Over the past decade-plus I have been developing a software/hardware instrument for live performance with acoustic and electronic instrumentalists. The software core of this instrument is written in SuperCollider, a music programming language, but I have recently augmented my software with a hardware analog synthesizer. I see the current version of the instrument as a composite of the software and hardware that I perform on. I have used this instrument in performances in improvised settings with many wonderful performers and groups. I pride myself on my versatility, my ability to lead and follow in any group, and my constant push to expand my instrument and my virtuosity on it.

I have uploaded the entirety of the software portion of my instrument to GitHub, so you are welcome to check it out, steal from it, and learn from it. You can get the code here. Below are some samples of me playing electronics with different groups. Much of my improv work can also be found on commercial recordings, so please see my DISCOGRAPHY for more music.

Finally, at the bottom of the page are two videos of solo audio-visual performances I created using SuperCollider combined with Quartz Composer. I have performed these solo works throughout the United States and Europe.
duo with the great Paul Lytton at Experimental Sound Studio

 

exclusiveOr performing duo at the Electric Spring Festival in Huddersfield, UK

 

Peter Evans and I performing duo at Roulette in Brooklyn, NY.

 

The Passion of Joan of Arc - exclusiveOr (Jeff Snyder and Sam Pluta) with Federico Ughi performing live improvised music to Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 silent film masterpiece The Passion of Joan of Arc. This clip features four scenes, but we play music for the entire film in performance.

 

Rocket Science Live at the Stone in New York City.

 

Memory by Design, an incredible video by Nathan Punwar, made to 'analysis/resythesis'.

 

Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Nonet, Live in Mulhouse, France

 
PERFORMERS
PLAYBACK
TITLE AND DESCRIPTION
Peter Evans Quintet For Gary Rydstrom and Ben Burtt is a kind of concerto Peter wrote for me to play with his quintet.
exclusiveOr World on a Wire is a composition from exclusiveOr's second album, Archaea. Our second album features Jeff Snyder on analog synths and me on laptop.
Glissando bin Laden Rumble7 was the first track on GBL's 2009 album, Drone Level Orange. We not only had a great name and album title. This band made very special music.
Evan Parker USA Electro-Acoustic Ensemble Seven was recorded at a live performance at the Festival de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Quebec.
Peter Evans and Sam Pluta Duo Peter and I recorded Gateway to Another Dimension at Wesleyan College in 2013. It was released on our 2014 vinyl, Event Horizon.
George Lewis and Sam Pluta George and I opened up his Interpretations concert at Roulette in 2011 with a duo.
     
     
     

data structures/monoliths ii (for chion)

data structures/monoliths ii (for chion) is a 10 or so minute improvisation piece for custom built video sampler. This piece uses around 500 clips from 20 or so movies. I perform the piece by playing triggering individual samples with a keyboard controller. Though there are many pieces that involve cut-up videos, I still haven't seen another one that can do this in real-time, like I am doing here.



American Tokyo Daydream I (calypso sunrise)

American Tokyo Daydream I (calypso sunrise) was my first solo laptop and video live performance piece. The piece is split into a binary form, the first half calm and meditative, the second half very much not so. Like data structures/monoliths ii this piece is coded in SuperCollider, using Quartz Composer as the video software.