6 July 2026
I have a research fellowship this summer with the 21st Century Music Practices network. The project, for now, is called Deliberate Unfamiliarity, and to cut a long research question and methodology statement short, means that I will spend two months working with two machines I do not know how to use: a Behringer LM Drum and a Hologram Microcosm. The bit that I'm most interested in is the absence of a keyboard - no easy way to feel and make harmony and melody, none of the moves my hands already know.
I've been at it for a few weeks now, and already I can feel my brain melting a bit. In a good way (I think).
I am putting the results up as I go: Baby's first drum machine.

© Leah Kardos