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There’s a new interface project to watch at MachineCollective.org that looks to be like Legos for computer interfaces:

In spite of all the smart, multifunctional and state-of-the-art controllers that are commercially available today, there has always been demand for custom physical interfaces and specialized controllers. That’s why we have developed a modular prototyping platform. The prototyping modules are aimed at researchers, artists, musicians, circuitbenders and performers who want to use high quality controls without spending too much time on manufacturing or trying to find a suitable enclosure.

Machinecollective understands your needs and we’re here to help you out! We are working on a range of modules based on frequently used components, sensors and indicators. The prototyping modules are designed to work with development platforms such as Arduino and Wiring. The modules can also be used for other purposes such as circuitbending, DIY synths, analog sequencers or plain old electronics projects.

The modular prototyping concept is based on rapid prototyping taken to a higher level: configure, assemble, connect and interact.

• A specialized controller is required for your application, project or installation.
• Select the modules you need (or create new modules and share them with the community).
• Order them through our site, or source/create your own.
• Build, connect and configure your control surface using your favorite development platform.
• Test the new controller in your setup / environment.
• It will be possible to have a custom control surface manufactured, based on the modules you have used in your prototype.
• Store your prototyping modules for future projects or continue to use your modular control surface in your setup.

Prototyping modules consist of 3 configurable components:

• Acrylic top panel (with/without components)
• Aluminium base (with/without machined holes and connectors)
• Acrylic bottom panel (with/without mounting options for pcb’s)
• They are currently developing modules with components such as potentiometers, slide potentiometers, buttongrids, toggle switches, lcd’s, FSR/LDR’s, velocity sensitive pads, touchscreens, etc.

These look like they will be a great new approach to control surfaces.

Director Michel Gondry, who made a name for himself making music videos for the likes of Chemical Brothers, Björk, Daft Punk and others, has compiled a list of 25 music videos that you should see, and it’s got some classics:

1. Michael Jackson - ”Billie Jean” (1983)
   
2. Peter Gabriel - ‘Sledgehammer” (1986)
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers - “Give It Away” (1991)
4. Beastie Boys - ”Sabotage” (1994)
5. Björk - “It’s Oh So Quiet” (1995)
6. Herbie Hancock - “Rockit” (1983)
7. Jean-Luc Ponty - “Individual Choice” (1983)
8. Talking Heads - “Burning Down the House” (1983)
9. Téléphone - “Un Autre Monde” (1984)
10. The Cure - “Close to Me” (1985)
11. New Order - “Perfect Kiss” (1985)
12. Beastie Boys - “Fight for Your Right to Party” (1986)
13. Run DMC (Feat. Aerosmith) - “‘Walk this Way” (1986)
14. Paul Simon - “You Can Call Me Al” (1986)
15. Michael Jackson - “Leave Me Alone” (1987)
16. Madonna - “Like a Prayer” (1989)
17. Tone Loc - “Wild Thing” (1989)
18. Young MC - “Bust a Move” (1989)
19. Massive Attack - “Unfinished Sympathy” (1991)
20. Lenny Kravitz - “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” (1993)
21. Jamiroquai - “Virtual Insanity” (1996)
22. The Pharcyde - “Drop” (1996)
23. Aphex Twin - “Come to Daddy” (1997)
24. Devendra Banhart, ”A Ribbon” (2004)
25. R. Kelly, ”Trapped in the Closet” (2005)

There’s a lot of great, innovative stuff on Gondry’s list, but nothing is creepier than the video for Aphex Twin’s Come to Daddy:

What?

You’ve still got some money left after getting that $24,000 Avid Acutus turntable?

Then you may want to check out the new Thorens Jubilee turntable:

 The Jubilee is a cost-no-object design that puts it firmly in the camp of ‘the world’s best ever’ vinyl replay machines. The Jubilee celebrates 125 years of the Thorens name and allowed the company to indulge themselves to create the ultimate Thorens ‘turntable without limits’, It weighs in at a substantial 58kg, the platter alone weighing some 11kg.

Retail price is expected to be £28,000 - or about US $55,000!

This is insane, dangerous and, yes, awesome - the Mundo Piano Bike. It was a special project for Bicycle Music Festival:

Paul Freedman of Rock the Bike mounts a seat and instrument rack on a Mundo utility bicycle. Watch as Janaysa performs her song, London Bridges, on the back of the bike on its maiden voyage.

Very cool - but put a synth on a bike, make a rolling DJ setup or a techno rig, and I’ll be seriously impressed.

If you’ve got the mobile 303 death-wish and pictures to prove it, let me know!

NIN has released another interesting bit of Internet media for its most recent release, The Slip (our review).

They plotted the downloads of the album onto Google Earth, so you can browse interactively and see where the Nine Inch Nails fans are:

We’ve had just over 1,400,000 people download The Slip from our site since its release May 5th (that number represents individual people, and excludes multiple downloads from the same order), and this map displays ONLY downloads that came directly from us.

NIN is doing some pretty geektacular stuff and exploring a lot of interesting ways to use Internet media to promote their music.

If anybody can connect me with their tech gurus, let me know. I’d love to ask them some questions about what they are doing!

 

 Julio Sings, David Byrne: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Remember David Byrne’s Julio - the creepy realistic animatronic singer?

Byrne has written a post from the opening, at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid. In the post, he elaborates on the show and his throughts on his man-machine:

I don’t think what I’ve addressed thus far really engages the supposed theme of the exhibition; many works seem to address the uncanny, the creepy, and the vaguely lifelike….

Julio, the singing robot made in collaboration with David Hanson’s lab, fits in mainly with the creepy uncanny side of the show. Julio is old-school creepy — he resembles a person, uses lifelike motions, and — yikes! — smiles and looks around, mumbles to himself, and then bursts into song. He recalls a Frankenstein monster, although, instead of being outwardly and obviously scary, he’s quasi-friendly looking and bursting with emotion. I hope the sense of realism together with the singing make him doubly creepy. How can a machine be feeling what’s expressed in the songs.

Like many animals, humans sing for pleasure, for sex, for attention, to express pain, to relieve angst and to join and participate in a social group. All of these urges seem, if not uniquely human, at least not at all machine like. To see machines mimic these aspects of human life, is to watch some part of our imagined souls being appropriated.

While machines can mimic aspects of human, animal and biological processes, they still lack souls, or whatever it is that leaves us sentient, independent beings. Machines, even computers, are for the most part still modeled on digital, binary and logical thought processes, clutching the legacy of Descartes and the Enlightenment. For machines to truly simulate human beings, they will need to reason with their hearts, their emotions, as we and other animals do. We may like to think that cool logic guides, buffers, and tames our hot emotions, but many now believe that the amygdala and other emotional areas of the brain do most of the “thinking.” It seems that much of our thought process is unconscious, based on impulse, gut feeling, and instinct — and no less wise because of it. This is what’s absent in these machines.

For me, an important part of this show is about this lacuna, this missing part. Witnessing a machine approach being human — and for it to be almost believable, but not quite — can be a creepy and unsettling experience.

Read more…

SPEAR (Sinusoidal Partial Editing And Resynthesis) version 0.7.1 is a free application for Windows & OS X for audio analysis, editing and synthesis.

The analysis procedure attempts to represent a sound with many individual sinusoidal tracks (partials), each corresponding to a single sinusoidal wave with time varying frequency and amplitude.

Something which closely resembles the original input sound (a resynthesis) can be generated by computing and adding all of the individual time varying sinusoidal waves together. In almost all cases, the resynthesis will not be exactly identical to the original sound (although it is possible to get very close).

Aside from offering a very detailed analysis of the time varying frequency content of a sound, a sinusoidal model offers a great deal of flexibility for editing and manipulation. SPEAR supports flexible selection and immediate manipulation of analysis data, cut and paste, and unlimited undo/redo. Hundreds of simultaneous partials can be synthesized in real-time and documents may contain thousands of individual partials dispersed in time. SPEAR also supports a variety of standard file formats for the import and export of analysis data.

What’s new in this version?

• No expiration date!
• The pencil tool now works! Amplitude is proportional to horizontal velocity: the faster you move to the left or right the higher the amplitude.
• Many small bug fixes and interface improvements for Windows.
• Support for DirectSound and ASIO sound devices on Windows (select in the Preferences window).
• Fade in/out selected partials.
• Improved Windows and Mac installation.

Read more in the ICMC paper “Software for Spectral Analysis, Editing, and Synthesis.” (pdf)

HV Synth Design has released Trumpet Collection, the first in a planned series of acoustic modeled instruments, created with SynthMaker and based on a unique modeling method for creating sustained instruments.

While the modeling is not slavishly strict, the results are nevertheless amazing. Demos are available at the site.

Trumpet Collection Features:

• Instruments: Bass Trumpet, Classical Trumpet, Jazz Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet and Cornet.
• All the instruments have their full natural range.
• Like real Trumpets, you can ‘blow’ the models from very soft to very loud with an increment of brightness (the high frequencies become more and more prominent). This is done via modulation wheel or breath controller.
• Low CPU load
• Controls: Lip tention, Breath noise, Vibrato (amplitude and/or pitch), EQ, Mute, Fine tuning.

Trumpet Collection is available for Windows PC (VST/Standalone) for US $179.

EastWest’s new Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra features the company’s new “Play” sample engine. 

Play Features:

• 64-bit* with 32-bit compatibility for PC (*see system specifications).
• Full memory access with MAC (requires 64-bit MAC).
• The software is now Mac Intel compatible.
• An intuitive custom interface.
• Intelligent performance section including portamento, repetition, legato
• Features round robin reset.
• Offers improved articulation window and controls.
• On-screen Mic position mixing with Platinum and Platinum Plus versions.
• Switchable 24-bit/16-bit depth with Platinum Plus version.
• State-of-the-art convolution reverb with pre-delay.
• Convolution reverb includes the hall the orchestra was recorded in.
• An intelligent release trail engine that follows note-on samples volume at all times.
• Improved sound quality with high-resolution audio engine.
• Hi-fidelity one pole filter for natural cross-fades.
• Stereo image editing is now possible using channel sourcing.
• Original and corresponding Pro XP expansions combined into one version.
• The instruments featured in the PLAY Editions are newly-programmed for PLAY from the original recordings.

The new version also has several time saving features. For instance, users can recall custom key-switches instantly. The size of these key-switches are unlimited.
Read more…

This video demos WiiAmbient, a free new ambient music program for the Wii from Gleetchplug.

It’s not available yet - but it looks like it will be very cool.

I saw a notice at a Kansas City auction site, via Crate Kings, that the contents of the Music Exchange - an icon on the KC music scene for decades - are going to be auctioned off in July:

Due to the death of The Music Exchange owner Ron Rooks and the subsequent closing of The Music Exchange store, a vinyl phenomenon and fixture of the Kansas City music scene for decades on Westport Road, we will be selling the store inventory and fixtures at public auction and record sale in July 2008.

The auction and record sale will both take place at the final resting place of the business, namely 1413 West 13th Terrace, Kansas City, MO 64102 (The Beast building in the West Bottoms, corner of 13th Terrace and Hickory).  Directions: I-35 to 12th Street, go across the 12th Street Bridge and take the first left which is Liberty, go two blocks south and take a left on West 13th Terrace.  Signs will be posted from 12th Street the days of the sales.

Public Auction - Saturday, July 12th, 10AM (Preview Friday, July 11th, 1-4PM)

We will be selling the fixtures and primarily non-vinyl inventory from the store at auction.  This includes store fixtures, record storage, showcases, shelving, crates, desks, chairs, tables, flip racks, metal swivel racks, filing cabinets, metal shelving units, lamps, fans, tags, labels, store displays, shopping cart, bookcases, shrink-wrap machine, etc.  The inventory includes music and movies, in all conceivable media formats (reel-to-reel, 78’s, LP’s, cassettes, CD’s, 45’s, VHS, Betamax, DVD’s, 8-Tracks, video discs, etc.), vintage magazines (men’s, music, Jazz Times, Living Blues, Rock & Roll, Stereo, etc.), autographed memorabilia, framed art and mirrors, movie and concert posters, neon signs, Coca-Cola cooler, vintage Coke and Pepsi crates, decanters, music postcards, blank CD cases, vintage tube radios, vintage stereo equipment, phonographs, old clocks including Telechron, beer signs, RCA Victor record displays, Kolster radio, Swordfish on the wall, old stoplights, Columbia Records display rack, Pioneer laserdisc players, local artist-created copper motion lamp with glass globes (this large lamp hung in the store), tons of vintage sheet music (most individually priced in the store), Ediphone, promotional items, piano rolls, record price guides, The Music Exchange electronic sign, The Music Exchange customer list, film cans, lots of record accessories (dividers, sleeves, etc.), musical cigars, books, Muehlebach Beer thermometer, Little Wonder records, picture records, Led Zeppelin items, Beattles items, Elvis items and much more. We will also be selling some of the best vinyl at the auction.  Please join us in person for an exciting live auction event!  Please note: we will not be charging a buyer’s premium at this auction.

Blow Out Record Sale - Wednesday, July 16 - Saturday, July 19 and Wednesday, July 23 - Saturday, July 26 (10AM - 4PM Daily)

We will be selling 250,000+ LP’s of all music genres including Blues, Jazz, Gospel, Classic Rock, Classical, Country, Imports, Pop, R&B, Rock, Soundtracks, Comedy and many more that we could list.  All records will be sold for $1 each, regardless of the original retail price.  Most of the records were priced anywhere from $5 to $50 in the store, some even higher. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to stock up on vinyl, and we mean stock up!  At this point, we have only opened about 10% of the boxes containing records, so we have no idea what else we might find in the weeks leading up to the sale.  Due to space constraints, fresh stock will be added daily.  Come prepared to dig and flip through records and expect to be rewarded with many bargains.  Dealers are welcome as we need to leverage your knowledge and time to sort through this many records.  After the sale, we will be taking offers on the entire remaining stockpile of records.

Questions? Please contact Gregg at (913) 491-2930.  Feel free to leave a message.

The Music Exchange wasn’t one of the great American record stores. It wasn’t one of the biggest. They didn’t have the most complete selection. It certainly wasn’t one of the cleanest. 

Nevertheless, it was one of the best record stores in the midwest.

I spent a lot of time, in my youth, at the Music Exchange, digging through crates. I found a lot of great new music there, and I expanded my ears there.

It’s sad to see this place getting auctioned off, piecemeal. 

RIP, Music Exchange.

Printable Auction and Record Sale Flyer (.pdf)

2008 Summer NAMM Show: Sibelius announced Sibelius First, a new notation and composition tool for singer/songwriters, keyboard players and guitarists. 

“Sibelius First is that great first step into the world of professional score writing for aspiring composers,” said Jeremy Silver, Sibelius Software’s managing director. “If you’re more comfortable composing while playing a guitar or a keyboard, then Sibelius First is for you.”

Sibelius First features:

• Friendly user interface;
• Composing and arranging tools for up to 12 staves of music;
• Easy input via MIDI keyboard, MIDI guitar, computer keyboard or mouse;
• Dynamic Scoring for instrumental parts that automatically update as you work on the full score;
• Ability to switch from guitar tab to notation and back again with ease;
• Built-in general MIDI sounds, with 128 high-quality instruments for realistic playback of your music;
• Exporting of your score ready to burn to CD;
• Support for scanning in printed music for editing or transposition; and
• Scorch technology to publish, post and share scores on the web so your fans can see and hear your music.

Sibelius First is available beginning June 25 for $129 (MSRP).

T.C. Electronic has introduced the Desktop Konnekt 6 FireWire audio interface, which looks like it’s well spec’d out and nicely laid out for a relatively inexpensive audio interface.

Features:

• High resolution meter
• Tracking reverb level control
• Direct monitor control with input/DAW control
• DIM switch for convenient speaker dimming
• Instant scene recall
• Separate headphone level control
• IMPACT Mic preamp with 48v phantom power
• Input configuration: mic + instr/instr+instr/stereo line
• Balanced stereo outputs
• True Hi-Z guitar inputs known from TC’s high-end guitar processors
• Headphone out with separate level control and separate source
• Studio sound reverb based on hardware technology
• Hall, Room and Plate algorithms
• Part of monitor mix and included as VST/AU compatible plug-ins
• Cubase LE4 included
• C NEAR compatible: works with all other Konnekt products
• FireWire 1394, bus powered
• DICE digital interface chip with JetPLL jitter elimination technology
• Low latency drivers for Mac and PC, WDM, ASIO and CoreAudio
• 24-bit/192 kHz sampling rate
• External power supply included

The Desktop Konnekt has a MSRP of $295.

Summer Clubbing is a free theme for WordPress with a dance music twist.

Demo | Download