Month: December 2010

Univac’s Original Hacked Buddha (MP3s)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

As mentioned previously, one of the great things about guestblogging this past couple weeks at boingboing.net has been the audience. You never know who’s going to drop by the comments to add something valuable. For example, Christiaan Virant, one of the two creators (aka the duo FM3) of the Buddha Machine, left word of plans for a device that would allow original audio by users (in contrast with the preset loops that come in the first three editions of the Buddha Machine). And two musicians left links to MP3s of their related recordings.

And also in that same post’s comments was one from Univac. A little background: for the very first Maker Faire, held in April 2006 here in the San Francisco Bay area, I put together a panel discussion and performance about and by musicians who make their own instruments. Participating were Krys Bobrowski, Chachi Jones (aka Donald Bell, now a writer at CNet), and univac (aka Tom Koch). You can check out the audio of the panel here: “Maker Faire Instrument Panel MP3.” There’s a conversation, which I moderated, followed by a group improvisation.

Back to the Boing Boing post: Univac was sharing information about one of his many hacked sound makers, in this case a traditional Buddhist chant box, or buddha machine (lower case), that he’d gotten from a Los Angeles temple (given to him by Negativland colleague Tim Maloney). His device is shown above, and here are three samples of its audio: there’s one of a chant, first in its normal state, and then slowed down (MP3); then comes one that results from the use of that snakelite LED as an optical control (MP3); and then there’s an extended noisy run through the gadget’s many switches (MP3). As univac puts it: “A nice long noisy journey thru the switch matrix. Turn down the lights. Hide the cats. Don’t call your girlfriend.”

[audio:http://techdweeb.com/media/ChanterNormToSlow.mp3|titles=”Norm to Slow”|artists=Univac’s Chanter] [audio:http://techdweeb.com/media/ChanterOptical.mp3|titles=”Optical”|artists=Univac’s Chanter] [audio:http://techdweeb.com/media/ChanterSwitches.mp3|titles=”Switches”|artists=Univac’s Chanter]

If you’re familiar with the FM3 Buddha Machine, then you will recognize the (non-FM3) chant device attached on the inside of the cover, above.

The gadget is called the Chanter. More on it at techdweeb.com.

A Brief RjDj Overview (MP3)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Tomorrow, for RjDj app fans and for those new to reactive audio (likely thanks to the debut of the Inception app), there will be some special RjDj coverage. But in advance, what exactly is RjDj? Here’s a podcast overview from back in September of the reactive iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPhone) app that is the, well, inception point of the Inception app (MP3). RjDj is an app that serves as a software platform for various “scenes,” and the majority of those scenes use algorithms to transform the sound that exists around you, creating a new layer of sonic experience that enriches everyday reality. And as complicated as that may sound, it’s really quite simple: install the app, put on your headphones, and hit play. As the podcast host puts it, “for my money, the best experience of augmented reality is auditory.” Podcast originally posted at invisible99.podbean.com. My boingboing.net story about Inception: “Music Apps Killed the MP3 Star.”

[audio:http://invisible99.podbean.com/mf/web/e94wrq/99Invisible-03-99Realityonly.mp3|titles=”September 24 2010″|artists=99% Invisible Podcast]

And a little background on the Boing Boing piece: “Liked the Movie, Loved the App.”

The Eerie Return of the Wax Cylinder

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

So, 8-track retro-fetishism gave way to 7″ retro-fetishism gave way to vinyl-LP retro-fetishism gave way to cassette-tape retro-fetishism, with sidelines into Walkman retro-fetishism and the unique subculture of cassingle retro-fetishism. Throughout, there have been occasions of reel-to-reel retro-fetishism. Generally speaking, culture anoints technology as a retro fetish object just around the time the Amish begin to consider adopting it (at least based on the depiction of Amish hacker culture in Kevin Kelly’s recent book, What Technology Wants).

And yet the further ahead we proceed, the further back we look. Which brings us to the cutting edge of ancient: wax-cylinder retro-fetishism.

The wax cylinder was developed as a medium for recorded sound by Thomas Edison in the mid-to-late 1870s. By the time the Depression came around, Edison had stopped producing them.

And then, as 2010 was coming to a close, the duo of Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Michael Esposito released a brand new wax cylinder, titled The Ghosts of Effingham (shown above). And it glows in the dark. And it is purported to contain the voices of the dead.

That’s the subject of my latest guestblog entry at boingboong.net: “Wax Cylinder: Occult Sonic Technology of a Bygone Age, Good as New.”

(Above image is a detail of a shot displayed at the touchmusic.org.uk website. It accompanies an extended article by Ken Hollings on Effingham and the occult origins of recorded sound in the January 2011 issue of The Wire. More from Hollings at kenhollings.blogspot.com.)

Buddha Machine Co-Founder Describes Prototype Device Allowing User Audio

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Over at the Buddha Machine discussion at my recent boingboing.net post on the latest generation of the device (“If You Meet a Buddha Machine on the Road, Hack It”), FM3 member Christiaan Virant responded to something I’d mentioned at the close of my piece. After three sequential versions of the Buddha Machine containing FM3’s loops, I’d requested that a future edition allow for a user’s own audio. Virant and his FM3 partner, Zhang Jian, are the developers of the Buddha Machine series of small, portable, ambient looping devices.

Virant wrote the following:

Regarding Marc’s wish for a 4G buddha with upload capability… not likely in the Buddha Machine series, but am currently onworking a new device which might possibly allow user loops. its a different form factor than the buddha, but still a hand-held, self-contained music playback unit. in a retro-vibe… also, have been working for at least 3 years on a solar-powered buddha, but thwarted by high cost and low power output of smaller solar panels. recently solved the power problem however, so next gen buddha likely sun powered.

For more information on the machines, here are two interviews I’ve done previously with Virant: back in 2005, regarding their initial device (“Buddha in the Machine”), and in 2008, for the launch of the second edition (“Buddha Machine, Reloaded”).

Buddha Machine Army (MP3s)

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

This has been a seriously fun couple of weeks, guestblogging over at boingboing.net. As at any website worth its weight in zeros and ones, one of the great things about BB is its audience. Case in point, the reader response to yesterday’s entry about the third generation of the Buddha Machine, “If You Meet the Buddha Machine on the Road, Hack It.”

The first two comments were from musicians intimately involved with the subject matter at hand. The first, from Randy Walters, who goes by randyman on the BB comments, involved photos and audio (MP3) of his qin — the Chinese stringed instrument that is the source of sound of the loops in the newest Buddha Machine, aka the Chan Fang, which translates as Zen Room. The qin has a beautiful sound, and Walters plays it slowly enough that you can really appreciate the echoing, droning quality of the strings:

[audio:http://randywalters.com/tunes/first_qin.mp3|titles=”Qin Recording”|artists=Randy Walters]

Next up was Peter Vukmirovic Stevens, who shared sample audio (MP3) of a duet he’d written for Buddha Machine and piano. (He also shared the sheet music: PDF.) The piano matches the automaton attenuation of the ambient tones, low notes left to linger and gently dissolve. What’s great about the work is how it contrasts with other Buddha Machine remixes: it doesn’t treat the sounds as mere texture; it wrestles with them as an equal partner in a duet — arguably the lead partner.

[audio:http://soc.som.ohio-state.edu/peter%20v.stevens1.mp3|titles=”Nine Pieces for Solo Piano and Buddha Machine (excerpts) loops four, five & six”|artists=Peter Vukmirovic Stevens]

Photos of Walters’ instrument at randywalters.com/guqin, and more info on Stevens at societyofcomposers.org.