Update on: “Cultivating digital music making in regional Australia” (Bennett, Brown, Ferguson, Strong, Green) is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project (ARCDP240100682, total project value: $434,752). The fieldwork is nearing completion, and we are […]
Beat Machine II is a bespoke, handmade instrument by John Ferguson and Andrew Brown that they designed and built from affordable electronic components, including an ESP32 microcontroller, CD4051 multiplex chips, accelerometer, and digital to analogue […]
Nhoj Elocin is John R. Ferguson and Nicole L. Carroll, showreel below, detailed documentation here: https://www.nhojelocin.com. 2026 The Fire Bricks Drown has been peer-reviewed and will be presented using a unique surround-sound speaker system at the New York […]
MSN/AV (Maximum Silence to Noise/Audio-Visual) is an interactive audiovisual system created and performed by John Ferguson and Andrew Brown. The sound world is created through ring modulation synthesis controlled by multi-dimensional touch gestures. This approach […]
This collaboration between John Ferguson, Peter Thiedeke, and Chris Stover weaves musical and visual arts together. Peter Thiedeke is an interdisciplinary image-maker whose practice is concerned with post-digital critique and urban acupunctural interventions in the […]
Big Trombone was an urban media art installation at the Big City Lights Festival, 2024. This experimental multi-channel projected image and spatial soundscape was a hybrid form of urban acupuncture, a civic hack in public space that […]
“Cultivating digital music making in regional Australia” (Bennett, Brown, Ferguson, Strong, Green) is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project that commenced in April 2024 (ARCDP240100682, total project value: $434,752). The project aims to examine […]
Modular Audiovisual Performance Systems (MAPS) is a collaborative work by John R. Ferguson and Nicole L. Carroll. A growing range of tessellating boxes evolve along a surface; some produce electronic sound directly via the infamous […]
Hex on Data is a collaborative work by John R. Ferguson and Nicole L. Carroll. A growing range of tessellating boxes evolve along a surface; some produce electronic sound directly via the infamous 40106 CMOS […]
RAVI (responsive audio-visual improvisation) is the collaboration of John Ferguson and Chris Stover. RAVI is a new initiative/work-in-progress that situates live improvisation between interactive multimedia technology and trombone within a responsive audio-visual environment created in […]
The Handmade Electric Machines (T.H.E.M.) are human-powered sound sculptures designed by John Ferguson, Andrew Brown, Timothy Tate, Daniel Della-Bosca. T.H.E.M. were created in the Interactive Media Lab at Griffith University, commissioned by Curiocity Brisbane, and presented in the South Bank Parklands […]
Lilium is a post-digital cine-symphonic mural situated within ephemeral media architecture and digital placemaking contexts. This project is a collaboration with Peter Thiedeke and Andrew Brown. Lilium was presented outdoors in Regent Lane (Southport) 7-10th July 2022 […]
Chatterbox is an interactive installation that allows audiences to communicate with it through proximity. Chatterbox plays on the idea that voice communication is possible, even in times of social distancing, but that it can be […]
BOX BOX BOX is a new work that revolves around a performance ecology of three self-built portable electronic instruments. Although the project was conceived around BOX, both HST1d and Beat Machine v 0.3 play an […]
Audio-Visual Interiors is a quadraphonic audio-visual composition performed by the live electronic duo of John R. Ferguson and Andrew R. Brown. Both composers have developed bespoke instruments for this work. Brown explores ring modulation synthesis […]
This collaboration with Peter Bussigel is an exploration of computationally mediated rotation using motorized magnets to create modular ‘soundtracks’. Three industrial motors are programmed using the Arduino Integrated Development Environment. Each motor propels a magnet […]
“Exploring Embodied Sonic Meditation through time and space” was premiered as part of the International Conference on Movement and Computing (MOCO) at Arizona State University (ASU) in 2019. This project is a collaboration with Dr. […]
Scatter 2019 is a solar-powered installation, sonic composition, and artistic research project by John Ferguson, Erik Griswold, Paul Bardini, and Daniel Della-Bosca. Sound emanates from twelve loudspeakers that hang from six motorised rotors, which are […]
Beat Machine is the collaborative project of John Ferguson and Andrew Brown. Beat Machine is a 16 step sequencer and 3 voice synthesizer controlled by 10 potentiometers, 19 buttons, and an accelerometer. Beat Machine was […]
This project is an ongoing collaboration with Andrew Brown and Daniel Della-Bosca. The work is presented as an exhibition of interactive sonic objects. The exhibit visitors are encouraged to handle the objects which have varying haptic […]
JAK is a modular synthesizer built by John Ferguson, Alex O’Donovan, and Kai Mohrholz during 2018 at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (QCGU). This page documents the creation of an instrument, public performance of a new composition, […]
Sounds from the local environment are captured and presented in antiquated library drawers, which function as instruments for sonic exploration. The upcycled library catalogue houses the sounds of place, and provides a tangible visual metaphor […]
Bent Circuits is an interactive installation that offers ‘hands-on’ exploration of sounds hidden in technology. The technologies include electronic toys and an instrument that makes no sound of its own. Participants are asked: can you coax sound […]
Purple Pd Machine is a wooden box with an array of buttons and knobs wired to an iPhone 6 via a microcontroller (Teensy LC) and a USB hub (for additional connectivity). Software written in Pure […]
Scatter is a collaborative project by Erik Griswold, John Ferguson, and Sulja Raam Nezovic. Scatter is inspired by Gordon Monahan’s ‘Speaker Swinging’, the environmentally attuned work of Andy Goldsworthy, and the kinetic sculptures of Arthur Ganson and […]
Nhoj Elocin is a collaboration of John Ferguson and Nicole Carroll. The above image was captured June 2018 at New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), although not in-shot I’m spinning light-sensitive analogue electronics (HST1d) in […]
Tomlin|Fergus is the duo of Vanessa Tomlinson and John Ferguson. The research objective is to expose commonality in seemingly disparate musical disciplines. The activities of a percussionist and an electronic musician may often appear dissimilar, but although each […]
HST1d FERAL TECHNOLOGIES AKA The Music Technology Frisbee (as christened by Electronic Instruments students 2018) is a six-voice portable and battery powered synthesiser based around a 40106 (Hex Schmitt-Trigger). Three voices are operated via resistive-touch on […]
Sculptural Sonic Agents is a collaboration between Andrew Brown and John Ferguson. The goal is to explore the development of sonic sculptural agents, these ‘agents’ are bespoke instruments that comprise artificial listening and sound generating capabilities. They […]
Circles is a wooden box that contains a single-board computer and two micro-controllers. Bespoke software is written in Pure Data and Arduino, running on Linux. Sampling is via in-built microphone. Semi-random sequencing and the creative […]
The movie and patches below relate to a paper with Paul Vandemast-Bell titled ‘Perspectives on Musical Time and Human/Machine Agency in the Development of Performance Systems for Live Electronic Music’. This was presented 8th September […]
Analogue Revolutions is handbuilt using integrated circuits (ICs) and passive components, there’s no programmable (PIC) chips and thus no computer is involved. This point was important to me back in 2014. Analogue Revolutions was completed […]
Nhoj Elocin is a collaboration of John Ferguson and Nicole Carroll. This project explores improvisation with lively/semi-autonomous processes in surround-sound environments using custom software and self-made instruments. While human interaction with tactile interfaces is vital to the […]
The ‘brain’ of Mobile Noise Rig (MNR) is a Pure data patch running on iPad via Mobile Music Platform. This is connected via Lighting to USB adaptor to a handmade instrument built around a Teensy […]
‘Drum Thing’ was presented at World Science Festival Brisbane 2017 as part of 100 Ways to Listen. 'Drum Thing' as presented at World Science Festival Brisbane 2017 from Music Technology QCGU on Vimeo. ‘Drum Thing’ […]
PIANO (Performance Interaction and Augmented Noise Object) by John Ferguson and Mauricio Iregui. PIANO is an instrument that revolves around a computer, a projector, an infrared (IR) camera and IR lighting, built-in speakers, and a […]
Excited by the sonic possibilities offered by digitally augmented instruments, the collaborative practice of FHM (Ferguson/Hayes/Michalakos) explores common themes of physicality, gestural interaction, and responsiveness in live electronic music. This trio utilises laptop-processed electric guitar […]
Wednesday 5th October 2016 Music Technology at QCGU presented John Zorn’s infamous game piece from 1984 in collaboration with Winds, Strings, Composition, and Percussion. More information on Cobra here. Download John Ferguson’s print-ready version of the […]
NIME (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) is the premier academic conference in designing human-computer interfaces and interactions for musical performance. In 2016 NIME came to QCGU and I was performance chair, so curated and programmed […]
The TRaNsMOGRiFiER changes things in unpredictable ways. Objects dropped off during the day are subject to transmogrification–an overnight process that involves people, found materials, cardboard, electronics, and hot glue. Owners pick up their objectsTR the next day. […]
These three sketches for analogue audio visual instrument (AAV 1.0) are a first attempt aimed at figuring out what I might achieve with a cigar box connected to loudspeakers and a projector. Although the […]
SCRUNCH was recorded live at the MEME studios at Brown University June 2014 and released October 10th 2014, it features Michael DeQuattro on percussion, sound, and processing; Jim Moses on guitar, sounds, and processing; and John […]
Robert Dominicus is a collaboration of John Robert Ferguson and Seth Dominicus Thorn. The goal is to explore techniques and timbres associated with a variety of vernacular electronic music practices, avoiding the latent dynamics of […]
Although I built fairly complex systems with Max software during my Ph.D., this was mainly self-taught. Joseph Butch Rovan is a noted expert so to be sitting-in on his autumn/fall 2014 ‘Real-Time Systems’ course is a fantastic […]
In June 2014 I was invited to spend a week at the Institute for Aesthetics of Music at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Austria. My time revolved around various open-ended and explorative […]
This strand of my practice explores circuit bending/hardware hacking and foregrounds disassembled electronic commodities and the inherent appropriation and reuse of sampling culture. I orient this toward one central question: how might the technologies of sonic […]
In 2014 I performed Flingle_Flangle live at Wesleyan University as part of SEAMUS (Society of Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States) and at NYCEMF (New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival). A mediatized version was presented […]
Porous Torsion is the collaborative project of Diana Salazar (laptop/controllers) and John Ferguson (electric guitar/laptop/controllers). This duo’s collaborative practice involves a process of filtering and restraining semi-autonomous and chaotic agents (of human, electromechanical, and computational […]
Whistle Pig Saloon is the live audio collaboration of Robert van Heumen (Computer/controllers) and John Ferguson (Guitar/effects). Wide and disjointed, blending a fractured pulse with dynamic texture, this is an immersive and disorientating music, sometimes […]
Tron Lennon represents the collaborative work of John Ferguson and Paul Bell. Working beyond a paradigm where musicians perform pre-composed works, they celebrate spontaneity and the ephemeral nature of sound. In uncovering hidden and unintended potentials in seemingly […]