Blip Festival Workshops Announced

Gowanus Uwanna

12 06 • Saturday
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Room A:
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12:00 noon – Surrealtime 2: 8-bit Demo Show with Andy Voss
• Phoenix (MindCandy DVD, Hornet PC demo archive) returns to showcase the latest and greatest demos on Atari 8-bit, C64, Vic-20, ZX Spectrum, and more. New this year will be demos made on homebrew 8-bit hardware and the DTV joystick, delving a little into the “circuit bending” phenomenon.  You’ll be amazed by the visual effects and music that can be wrestled out of primitive hardware.
1:00 p.m. – 2A03 Workshop :: Crash Course in FamiTracker with Baron Knoxburry
• A one hour adventure through FamiTracker’s abilities to program the Nintendo Entertainment System’s 2a03 audio chip.  Baron Knoxburry shall expound upon the qualities and limitations of each voice, how to build instruments, explore all the effects commands, and try to maintain an open forum for discussion in the process.  And for anyone who thinks they know it all already — there will be a one hour competition starting 10 minutes before this workshop begins, so you can compete with the Baron of Knoxburry as he tries to teach a class! These fresh tracks, programmed within an hour, will be played back during the final 10 minutes so we can hear a variety of different styles.

2:00 p.m. – Beyond Vegavox: NES albums and Music on Real Hardware with Don Miller / NO CARRIER.
• In 2007 Alex Mauer released Vegavox, the first NES music album distributed on actual carts and made for playback on the classic Nintendo console. The man behind the code was NO CARRIER, or Don Miller. Others have followed, releasing their music in NES rom format via the internet. Now NO CARRIER will teach you how to take it to the next level, moving beyond your PC to the authentic sounds of the NES. This workshop will focus on a brief intro to NES audio, various methods of creating NES music, playing it back on hardware, and even creating cart-based albums of your own. After this workshop you’ll delete your emulators and VST’s and settle for no less than the real thing!

Room B
(concurrent with above workshops)
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12:00 noon – Make Your Own Visualist – Electronics Building Workshop with VBLANK
• This 3 hour workshop will allow participants to build their own 8×8 pixel motion graphics device. The project will center around a portable 64 pixel LED array and microcontroller that can be carried or worn. Participants will learn the basics of soldering and kit-building, and will build their own programmable LED device. The battery powered device can be worn and programmed via buttons to make simple changing graphics. This is a beginner electronic workshop. All tools are provided, and kits are included in the workshop fee.
Max: 15 participants

12 07 • Sunday
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1:00 p.m. – Screening: Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet
• Blip Festival: Reformat The Planet is a feature length documentary which delves into the movement known as chiptunes, a vibrant underground scene based around creating new, original music using old video game hardware. Familiar devices such as the Nintendo Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System are pushed in new directions with startling results. Using New York as a microcosm for a larger global movement, …Reformat the Planet maps out the genesis of the first annual Blip Festival, a four day celebration of over 30 international artists exploring the untapped potential of low-bit video game consoles. With floor-stomping rhythms and fist-waving melodies, trailblazers of the chiptune idiom descend upon Manhattan to pen a new chapter in the history of electronic music. …Reformat the Planet has been the official selection of the 2008 SXSW Film Festival, the International Amsterdam Film Festival and others.

5:00 p.m. – Blip Festival official open mic
• Bring your gear, sign up, plug in, and show us what you’ve got. Prospective performers sign up upon arrival, and open mic performers will be chosen randomly from the sign-up sheet. Arrive by 5:00, sign up, and if your name is drawn, it’s showtime.

And AKIRA presents this alternate workshop schedule:

Friday, 03:00PM:
“What is CHIPTUEN and how do I make it?” with Jellica :
Part 1: What is CHIPTUEN, what is a DRUM, how do I UNCE UNCE, “I have a gaemboy wat now?”, Google useage.

Friday, 05:00PM:
“What is CHIPTUEN and how do I make it?” pro class by USK:
Part 2: What is a fuckarpegio??, Applied chiptuen 1: What toolz does fucking Saberpulse use?, Applied chiptuen 2: On fuckstage performance, dance moves: you got a gaemboy: now pretend you do something with it. FUCK.
*JAPANESE LANGUAGE REQUIRED. FUCKING SORRY*

Saturday, 08:00AM:
NO CARRIER afterhours presented by Absolut Vodka and Red Bull:
“How to rape the shit out of a NES – an accelerated course of 15 minutes. In Assembler”

Saturday, 12:00PM:
“Hai guise, I made my new chiptuen album in 5 minutes” introduced by Peter Swimm
Your first LSDJ song and how to use it. Your subsequent 36 first LSDJ songs. Rapidshare Do’s and Don’ts. MySpace bulletins.

Saturday, 03:30PM:
“Playback Master Sessions” with Laromlab:
Websites to download shit from, lamest excuses and how to get the public’s interest even if you are the biggest liar.

Sunday, 03:45PM:
“Nordloef’ing nordloeftions in a nordloef’d nordloef” by Tobias Nordloef:
Nordloef nordloef nordloef, nordloef and nordloef

Sunday, 04:00PM:
“How To Survive Post-Blip Trauma”:
Round table with past patients and newcomers, lead by Dr. Bit Shifter and Engineer Nullsleep. Free Blip 08 poster for attendees.

LIMITED SPACES!