costiks

costik1 (mp3 format; 4:23 -- 6.4 Mbytes)
costik2 (mp3 format; 3:08 -- 4.6 Mbytes)
costik3 (mp3 format; 6:00 -- 8.7 Mbytes)

I can name two primary motivations that spurred the construction of these pieces. The first -- like much of my work -- was technical. I wanted to figure out how to generate control voltages for my modular gear from [rtcmix~] in Max/MSP. I also wanted to fool a bit more with my Intellijel Plonk physical-modelling module, and it turned out that I could use my generated control voltages to effect on-the-fly loading of 128 Plonk presets. Ok!

The second is the result of reading too much news as the midterm elections approach. The very real possibility that the Republicans may retain control of the House and/or the Senate is horrible. It's dismaying. It fills me with rage. Who are these idiots who continue to support Donald Trump and his evil policies?

I grabbed my trusty electric guitar, stacked up several distortion plugins and overlaid the resulting angry sounds on the 'Plonkings'.

"costik" is a deliberate misspelling of the workd "caustic", referring to the jagged refractions of light on a pool of waving water and also to the high-pH, highly basic compounds that are dangerously reactive. I'm not sure why I felt compelled to do the misspelling. It seemed like a fun name.

Brad Garton
October, 2026