Tesla coil music system (YouTube alert) and five other musical gadgets you didn't know about.
posted on Oct 21, 2006 - View this thread

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?
posted on Jul 8, 2006 - View this thread

"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.
posted on Jan 28, 2004 - View this thread

Toy Symphony: A project from the MIT Media Lab, developing new instruments like the networked Beatbugs and squeezable Shapers. There's their composition software Hyperscore, free for downloading, as well as sample scores to play. This morning's Wall Street Journal (page D10, upper left corner) reports that Fisher-Price will be releasing a commercial version soon (though of Hyperscore or the instruments, it's not entirely clear... I'd like a Beatbug!).
posted on May 21, 2003 - View this thread