Results for Audio Geek Zine

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Dance music with MindStorms sounds

organfairy writes:

It has been a while since I made music on the MindStorms bricks. But now I present the longest and most complicated piece of MindStorms music I have ever made. The title of the melody is “the Future Child” and the idea is to make a cheerfull bleepy melody with the NXT’s tones and use the other sounds as effects while an organ and a synthesizer supplies the orchestra. Most of the pictures are robots made by myself. The rest is something I photographed at the First LEGO League competition in Herning back in 2007. The screenshots are from the NXT-G PC programming tools.

# Tic Tac Tunes – Now with Tic Tac Beat Box

AndyGadget @ Instructables created a Micro-organ and drum-kit in a Tic Tac box

This tiny box will give you hours of fun composing your own tunes. You can vary the tune tempo and switch between a pentatonic and blues scale as well as producing a variety of percussion sounds.
Load up a different program and it will compose its own percussion rhythms(Tic Tac Beat Box) or play with half a dozen different musical scales (Tic Tac Scales). Another cool feature is no power switch – It will hibernate when it's not being used.

There are great musicians around . . . and then there's me with no musical talent at all, but even I can get some great sounding tunes out of this. Watch the video and have a listen to the MP3 files to get an idea of what this little marvel can do.

… read more

Some interesting things I found recently:

# MidiFighter Kit

Ean Golden at djtechtools writes:

I am pleased to announce that in 2 weeks time we will be selling DIY MidiFighter kits in the web-store. This kit will be the first incarnation of our brand new controller line that allows several different levels of customization. Everything from creating original color combos to adding more analog interfaces and customizing the open-source firmware is possible with this exciting new tool.

MidiFighter Kit

MidiFighter kit details

• Release Date: November 30th.
• Price: Aprox $125 for the Kit + Arcade Buttons ($2.50 each) optional wood case- $40.
• Plug and Play-compatible device, compliant MIDI controller.
• USB powered.
• Must be assembled (no expertise required).
• 16 programmable buttons.
• 16 programmable LEDs.
• Expandable to 20 programmable buttons and 4 analog controls.
• Limited-edition 200-piece run in this configuration (black PCB with blue LEDs).

… read more

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Robot playing Rockband on the iPhone

Joe Bowers combines light sensors, servos and Arduino to build a robot that plays Rock Band on his iPhone.

He writes:

Rock Band has been released on the iPhone, and even though its a lot of fun, I would rather have something play it for me. Preferably a robot!

# Mark Mosher: REBOOT

Mark Mosher of the excellent Modulate This! blog has released REBOOT, a new album featuring some great electronic music.

Mark Mosher is an electronic music artist from Louisville Colorado just outside of Boulder. He is a BMI recording artist and composes and produces electronic music and sound completely in the digital realm using state-of-the-art virtual synthesizers and instruments within Ableton Live.

Two years in the making, REBOOT is an album containing 7 richly layered electronica songs that blend contemporary synthesizer sounds with classical music motifs. The end result is dark electronica for those who love synth "ear candy" with a “dirty” industrial edge.

While the songs on REBOOT stand alone as singles, the collection is an album in the true sense of the word. They share a common palette and when played in sequence conjure an epic and dynamic story for the listener.

Prior to the release of the album, the first three tracks were released as singles. "Midnight" and "Stealth" went to #1 and "They Walk Among Us" went to #2 on the Soundclick.com electronica charts.

REBOOT is available to download at Bandcamp. The album is currently being offered using the “pay what you will” model. Although the suggested pricing is $6 for the 7 song album + digital booklet and $1 for singles, users can name their own price including specifying 0$ for free downloads. There are future plans to make the album available on iTunes and Amazon’s MP3 store.

# Filter control via light blob tracking in Processing (YouTube)

Filter control via light blob tracking in Processing This video shows how I can set and control a filter's parameters via MIDI mapping, creating a control surface via a webcam and a torch. I realized a little Processing sketch that tracks the light blob I shot in front of webcam, normalizes X and Y coordinates to MIDI acceptable values, and then sends them to a filter effect in Ableton Live. I also realized the little control panel that allows to correctly make the MIDI mapping and set some blob detection's params. My toolkit: Processing MIDI

Are old digital drum machines better than your Ableton Live?

# Getting Outside “The Box” – Hybrid Recording And Mixing

Jon @ Audio Geek Zine writes:

Plugins are great, they’re very close to the real hardware counterparts, sometimes better. I don’t want to debate that. This article is all about options for getting electrons flowing through gear to get better mixes.

There are very few (if any) professional mixing engineers that work 100% ITB (in the box), at some point you’ll need to get outside.

Some interesting things I found recently, and not so recently (since it’s been a while since I posted short links).

# Guitare à crayon

The idea behind “la Guitare à crayon” is to be able to paint and play music with the same instrument (crayon mean pencil in english). It’s a custom usb guitar with open source software: namely, pure data (for sound) and gimp, blender, flash (for visual).

Guitare à crayon

• Hardware features:
  • Accelerometer X-Axis (for example controlling the octave)
  • Accelerometer Y-Axis (for example controlling an effect)
  • 6 analog strings giving around 10 bits of resolution
  • External input: 1 analog, 1 digital
  • 4 positions switch
  • 8 buttons
  • 4 pots
  • 1 piezo with velocity filter (for example trigging any sound)
  • 1 ir distance sensor (+-6cm – +-20cm)
  • 1 unuseful led (for tapping the bpm)
  • Pressure-sensitive tablet
  • Foot controller (using a led & a photoresistor)
  • Foot switch (looper, change sound, …)
• Software features:
  • No driver (firmware & bootloader)
  • Linux, Windows, Mac
  • Pure Data poweful DSP (sample, soundfont, fx rack, multiple looper)
  • Gimp for 2d (drawing, painting, photo, …)
  • Gesture tracking on the tablet (linux only)

# 8 Track Walkman-Pod thing (Retro-tech)

Instructables user XenonJohn writes:

This is an admittedly mad project to see what might have happened if Sony had invented the Walkman earlier than they did – and made it so it took 8 track tape cartridges (which came before cassette tapes were invented).

In other words, can I make a personal 8 track player with just headphones in the style of a Walkman?

… read more

Some interesting things I found recently:

# Toms Essay – Measure for Measure

Suzanne Vega writes:

In my last blog, I was discussing the idea of being a two-hit wonder, and wrote about the song “Luka.” The other hit AOL cited in its story (called “Two-Hit Wonders”) was “Tom’s Diner,” which was a hit for me in 1990. This wasn’t just a plain ordinary hit, if there is such a thing. To this day it is sticky with the modern issues of technology and copyright law.

What a lovely read. In the article Suzanne also mentions the Luka cover by the Lemonheads, one of my favorite covers of a Vega song ever. Nice to read that she liked it too, I wonder if Evan knows. (link via Synthtopia)

# 2 Addictive Drums Presets For You – Audio Geek Zine has uploaded 2 presets for Addictive Drum.

# ThinkGeek :: Electronic Drum Kit Shirt

We could do what those other supposedly geeky apparel companies do and print a regular t-shirt with a cool looking picture of a drum kit on the front… then say it was trendy, make a few Rock Band references and try to convince you to buy it. But we don't roll like that. At ThinkGeek we know you expect innovative new products and we're here to pony up the goods. So, how about an electronic t-shirt with a picture of an actual playable drum kit on the front? That's right. Hit the drums on this shirt with your finger and they play through the built in speaker… simple but amazing. With 7 different drum sounds you're ready for a personal drum solo on your chest.

Some interesting things I bookmarked on del.icio.us on February 20th, 2008:

• 5 Reflection Reducing Products
  

  Problem: Your recording room is too large or not properly treated for vocals, you need some way of reducing the room sound before it hits the mic.

  Audio Geek Zine lists a few devices to help isolate the room from the mic.
   

• The Amazing Staircase – Combines a staircase with bookshelves, clever!
• limpfish.com – Beautiful art including portraits of Simpsons characters painted in the style of Rembrandt
• Guitar Effects Schematics & Projects – Muzique.com’s resources for building your own guitar effects.