SOUND ON SOUND

[Martin Walker]

Well this is most certainly different an innovative:

"::vtol:: volnovod

Two stepper motors constantly turn and intertwine the wire, moulding different types of waves. Motors operate in accordance with the random numbers-based program and randomly change the direction. Still they rotate within the preset number of steps range to prevent the wire from over-intertwining. The camera shoots a wire in front of a black background, which makes possible to achieve the highest picture contrast. Nine wave pictures are saved. Later they can be updated in automatic mode or refiled manually in semi-automatic mode or manual mode. These nine shots then morph into graphic tables with resolution of 270 x 240 points. The tables are the base to control sound synthesis options. The program can generate parameters in any suitable format: MIDI, OSC, CV. It allows to use it freely as within the system as with external devices. "




Martin

[Martin Walker]

Now recording doesn't get much more innovative than this! ;)

"As music technology advances, a growing number of artists are exploring what it means to go “off the grid” and making their own transgressive Frankenstein instruments. Far outside DAW quantization and the digital realm, sound artist Graham Dunning uncovers what the unpredictability of the physical world can do for dance music with his sound experiments. Perhaps his most well-known is the Mechanical Techno Project, which uses turntables as the basis for towering contraptions that make techno music with no human involvement. They spin multiple records on the same axis and use nuts and bolts to trigger external effects, elevated planes to create rhythmic patterns and metal-plated locked grooves produce unpredictable noise. The setups are clumsy, inaccurate and prone to error—in other words, they’re not computer perfect. And that’s entirely the point."

Behold Graham Dunning's MECHANICAL TECHNO DEMONSTRATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl1ZrEza7uY

Keep watching - it just gets better and better :thumbup:


Martin

[Martin Walker]

Now I've never personally considered using floppy disks as sound sources, but having heard what's possible in this video demonstration I'm going to dig out my PC parts box ;)

Behold: Star Wars - Imperial March on Eight Floppy Drives



Click here to engage the floppies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM_sAxrAu7Q


Martin

[Luke W]

Now I've never personally considered using floppy disks as sound sources, but having heard what's possible in this video demonstration I'm going to dig out my PC parts box ;)

Behold: Star Wars - Imperial March on Eight Floppy Drives



Click here to engage the floppies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM_sAxrAu7Q


Martin

Similar thing here with a few hard drives for good measure...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwuCQ3u2N_A

[Martin Walker]

Similar thing here with a few hard drives for good measure...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwuCQ3u2N_A

Oh wow - thanks for that link Link - that's an insane setup :headbang:



The floppotron indeed! :bouncy:


Martin

[Martin Walker]

Now I'm sure this video quite qualifies for its innovative sounds, but it most certainly does for their method of manufacture.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Tim Linhart's Ice Instruments



"Tim Linhart was an ice sculptor in Colorado. One day he carved an upright string bass from ice and was astonished at the beautiful sound it made. Now he is the founder of Ice Music, based in Luleå, Swedish Lapland. Ice Music presents a winter concert series in a variety of music styles, all played on instruments made of ice and performed in a specially designed igloo."

Now watch the video of them in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7iLFA2t8WQ

Not exactly chill-out music, not not far off :beamup:


Martin

[Martin Walker]

Magnetic Movie

"Filmmakers Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt (as Semiconductor) wondered what magnetic fields might look like, and they set out to animate their spirited dance. Their short film “Magnetic Movie” was filmed at the NASA Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley. VLF (very low frequency) recordings are paired with audio of space scientists discussing their findings about planetary and solar magnetic fields."

"But the visual portion of the film is what makes it so remarkable. The whistles, pops and various noises captured by the VLF recordings are animated with a sense of humor. The pictures bring to life perfectly the fields described by the scientists, and the shapes twist and dance in sync with the VLF recordings. Altogether, it’s a surreal 4.5 minutes watching something that the human eye wouldn’t normally be able to detect."



An inspiring combination of VLF and video animation techniques! 8-)


Martin

[Martin Walker]

Until I Die uses blood-filled batteries to generate an electrical current.

Well, I've featured Russian artist Dmitry Morozov aka ::vtol:: in this thread before, but this time he has created a sound installation powered entirely by his own blood! :shock:

"Until I Die, which was shown at the Kapelica gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia, last December, uses blood-filled “batteries” that power a small algorithmic synth module, which plays a sound through a small speaker.

It took 18 months for Morozov to collect all 4.5 liters (almost eight pints) of the blood necessary to power the installation, which went through a preservation process and was diluted to seven liters. When brought into contact with the aluminum and copper in the battery, the electrolytes in the blood generate a small electrical current."



What some musicians will do during their pursuit of art! ;)


Martin

[Martin Walker]

Not sure how I feel about this one. Neil Mendoza's 'Rock Band' (using real rocks) is nicely done, but rather more of a contrived gimmick to me than true innovation.

Nevertheless, it's well worth a view:




Martin

[Martin Walker]

"In his native Guatemala, interactive artist Balam Soto is a “Maestro" of Visual Arts, thanks to an honor by his country’s National Congress. Like a cyberpunk from a William Gibson novel, Soto blends low and high tech to create interactive art installations, for his own studio and Open Wire Lab, both located in Hartford, Connecticut.

Using software, touch sensors, plexiglass tubes, projections and sound, Soto’s latest, Exp.Inst.Rain, blurs artistic boundaries. He describes it as both an interactive installation and “experimental instrument.”




Martin

[Martin Walker]

I always love new instruments, especially when they are as novel as this one, built by makers Stephanie McCarty and Andrew Siu and described as a 'Tone Garden'

"A stand-alone Interactive Musical Device that produces tones and loops. Made using Arduino Boards, Wave Shields, IR Sensors and Servo Motors, sound can be manipulated by physically moving and controlling certain elements of the device.
IR sensors detect the distances of propeller blades triggering a corresponding tone to emit from the device.
Rotations of the propellers are controlled by 2 potentiometers (silver knobs) at the front of the device which alter the tempo of the resulting tones."




Martin

[Martin Walker]

Some installations can make stunning use of sound, while others fall at the first fence. This is most definitely one of the former! :thumbup:

Travelon Gamelon - Promenade

Originally performed in 2011, Professor Richard Lerman’s Travelon Gamelon is a unique musical experience falling somewhere between a concert, a flash mob, and a bicycle race. A group of cyclists rig their bicycles up with audio electronics and then ride together through the streets of Amsterdam. The sounds produced by the natural resonances and rhythmic qualities of the bicycle creates a musical effect surprisingly similar to a traditional Balinese gamelan.



Now this is fun with a capital F, but also thought-provoking AND musical ;)


Martin

[Martin Walker]

Raven Kwok's new music video for Karma Fields is what happens when Artificial Intelligence meets tessellations



"Through Kwok’s visual productions—the artist is best-known for what he calls ‘code-driven creatures’—Fields has been able to develop an artistic persona, a narrative of being a form of artificial intelligence progressively becoming self-aware.

The visuals were inspired by mathematical model, the Voronoi tessellation, which Kwok describes as being at the heart of the video's generative visual patterns."

Intrigued? then watch the video right now ;)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTzbax2daKs


Martin

[Martin Walker]

I do love mechanical sequencers, and here's a corker from Benny Hofer

Ladies and gentlemen, behold Bam Bam



And now listen to it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4kieFpukeE

Lovely work Benny! 8-)


Martin

[Martin Walker]

As some of you may have noticed, I do love mechanical music, so here's another chance to enjoy Sonic Robots with their Tripods One - Teaser:



The best use of scrap metal ever! ;)


Martin