Thanks to the latest issue of NEURAL (see http://english.neural.it ) i just discovered some great (e-)music at http://www.electricsongs.com/ by musician-educator Bob Gluck.

One of his max/msp-expanded instruments is an eShofar:

"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. " eShofar1 <http://www.electricsongs.com/eShofar/eshofar1_interface.html> (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 <http://www.electricsongs.com/eShofar/eshofar2_interface.html> (2005) uses complex algorithms to create a chaotic improvisational system based on the live performed sounds of the shofar.

"The performer can toggle on an algorithm that tracks repeated notes and perfect fifths, both common traditional shofar sound gestures, which may influence the system." There's a great but tiny video of one of his performances in Vienna, i think.

-dv