hotdog! here's fergie. it's an instrument i've been performing with for awhile. i wrote it in a hurry one day before a performance. it worked out really well, so i developed it some more and added some babies.

playing fergie

fergie is played by manipulating 14 controllers. you can switch between 12 different sets of controller settings while playing. when i play fergie i use a peavey pc 1600 MIDI fader box. fergie's controls are assigned to MIDI controller numbers 0-13. MIDI notes 0 (c-1) to 11 (b-1) choose which set of control settings to use. MIDI note 15 (d#0) toggles playback.

if you don't have MIDI gear to duplicate the above, you can play fergie from the computer keyboard. below each control on screen is a pair of letters (for left/right handers). pressing either letter will select the corresponding control and make it active. the control value can be changed by pressing the arrow keys: up = increment by 1, down = decrement by 1, right = increment by 5, left = decrement by 5. you can also use the mouse to change the control value: select a control with the keyboard, then move the mouse inside of fergie's window. the value will follow the mouse's vertical movement. to move the mouse inside the window without moving the selected controller, hold the mouse button down while moving. F-keys F1-F12 choose which set of control settings to use. the space bar toggles playback.

if you have more than one MIDI port, you'll be asked to choose one at startup.

fergie can talk to Bill Thibault's cool application, Grabbo. if you have a supported camera hooked up to your computer, get Grabbo here:

http://www.idiom.com/~tebo/

right now the Grabbo control is hard coded to the 2 fine oscillator frequencies and the filter center frequency. sometime soon i'll make it configurable. to get Grabbo to talk to fergie you'll have to enter fergie's application signature:

application/x-vnd.dIr-fergie_x86
or
application/x-vnd.dIr-fergie_ppc

if you're looking for a flexible, modular softsynth, ObjektSynth is pretty great. however, if you want babies and a confusing user interface, then fergie is the only way to go!

license:

fergie is artware. if you use and like it, send me something you've made. really. a picture, a CD, a necklace, a guanabana . . . whatever. please ask me before including fergie on any sort of software compilations, CD's, etc.

contact info:

douglas irving repetto

email: glmrboy@shoko.calarts.edu
email: douglas.repetto@dartmouth.edu
web: http://music.dartmouth.edu/~douglas
web: http://shoko.calarts.edu/~glmrboy


there's more of my work here.

current land (good at least through 2000):
6187 hopkins center
dartmouth college
electro-acoustic music
hanover, n.h.
03755 USA


permanent land:
2046 bellemead ave
havertown, pa
19083-2221 USA

updated 2.july.99