This week, on Top Chef. Photo: croncast. The saga of the Beamz Laser Music System goes on: the spectacularly awful demo video has spread on the Internets, and after Gizmodo proclaimed it the most stupid promo video ever, they were challenged by the PR company to do a real review. (No such challenge yet for […]

You’re not cool now? You will be, as your hands dance to the rhythm through the magical lasers. A few moments of your playing, and nothing could possibly convince me that you didn’t grow up on the streets of Jamaica, banging oil drums you salvaged and hammered into shape. Whoops, sorry — had to snap […]

The Sharper Image, a source of various amusing musical oddities over the years, now has a ready-to-use USB laser harp music controller for PC (Windows XP/Vista), at the price of — wha? US$599? Yes, this is obviously Sharper Image exercising the business and marketing acumen that allowed it to — erm — file for Chapter […]

The world’s smallest projector is dead — long live the world’s smallest projector! PC Magazine reports from CES 2008 that Microvision’s PicoP projectors are smaller than an iPod, battery-powered, and make teh visualz with fricking laser beams. Max resolution 848 by 480, zoom 1:1, brightness and frame rate unknown. From Microvision’s marketing materials, it seems […]

The world’s smallest projector is dead — long live the world’s smallest projector! PC Magazine reports from CES 2008 that Microvision’s PicoP projectors are smaller than an iPod, battery-powered, and make teh visualz with fricking laser beams. Max resolution 848 by 480, zoom 1:1, brightness and frame rate unknown. From Microvision’s marketing materials, it seems […]

CDM Stalwart bliss thinks that Wired’s article on Miya Masaoka‘s Laser Koto is worthy of front page CDM status. Well let’s have a look at the required aspects of a CDM article: Electronic Music? Check. Samples? Check. Lasers? Check. Midi? Check. Arduino? Check. Laptop? Check. Max/MSP? Check. Yep, I think we can squeeze it in […]

Is it the call of the ocean? The primordial urge to return to our pre-human evolutionary roots, the womb? Hand dryness caused by too many hours at the computer? Whatever the reason, interactive musicians keep designing wild instruments involving water. The latest comes from Australian hacker / designer / instrument builder Sebastian Tomczak. He’s turned […]

For some of the most bizarre and unusual music-sound installation art, look no further than Burning Man. Burning, indeed: this desert-based event has in the past featured Eric Singer’s Max/MSP-controlled pyrophone, a propane-powered flaming sound organ. (And, incidentally, that installation is making a repeat appearance this year.) And what better activity when in the middle […]

We mark the loss of Lilian Schwartz this week at age 97. She’ll be remembered for her impact on the craft of artmaking with computers and her vision for how to push human skill in digital media. And you can dive deep into her work online; here’s a set of links.