Our busiest Pineapster at the Swan so far saw Toy Heroes, Vitriol ID, Hinterland and One Dog Clapping (pictured) go down down a treat. Make sure that you all come along to next month's event and see if we can completely fill the place...

The first Buoys show took place in Leicester at the Phoenix tonight. It was part of the second Bathysphere Nights event, which featured The Dead Texan headlining.

My contribution to The Buoys' performance was video projections and live lighting control.

The video projections were based around my usual themes of flow, rotation, connectedness and the subjective passing of time, and I had produced a completely new set of materials for this event.

The lighting control was also completely new, but more in the sense that this was the first time I had attempted to to take charge of the lights for a live event like this!

Technically, it was all done via the magic of DMX. For the show, I enhanced my usual live video mixing Max/MSP/Jitter patch to allow me to control the lighting rig via an Enttec DMX controller (which worked flawlessly).

I kept the lighting simple. Twenty-four lights (Par Cans) were arranged in six banks of four, with the outer two banks being used for sound responsive 'chases'.

The central four banks were used slightly differently. These were configured to 'wash' the surround of the projection screen and the stage with coloured light that reflected the colours that could be seen in the video. I did this by using the Cyclops extension to Max to track the colours in the video and produce four representative RBG values. I then set the light combinations in each bank to match these values.

I think it worked OK. The effect I was after was to attempt to break the video projection out of its usual rectangular box through the use of responsive light and this was certainly achieved in part In the future I would probably prefer to use combinations of 'colour changer' lights rather than attempting to mix the colours via 'gelled' Par Cans, but it was a good experiment.

There are pictures and video clips on The Buoys Web page.

Just back from a weekend break in Dublin with my old friend Geoff 'Intentional' Broadway.

What a place - and how it's changed. I was last there around 15 years (!) ago at a time when you would still get odd looks from people in pubs if you spoke with an English accent.

These days it is a truly European capital, with French, German, Spanish, Scandanavian and scores of other voices to be heard walking down O'Connell Street.

Anyway, I've made a pact with myself not to leave it so long before I go back again...

Congratulations to Maryam Namazie for winning the inaugural "Secularist of The Year" award. A truly remarkable woman.

We had out most recent Pineapster night at the Swan in Loughborough on Friday. It saw great performances from all artists on stage - Firebrand, Kevin Hewick and the Authentics. The Authentics were particularly strong in my opinion, very professional with a good stage presence.

We had a decent sized crowd too. Certainly something to build on in future shows. Well done to Mark at Cuttlefish for his organisation of the night.

This is so cool! I've received my Enttec DMX controller as well as four DMX colour changer lights (from China) and have got them all working with Max/MSP. See my new DMX page for details. Of course, the tech is the easy bit - now I've got to start getting creative with the lighting for The Bouys show at the Phoenix on the 21st October.

I've been learning about stage lighting since the beginning of the year (in fact, since I worked with theatre company Metro-Boulot-Dodo on 'Under Pressure' in February). However, it's only recently that I have decided to look at it seriously and get myself a lighting controller and some stage lights for my studio.

The main motivation for this is the show I'm doing with The Buoys as part of the Bathysphere Nights II event at the Phoenix in Leicester on the 21st October.

For this event we want to control the stage lighting in such a way that it is fully synchronised with the video projections and the music being played. In order to do this we will be using a technology called DMX that allows lights to be controlled via a computer.

One of the great things about DMX is that if you get the right DMX interface 'box' for your computer then you can use Max/MSP to control your lights. In other words, you can write a single Max patch that will control your MIDI instruments, on-board sound, video projections and stage lighting! Just think if the creative possibilities of that.

After doing some on-line research I discovered a DMX interface called Enttec DMX USB Pro for a reasonable 123 euros (£83) that has a Max object available for it for 10 euros (£6). I've placed my order and am waiting for it to arrive with great excitement.

I'll report back on it when it arrives, but if it works as promised it will add a whole new dimension to my stage and installation work.

Plexus' 'Sporadicfest' took place on Saturday at the Swan in the Rushes in Loughborough. For the day's entertainment Murray and Rod programmed their usual eclectic mix of acoustic, electronic and improvised music, as well as showing some film and visual work.

The audiovisual contribution from Northampton's Liquidiser was particularly interesting. Musically, their type electro-acoustic improvisation is still quite 'challenging' to me (I think they come from more of a jazz direction, as apposed to my electronica leanings) but I enjoyed it never-the-less.

My low-tempo-post-rock-audiovisual session seemed to work well. Basically, 45 minutes of some of my favourite music with me gently mixing video footage over it :-)

I wasn't able to stay for the later part of the evening, but I hear it also went well. I'm sure we'll get a write-up on the Club Sporadic site soon.

We can confirm that we have received funding from Creative Leicester Shire to take Pineapster Communion on tour around Leicestershire.

The shows will feature Leicester and Leicestershire bands playing at venues around the county. See the Pineapster on Tour thread on the Pineapster Forums for latest details.

We are starting to publicise the new Bathyfish Forums which we hope will evolve in to a sort of Pineapster for electronic music and digital arts. Feel free to register and post messages. P.S. They are no more!