eShofar 1 & 2: Electronically expanded, digitally processed ram's horns

© 2005 Bob Gluck

The traditional shofar is an ancient instrument whose purpose is not strictly musical. The shofar blast - in our day, mostly limited to the Jewish High Holy Days - provides a call to reflection, an alarm, a wake-up call ... Digital processing of the sounds allows one to listen 'inside' the sound of the shofar.

The sounds played on the shofar are mic'd, enhanced and transformed by means of digital sound processing.

eShofar1 (2001 - 2005) is held by the right hand, enclosed within an I-Cube sensor glove. Finger movements upon the body of the shofar thus control the filtering and other sound processing, that is achieved by means of a custom designed Max / MSP software interface.

eShofar2 (2005) uses complex algorithms to create a chaotic improvisational system based on the live performed sounds of the shofar.

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