We live in three-dimensional worlds, and physically we can move easily through 3D space. But mapping our intuitive sense of space, movement, and position to the computer is a massive challenge. Our interfaces are primarily two-dimensional, and even the three-dimensional interfaces may lack the kind of sense of space that comes naturally to a child. […]
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Pythagoras, Upcoming iPad App, Recasts Frets to Make them More Harmonic
To celebrate what in the US we call 3.14 or PI day, today I’m offering stories that deal with mathematics and circles. First up, an app named for the great philosopher who is credited – even if perhaps ahistorically so – with finding that ratio and ratios in harmonies. Technology has long introduced innovations that […]
Read more →Video: Live Beatmaking and Musicianship on Display; Details from the Artist, Logic Sampling
Let’s be frank. Computers really don’t demand any musicianship; they’re a blank slate with which you can do anything you like, and quantization is always close at hand. But bragging rights aside, whatever anyone else may think of the results, playing musical elements live can often be more satisfying. And it’s refreshing, at a time […]
Read more →More Visual, More Immersive: Percussion Lab Picks, Mapping as Means to an End
Live visuals for music continue to mature – not because of any new technology so much as because of improving technique, more refined sensibilities, and closer collaboration between music and visuals. We’ve talked a lot about projection mapping. What’s encouraging is that the use of mapping, apart from being mere gimmick, is becoming a means […]
Read more →There Will Never Be Another Music Production Platform. Ever.
Supposedly this computer and the idea of a QWERTY keyboard are dead, but you may have to pry them each out of someone’s cold, dead fingers in order to get them back. Photo (CC-BY) Tobias Carlsson. The question of whether there will ever be any music apps for any non-iOS mobile platform is apparently bothering […]
Read more →Kinect in Teaching: Playful Puppets, Terrains, Lighting, and More Breakthroughs
Teaching has its moments of reward and frustration in equal measure, but I’m of the belief that there are no limits to the new ideas that can grow out of groups of engaged students. In fact, it’s often in the first draft, the first experiment, the first time a student has tried something that I […]
Read more →Meet the Music and Sound Oscar Nominees, and Learn from Hours of Info from Sonic Masters
Shared dreams, indeed: welcome to Hollywood. And in 2011, the music and soundscapes of blockbuster films suddenly seem very much like the future of our dreams, from ground-breaking surround sound to interactive music to scores combining low-fidelity and high – and one breaktakingly-terrific score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross that stands on its own. […]
Read more →Amazing MeeBlip Users, Making MeeBlips, Playing MeeBlips, and Other News From Our $140 Synth
What happens when you unleash a $140 or less, open source, monophonic, hackable synth with a funny name into the world? We’ve found out, and thanks to inventive users, it’s quite nice. Photo by Iain Browne, who also has a hilarious Tumblr. We introduced the MeeBlip, an open source, hackable synthesizer, back in early November. […]
Read more →Official Kinect SDK Coming This Spring for Research, on Windows; What Might it Mean?
I’m Superman! Uh… yeah, so there is some appeal to gestural interfaces for 3D navigation, I meant to say. Photo (CC-BY-SA) Open Exhibits; see note below. The absence of an official SDK has hardly discouraged experimentation and innovation with Microsoft’s depth-sensing camera for the Xbox 360. But Microsoft, via their research and strategy officer Craig […]
Read more →Onyx Wants to Make Himself Into Helmeted, Wearable-Music-Tech Tron, With Your Help
A helmet and hand units make up the TRON performance system for a style of music artist Onyx Ashanti calls “beatjazz.” And he’s well on his way to making a reality. All images courtesy the artist. Onyx Ashanti is insane – in the special, essential way that makes certain brilliant musicians. An experienced busker, having […]
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