Video

Here is a link to “Calibrating Dark Matter” in 4K created using only a Tempera granular synthesizer.

This original song and video were my submission to the Rocky Mountain Synthesizer Meet’s 2025 Drone Day Celebration livestream.

STORY

A mysterious galaxy being travels among the stars, calibrating dark matter. Each careful adjustment ripples through reality’s fabric, shaping our universe.

INSTRUMENTS

Everything you hear comes from the Beetlecrab Audio Tempera granular sampling instrument and its built-in effects (https://beetlecrab.audio/tempera/).

The Tempera interface features eight vertical columns, each holding a single audio sample. Every column can have multiple “emitters”—points that trigger granular synthesis of that sample. These emitters can be positioned and moved within the column to control parameters like pitch, grain size, and density.

INSTRUMENTALITIES

For real-time performance and sound design, I use the Tempera’s capacitive 8×8 touchgrid alongside a Novation Launchkey Mini MK4. The touchgrid lets me activate and shape emitters by touching different points in each column. This creates an intuitive way to perform—vertical position controls pitch while horizontal position affects other customizable parameters. I also use the Launchkey keyboard to trigger emitters near the piece’s end.

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE

I improvised this song in four continuous passes using four Canvases I created, blending my original field recordings with Tempera factory samples. The performance was recorded in 4K using an iPhone 16 Pro mounted overhead on green screen fabric.

CANVAS SOURCE & CREATION PROCESS

My creative process with the Tempera starts with loading samples and programming emitters for specific musical results. I improvise, save the Canvas, then iterate and improvise further—saving new variations that become foundations for different movements.

I find the process quite meditative.

For this piece, the source samples in the canvas are:

1. Field recording I made in the London tube
2. Field recording I made of a rainstorm in Colorado
3. Speech synthesizer sample I made saying the word “Iapetus” (Saturn’s 3rd largest moon)
4. Apollo 11 radio communications from an old vinyl album
5. Me saying the word “Test” being looped with pitch rising each iteration
6. A male choir sample (Tempera factory content)
7. Strings and flute pad (Tempera factory content)
8. Horn samples (Tempera factory content)

VISUALS & VIDEO EDITING

After recording the musical performance on green screen, I imported it into LumaFusion on the iPad. I added visual layers beneath the green screen footage, manipulating them with LumaFusion effects and keyframes. The final visuals combine my footage from the Denver Botanic Gardens with astronomical imagery.

The process was meditative—slowly weaving together layers of ideas to create a multimedia collage that complements the music.

While experimenting, I deliberately misused the green screen effect to make my hands and hardware appear to phase in and out of reality. At one point, when my hands were visible only against the black hole footage, I was inspired to create the story of calibrating dark matter in real time.