spotify
