We routinely talk about how the interface paradigm of a computer — screen, QWERTY, trackpad – isn’t optimal for music. But how many of you have, in a pinch, done a live laptop set with just your computer, and found some way to make it work? The Stanford University Laptop Orchestra, set to play this […]

Okay, cool — but when will Princeton let these folks play the football games? Move over, marching band: laptop orchestras are here. Princeton’s laptop orchestra PLOrk will be the featured guest at dorkbot in New York this week, but it’s not the only “laptop ensemble.” The Electronic Music Foundation’s Arts Electric notes laptop orchestras span […]

Dorkbot is the geeky cultural phenomenon that somehow spread from the Computer Music Center at Columbia University all around the world. Normally, the presentations tend toward general electronics, but custom wind instruments, laptop orchestras, and open source audio rearrangers are all on tap for a special all-music Dorkbot coming up this week. If you’re here […]

For a generation of musicians of nearly every genre, the laptop has become an instrument. It’s easy to take for granted, but the rise of the computer for music has been remarkable. Less than twenty years ago, real-time digital synthesis and audio processing was the domain of expensive, specialized workstations. Now, $700 per seat can […]

If you want an example of complex music technology, look no further than the symphony orchestra. This peculiar blend of instruments from different times and different cultures has to be the most musically complex entity in existence. But that hasn’t stopped the new music-centered American Composers Orchestra from asking how the orchestra could continue to […]

Image courtesy Machine Orchestra. Ed.: From modern electronica to South Asian Classical music, machines to humans, the Machine Orchestra is doing fascinating things with electrically-powered, digitally-manipulated, physically-robotic music. Here’s more about what makes the ensemble tick. It’s been nearly three months since I had the opportunity to guest blog here on CDM about a project […]

The Machine Orchestra explodes the idea of a laptop orchestra, building a full-blown machine ensemble of the future. We turn to guest writer Jordan, a member of the ensemble, to look behind the scenes in a couple of articles. Rejoin us for part two later this week. -Ed. Welcome to the world of Dr. Ajay […]

We’re serious when we say laptop performances — the Moscow Laptop Cyber Orchestra (“CybOrk”), influenced by similar groups like Princeton’s PLOrk, uses laptops as instruments, augmented by alternative controllers. Here’s the surprise: when they record it, they intentionally treat it as you would an acoustic ensemble. Photo by Elena Krysanova. My feature story for Keyboard […]

CDM’s resident game composer W. Brent Latta was lucky enough to get to see Video Games Live in Seattle, a major concert of game music, new and old. Unfortunately, concerts in other markets have been cancelled (see VGL announcement and a message from organizers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall), though hopes are high for more […]

Relic? Think again. Orchestras are taking on digital-age music. IGN reports video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall have become orchestral concert producers with “Video Games Live,” an “immersive” audio/visual experience. Part of the immersion involves the L.A. Philharmonic playing Mario and Zelda. Wall says “Videogame music is not bleeps and bloops anymore.” Um, […]