Drawdio: Turn Almost Anything Into a Theremin
Imagine you could draw musical instruments on normal paper with any pencil (cheap circuit thumb-tacked on) and then play them with your finger. The Drawdio circuit-craft lets you MacGuyver your everyday objects into musical instruments: paintbrushes, macaroni, trees, grandpa, even the kitchen sink…
One day I bought a “harmonium” kit at the street market in Bangalore. I hacksawed the keyboard off to make the first ever Drawdio circuit. We played with it at a local school in the slums using plants, water, our foreheads, etc. My friend told me graphite would work too. Meditating on it, I realized the Drawdio circuit should be literally attached to a pencil to “draw audio,” and that’s where the name came from: Draw + Audio.
Introducing The Roton
Taking inspiration from Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise, the Roton is a graphical score for any number of performes and electronic instruments and devices.
The score is a kit made of 23 (for now) circle shaped trasparent plastic sheets that the performer can group and arrange in every way he/she wants.”
See Gleetchplug for more info.
Crazy LEGO Xmas
Desmond Dodecahedron has the craziest way of celebrating the season I’ve seen this year: just build a giant Christmas tree from LEGOs, then use visual programming environment Max/MSP and some custom electronics to trigger tunes. Desmond writes:
Once I discovered that the word “advent” was actually an abbreviation of “audio event” and the fact that we have had lots of snow in London – I decided to create this Christmas Carol note filtering tree. (in this case it is actually a midi event tree – but you get the general idea). Each pitch class of a Carol i.e. all the Ds or all the Fs are allocated to a Lego door. When the door is opened, a midi file is played and the notes are sent to a vst synth in a Max Patch. The doors have small magnets which trigger a reed switch. I built a couple of resistor ladder multiplexers so that I could use nine doors with just 3 analogue ins of a Make Controller. This device could be used as a sophisticated “Name that Tune” device – fun for all the family – if that’s what your family considers to be fun – unlike my own. Keep up the good work with CDM – and a festive maximum to all your readers – Des
Interactive light and sound installation
DJ Light is an immersive public sound and light installation that gives visitors the power to orchestrate an awe-inspiring performance of light and sound across a large public space. It was created for energy company Endesa as the cornerstone of their Christmas celebrations in Lima, Peru.
DJ Light is about the exhilaration of one person taking control over a massive space and manipulating the incredible array of light and sound within it using nothing more than their own body. It is an empowering experience where the public is invited to be the artist.
The installation consists of 85 giant globes of light, each capable of displaying millions of colours. As the “guest DJ” assumes their position on the podium, they can use their arms to point and gesture. These movements are translated in real-time into beautiful movements of light and generative sound across the space.
Cinimod Studio are known for their innovative use of technologies, and it is therefore no surprise that “DJ Light” employs some truly innovative technologies. The main controlling hardware and software utilised for DJ Light was made especially for the project, and combines years of on-going research and development.
Each of the inflatable globes contain custom LED lighting, designed and fabricated for maximum controllability and energy efficiency. Each globe has a unique identity that allows the colour to be controlled from the main DJ podium. Suspended above the podium is a high accuracy thermal tracking camera that has been developed by Cinimod to allow for live tracking of the “guest DJ”. By tracking every movement of the person below, this camera communicates control signals to the main software programme that is responsible for the live sound and light generation.
With over 400 channels of lighting control and a multi-directional sound system, DJ Light is comprised of a technically advanced set-up. However it is the intention and desire of Cinimod Studio that the focus of the public should be on the beautiful and ephemeral effect of the artwork, rather than on the technology that underlies it.
Photo oscillator synth
Noise transformed into ambient music
This music is entirely created with noises recorded from 1.580 streets.
audioscan is a multimedia interactive installation and a live performance combining music and video. Both are based on the sound mapping of Milano.
At the basis of audioscan there are 1.580 recordings and phonometric surveys gathered within the perimeter contained in the main ring road of Milano. audioscan puts itself up as a chance to reflect on the features of the sound surrounding us and the spaces we act in. A process of meeting and exchange between contemporary art, music and environmental themes, a meditation on soundscape and the auditive dimension of human experience, both on an aesthetic and a social perspective.
An ambitious cataloguing work and an environmental awakening project through the transformation of a waste product of technological society – noise – into an artwork.
WINtA – gameplay
The game is the product of a collaboration with Dutch developer Triangle Studios (makers of the iPhone port of augmented reality browser Layar). And it’s all for a good cause: the OneBigGame effort is using proceeds from track sales for this title and other gaming revenues to support Save the Children and Starlight Children’s Foundation.
After months of hard work, the results are finally there. WINtA has just launched world wide and is now available on the App store! When downloading WINtA, you’ll receive the title track “WINtA” for free! The track is designed by Masaya Matsuura, and the people at NanaOn-Sha.
Use your face as a MIDI drum controller
How about using your face as a MIDI for a drum machine? Well here´s how you go about doing just that, enjoy
electric stimulus to body + myoelectric sensor test1( Daito Manabe )
daito manabe: programming
masaki teruoka: engineering
2 nice Marsynth Morris Box Demos
MarsSynth have posted some new videos of Morris boxes
This is just a simple demo of a morris box with no effects. This particular unit is in a slightly different configuration from other morris boxes, and its fun!
This time, I’m running the morris box through an empress super delay. I’ve always loved this combo, so I figured it was about time I shot some footage of them together.
Made In Iron – combining ironing with music creation
Matti Niinimäki of Finland has combined a common household chore with music control. He transforms an iron and ironing board into a wireless music controller, capable of generating wobble bass, slicing beats, sampling, and anything else he might devise.
The ironing board itself is self-contained, sensing grayscale values on the surface. (That might mean you’d have to calibrate it to your shirt patterns if you really did use this to do your ironing, or at least put a marker between the iron and your shirts.) There’s also an accelerometer, and the device gives you feedback with vibration and LED.
DATAMASKIN
