hypnoCOIN is the third synth to come from artist/musician Jim Ellis, who along with Dwight Rider, an animator and DJ, forms Secret Sauce. The duo collaborated on such projects as the audio installation for the Los Angles County Museum of Art and various Touch, animation and music performances in the Los Angeles area.
Whispaera and Language, Ellis' other synths, can also be found in the ARTWORKS catalogue on the Derivative website.
Though he never planned a public release, Jim posted hypnoCOIN in late August.
Before making the synth, he improvised and jammed on a theme, starting with a simple framework, which along the process got pushed to the limit by adding infinite variations. For him, this approach ensures the elimination of 'creative clutter':
"The most simple objects often have the best ability to convey emotion and life allowing the performer to stay on top of the controls, which are his tools.
hypnoCOIN is a good example of this method and the approach can also be seen in Language and Whispaera.
Language consists of a number of rectangles, Whispaera is a series of spheres, while hypnoCOIN is comprised of circles. All three synths have similar controls such as infinite texture, color, copy, and transformation.
Stressing the importance of improvisation, says Jim: "Although all have automation controls, I almost always try to place some sliders or buttons which the performer can override and perform live".
hypnoCOIN references many aspects of pop culture; from comic strip explosions, to 60's drug culture, twisting the circles spiraling them down into the unknown.
The campy motif is extended beyond the viewer and into the interface, harboring numerous visual possibilities. Be it the restrained color palette or the outrageous greens, blues, oranges, yellows and reds applied to a variety of shapes, hypnoCOIN is GREAT FUN!
Jim Ellis was the touring Touch animation performer, as part of the Derivative team, for the rock band RUSH and is currently working on Kinetica 4, as well as a CD of original music to accompany his hybrid-animated films using a combination of hand drawn techniques in addition to Touch, and Houdini.
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