To close out today’s celebration of Dr. Robert Moog’s birthday, here’s a letter that captures an extraordinary moment in time. It’s a reminder, too, that we also live in extraordinary times today, moments that we can appreciate for their potential, without the benefit of hindsight. Today or tomorrow is the birthday of some new electronic […]
Music
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Projection Mapping Meets Home Game System: Visuatari
Toy theater moves from the epic facade of a grand performance space to something scaled, in human terms, to miniature. Projection mapping can do the same thing. Just ask artist Tonner Vi. As writer Erica Gonsales has chronicled for The Creators Project, the Colombian artist has though small – egg crate small. The results can […]
GarageBand for iPad Hands-on: Why It’s Ideal for Beginners, What You May Not Know
Let’s get this out of the way: musicians are not a “niche” group. Recording has done some damage to the popular practice of live music, but still, you’ll find an astonishing number of people play instruments and sing. (New pop culture phenomena like Glee, the Guitar Hero/Rock Band games, and the resurgent TV talent show […]
Bob Moog’s Birthday: Learn Synthesis, Benefit Swag, Apps, and a Playable Google Doodle [Videos]
Sound technology pioneer Bob Moog’s birthday is May 23, and just about the whole Web will be in on the celebration. Play Google like a Minimoog: Google’s Doodle, the image you see on their homepage, is one of their best yet: it’s a fully interactive, playable Minimoog synthesizer. You can even record and playback little […]
Syntact is a Futuristic Gesture Interface That’s Tactile – Without Touch
Here’s how interfaces normally break down. You’ve got your conventional, tactile interfaces, like a knob. You’ve got your touch interfaces, which lack tactile feedback (you touch them, but they don’t push back). You’ve got your gestural interfaces, which have you waving your hands in the air without touching anything and without any tactile feedback. (They’re […]
2000 Photos, Held by 300 Fans, Make a Stop-Action Music Video for j.viewz
Artists these days are always grasping for ideas to involve fans. In a video for j.viewz’ “rivers and homes,” fans literally get in on the act. Give the video above a moment – after a more conventional intro, it shifts to a stop-motion sequence made from photographed stills of the film. Some 2000 photos, printed […]
Homeless: Animating São Paulo's Darker Corners with a Handmade Love Story
Abstraction and geometry have their expressive qualities, but architectural projection as a medium need not always go that route. VJ Sauve’s work “Homeless” is poignant, warm, and personal, crafted from hand-drawn and hand-painted media, transformed into digital animation, then projection-mapped in a way that seems to bring São Paulo’s alleyways and streets alive. Characters dance […]
Homeless: Animating São Paulo’s Darker Corners with a Handmade Love Story
Abstraction and geometry have their expressive qualities, but architectural projection as a medium need not always go that route. VJ Sauve’s work “Homeless” is poignant, warm, and personal, crafted from hand-drawn and hand-painted media, transformed into digital animation, then projection-mapped in a way that seems to bring São Paulo’s alleyways and streets alive. Characters dance […]
In a Swirl of Particles, luanna Uses Gestures to Touch Samples [iPad]
luanna is a beautiful new application out of Tokyo-based visual/sound collective Phontwerp_. Amidst a wave of audiovisual iPad toys, luanna is notable for its elegance, connecting swirling flurries of particles with gestures for manipulation. I imagine I’m not alone when I say I have various sample manipulation patches lying around, many in Pd, lacking visualization, […]
Visual Music: A Waveform Made of Vinyl Records, Benga Single, Inspired by Seeing Sound
Benga’s latest video was released early last month and made the blog rounds, but it’s worth considering as we continue our ongoing thread on visual music and how sound can go from invisible to tangible. A stunning video whets fans appetite for the upcoming Benga full-length Chapter 2, constructing a wave shape in physical form […]