MetaFilter posts tagged with electronics and music

Moog-y Christmas

Joe Beese — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:21:42 -0800

Do you like musical instruments with lots of keyboards? And lots and lots of dials? Then you may like 36 15 MOOG: Stuff with Moog and/or 60's and 70's vintage synths in it. (related Ask MeFi) Stuff like George Harrison's Electronic Sound (1969). The soundtrack to the "Bubbleator" exhibit at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Music For Robots. And some cover art that may mess with your mind. It also has the legendary "Esper Edition" of Vangelis's Blade Runner soundtrack - without which you have never properly heard this music.

The machines are making such a wonderful music, who would want to pull the plug?

filthy light thief — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:48:53 -0800

Computer music is relatively old, going back to the very early 1950s. In the following decades, people have been creative with programmable technology, leading to "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" being played on an IBM chain printer back in 1966, and in more recent years, HP ScanJet 5100c included an Easter Egg. The HP ScanJet 4c's SCL (Scanner Control Language) unofficial PLAY TUNE command lead to these fine little ditties. Now over a decade ago, the duo known as [The User] enlisted three specialists to operate a computer program via a server that synchronized the dot-matrix printers and read complex ASCII text files in order to create musical compositions. The result was a techno-sounding piece that was performed by the administrators of the system, rather than one that was simply being played. Like a symphony of car horns, the coordination of these printers became Symphony #1 and #2 for Dot Matrix Printers (samples of Symphony #2, Symphony #2 Slashdot thread). [More computer music exploration inside] A track from Symphony #1 was used as the soundtrack to Radiohead - Skyscape [10], part of Radiohead TV, and another track was used for this short, odd juggling video. The Austraialian sound artist, Sue Harding is making music in the realm of [The User], but she's going it alone with her collection of printers. She has released a few tracks as part of experimental electronic compilations. Want to try your hand at this chaos? Hack A Day has some information, but mostly takes the chance to show off some videos. If you want to get into the software of printers, you may want to try fine-tuned printing. As is usually the case, you can find more odd computer music previously discussed on MetaFilter. Bonus videos: Younnat's "Dot Matrix Printer Etude", Mistabishi's drum'n'bass "Printer Jam" music video, Cornelius' "Toner," the mysterious "Star Wars floppy", and so much more.

this product reverberates a maximum amount of info known as the web

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:46:13 -0800

The corporate logos of Kevin Bewersdorf More writing, art, music, and products available on his website: Maximum Sorrow PLUS: Top 500 Reviewer for Amazon (nsfw) Formerly of GEARt.e.k. Corporation Soundtrack to LOL the Movie Video for "Get This Party Slammin"

The Birth of the Ipod

mattholomew — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:45:47 -0800

You may have never heard of Kane Kramer, but it's likely you use the product and online store he patented. In 1979.

Radiophonic Workshop - Alchemists of Sound

hama7 — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:45:48 -0800

Radio phonic Work shop - Alchemists of Sound .

The Toriton Plus - Water and light music interface.

loquacious — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 12:48:46 -0800

The Toriton Plus A new electronic music interface using water and light. (YouTube). Make your own. From Little-Scale, which is chock-full of cool and wonderous stuff.

The World's Cutest Synth!

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 11:40:16 -0800

Have you ever seen a synth and said "Man, what this needs is cartoon eyes?" A bit similar to the Buchla Box or theremin in that they don't have a keyboard to control the sounds -- it's probably closest to the Booper, invented by The Weatherman from Negativland (or, well, Circuit Bending), the Thingamagoop is a photosynthesizer... which means it basically uses light sensors to generate sounds. The signal's run through a couple oscillators and, well, it comes out as somethin' that's pretty dang awesome. I'm on the fence on pickin' this one up. On one hand, it's a really neat toy that makes noise... on the other hand, um.... um.... I dunno. It's not made of candy?

The Wire

Turtles all the way down — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 06:26:53 -0800

The Wire This award winning CBC radio series incorporates interviews, music and sound to explore the impact of electricity on music, from Edison to Caruso to Les Paul to Bjork. Exhaustively researched and beautifully produced, it's somewhere between a documentary, a remix and a music show. The home site has excerpts, playlists, and the remix from each show, but you can listen to all eight episodes in their entirely at PRX (you'll need to login first).

Musical jewel cases

caddis — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 18:57:13 -0800

This jewel case makes its own music. One Bit Music is a project by composer and artist Tristan Perich. Merging his interests in physical computing and electronic music, Perich programs and packages electronics in a standard CD jewel case. The device plays minimal glitch/dance music when headphones are plugged in. You may remember him from such classics as the push button telephone to cellphone conversion.

Circuit Bending

Napierzaza — Sun, 15 May 2005 09:48:32 -0800

Circuit Bending : The art of taking (usually consumer-grade children's toys) electronics and short circuiting them for audio effects previously not intended by the manufacturer. The simple directions are to probe around the insides of a vivisected toy to find the connections that cause distortion, repitition, pitch change etc. After that all you have to do is solder wires to an on/off switch, dial or button.

Maybe a little like the Frankenstein monster projects like this can be pretty inexpensive. All you need is a bunch of wires, switchs, knobs and a soldering iron. Not to mention hours of trial and error. Any subjects for experimentation can be found at your local thrift store. Too lazy to shop around for victims? Trouble findng switches for under 5$ each? You can always buy one ready-made.

Get bent...

jon_kill — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 12:04:17 -0800

"Circuit bending is the electronic art of the implementation of the creative audio short-circuit. This renegade path of electrons represents a catalytic force capable of exploding new experimental musical forms forward at a velocity previously unknown. Anyone at all can do it; no prior knowledge of electronics is needed." - Reed Ghazala. More proselytizing from Ghazala, and a LiveJournal for up-to-the-minute advice, feedback and opinions.

Oram's technique

dhoyt — Sat, 27 Sep 2003 00:52:06 -0800

Daphne Oram, Godmother of Electronic Music • During WWII, Ms. Oram worked for the BBC as a sound engineer while indulging an obsessive curiousity of experimental audio in her free time. In 1958, she finally convinced the BBC to open the seminal Radiophonic Workshop, which also fostered the talents of sci-fi composers Delia Derbyshire and Ron Grainer. During that period she developed a technique known as Oramics: manipulating 35mm film to create electrical charges and thus, editable sound.

mathowie — Wed, 10 Nov 1999 11:10:09 -0800

(via /.) comes the much-rumored new 4.8 Gb personal mp3 player. I heard about this a long time ago, but it seemed like a fantasy. 4.8 gigs! That's hours and hours of mp3's! My entire collection at home and work is less than 4 gigs. They claim it's going to be released next week. If they can sell if for under $300, I bet they won't be able to produce enough for the demand. The revolution has begun.