Via a nudge from Tim Prebble’s substation.co.nz:
1. What are the last 3 things you purchased? Cab fare home. Dinner. Lunch. 2. What are the last 3 songs you downloaded? Tracks from Miles from India, Kosma’s New Aspects, and Earth’s The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull (all from emusic.com). 3. Where were the [...]
Newfangled, electronically based musical instruments like the Tenori-On, the Monome, and the Nintendo DS port of a popular Korg synthesizer aren’t just for so-called non-musicians. Take Electroplankton, the most restricted, or creatively circumscribed, of this batch. A sound toy (or audio game) built on the Nintendo DS platform, its fairytale interface is a child-friendly aquarium [...]
Holy new-media installation, Batman — is Christopher Nolan, director of the recent film The Dark Knight, a fan of artists Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin?
Without going into too much detail about The Dark Knight, there’s a sequence toward the climax (well, the most lengthy of its several climaxes — this is a summer blockbuster) that [...]
Screenshots from the new music-making program, Beatmaker, designed for use on the iPhone. From top to bottom: (1) pads to “trigger and manipulate” samples, (2) a sequencer with a timeline interface, (3) live performance functionality, (4) set start and end points for samples, (5) edit “velocity and groove of each track on each pattern”:
More info [...]
The first server of hyperreal.org, the rave and electronic-music resource that is approaching its 15th anniversary. The X-Files-like aura of the photo seems appropriate to the home of, among other things, such essential email lists as IDM and microsound (hyperreal.org/lists).
More on the history of the online hub at hyperreal.org. Photo originally uploaded to flickr.com on [...]
David Byrne is exhibiting his singing robot Julio at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain, as part of the show “Machines and Souls: Digital Art” (or “Máquinas y Almas”). Pondering the show’s title, he says:
I suspect that many of the show’s participants might disagree with this implied duality since much [...]
Initial images of the AMK, a modular sound toy intended for children:
More info at the site of the manufacturer, pknts.com. (Found via synthtopia.com.)
Quick News, Links, Bits, Reads: Playing catch up on links I’ve accumulated. … Is the Nintendo DS video game Electroplankton out of print? Someone’s selling it for over 70 bucks, used, on amazon.com. (Thanks, Jeff.) … Speaking of which, amazon.com has updated its underacknowledged free-download service, now as part of the blue-light specials at amazon.com/mp3deals. [...]
The AirPiano, created by Omer Yosha:
“Specifications: Polyphonic, MIDI protocol, Up to 24 keys / 8 faders, USB connectivity.” More info at airpiano.de (via createdigitalmusic.com, hackaday.com, engadget.com).
The website tenori-off.com is described by its proprietor, Dino Ignacio, as a document of “his attempt at learning to play music. Though the title suggests that the blog will be exclusively about the Yamaha Tenori-On, it will probably also focus on other instruments like Theremins and Keyboards.” The Tenori-On, pictured at left, is the celebrated [...]