concert for laptop-computer and midi-keyboard, (started in 2003 as a performance with analogue tape-loops)

INKAN is a composition for concerts with keyboard and laptop-computer - a composition with originally recorded machine sounds, recordings from underground mining machines, sounds of nature, sounds of social life and sounds from musical instruments including synthesizers and drum-computers - samples from the whole range of Frank Niehusmann's archive of sounds.

INKAN is a keyboard-controlled noise-symphony, it looks like a solo piano concert, but it sounds like "musique concrete", "noise music", "industrial", "sonic art" or "ars acustica".

INKAN is composed for performances with keyboard, computer and Max/MSP-software: inside the computer are several Max/MSP loop-machines running. Playing the keyboard like a piano player Frank Niehusmann leads his sound files into the circular course of the digital loop-tracks - creating thereby a dense, rhythmic network of sound-cuts and noise-combinations.

Performing INKAN is a play with adding, erasing, cutting, manipulating and overdubbing sounds in realtime in several parallel loop-tracks. The black and white "piano"-keys are used to control the functions of the software and the handling of the sound samples via midi data.

An INKAN designates in the Japanese language an artful stamp, which can be used in place of the own signature. An INKAN is therefor in each case a unique personal piece, which represents the name of its owner in representative characters. The title INKAN for this musical work means that this work is like a musical INKAN of Frank Niehusmann's composing, his musical handwriting in the form a representative sign and his signature in sound.

INKAN is developed from a former analogue version which was realized with an analogue 8-track tape recorder and 8-track tape-loops: this "analogue" version is documented at

[ http://www.niehusmann.org/depot/inkan-analogue-version.html ]