Bryant Place has been making a name for himself as visual artist, CPU. He represents himself as a VJ at LAs notorious Droid Behavior parties and has provided visuals for names as large as Black Eyed Peas. However, his field of work is much broader than this. He has carved a niche for himself as an audio programmer/visualist and, in his own words, "develops highly specialized workflow-enhancing audio systems". The Jazzmutant Lemur has a core role to play in all this, read on to discover more...

Can you tell a bit about yourself, how and why you got into music ?

That's a big question! I'm 25, freelancing in Los Angeles as an audio programmer / visualist, developing highly specialized workflow-enhancing audio systems. I've worked with the integration of multiple industry standard digital audio workstations; the development and implementation of seamless real-time media systems; become an expert of MIDI tracking, editing and synchronization and become skilled in emerging network-based protocol OpenSoundControl. Lately, I have been focusing my efforts in the area of generative, audio reactive visuals through Derivative's Touch Designer.

I have always created music. At age five, my parents kicked-off my musical endeavours through traditional piano lessons. In grade four, I joined my elementary school's band, playing the trombone. Soon after, I joined a jazz band and ended up playing jazz for eight years, doing festivals, solo competitions, and expanding my repertoire to include French horn. I started creating computer-based music in grade six with close friend of mine, Pat Jagla. We would spend days on end working with freeware called Multique; matching loops using calculators and bouncing tracks; using a microphone voice recorder to tape. Soon after, I started working in Acid Pro, in conjunction with FruityLoops 3. After graduating high school, I attended Loyola Marymount University for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Recording Arts. Throughout university and general ProTools course material, I explored other computational-based music creation platforms such as Reaktor, Max/MSP, Ableton Live, etc. Soon after graduating LMU, I started attending LAVA (Los Angeles Video Artists). I would bring my Lemur / Reaktor patches to these meetings to share my work. Having seen what others were doing with video, I knew that this was my next move - using the Lemur to control visuals. Over the past few years, I have worked with Kanye West's sound engineer Anthony Kilhoffer; Trevor Morris, the film / television composer; functioned as sound designer with Family Affair Productions and co-produced Jesse James' first album, Wanted. I've also been fortunate enough to build a Lemur template for Johnny DeKam, founder of Vidvox, for his hardware Vixid video mixer.

How did you discover Jazzmutant's controllers?

I first read about the JazzMutant Lemur back in Fall 2004 when I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Gizmodo (http://gizmodo.com/023452/jazzmutant-lemur/). I was instantly attracted to the notion of multi-touch and being able to design your own controller from an array of objects. At that time, I wasn't completely certain what I would be using this device for, specifically, other than controlling soft synths. A year later, in 2005, I read on JazzMutant's website that the product would be available for purchase and that they would be giving a demo of the Lemur at the Reaktor 5 release party in Los Angeles, downtown, at Hangar 1018 ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/momo_the_monster/sets/1153197/ ) with Andrew Pask from Cycling 74. Only days later, I purchased my Lemur from Cycling 74, production number: 54.

Why did you choose to use it above other products on the market?

When I purchased the Lemur in 2005, there was nothing even close to resembling this technology. I thought that because the hardware itself was so advanced, that it was essentially "future-proof" and that it would be something I could use for a long time! The software was rough and there was no MIDI implementation in version 1.2. It has been a wonderful experience being tied to such a close community of users, being part of the development and seeing this product evolve over the past 4 - 5 years.

How has using the controller changed the way you work?

It sure has, it enables me to look that these softwares differently - at how parameters can be controlled on a meta level.

What do you find most useful about it in terms of features?

The modular nature of the JazzEditor - the ability to assign custom addresses to objects. I also really enjoy how the Lemur can be used as a data generator for generative based projects.

What would you like to see in future revisions of the software?

I would like to see a new hardware unit, something that has more memory and speedier processing. Initially, the unit was fast, but now in version 2, the software has become more complex. It would be nice to have hardware that can supplement that effectively.

What are your plans for the near future?

I'll be working with Droid Behavior. They push the underground techno scene here in Los Angeles and legitimately put LA on the map as a healthy and growing techno scene. They provide a blank canvas for me, a platform for me to truly be a visual artist. I have also been working closely with V Squared Labs, alongside Vello Virkhaus. He has opened the door for me to do some really great live visual work with the Black Eyed Peas, HARD parties, Carl Cox in the Dominican Republic and many others. I also have been spending time in Toronto receiving training from Derivative and their real-time 3D environment Touch Designer. Lastly, I'm working on a Lemur project for Hans Zimmer, composer and producer.