Thursday, August 2, 2012

A LEGO Step Sequencer, Made with a Camera and Code



There’s something about that feeling of snapping a LEGO brick in place, a tactile connection to childhood memory. So, while it’s perhaps neither necessary nor terribly practical, this rig that turns a LEGO board into a step sequencer is somehow irresistible. And, like any good hack, it’s a chance to learn and discover – one that, thanks to freely-available code, is shared.
The ingredients: a camera, Ableton Live, and some code for analyzing the camera image and translating those events into MIDI messages Live can turn into sound. It’s the work of Bonn, Germany-based artist/creative coder superquadratic.

Made at ADVANCE HACKATHON 2012 in Cologne using a webcam, Python, OpenCV, OSC, MIDI and Ableton Live.

Source Code: github.com/superquadratic/beat-bricks
ADVANCE HACKATHON: hackathon.advance-conference.com
Thanks to Alexander Joscht for the tip!

LEGO bricks have certainly attracted hackers before. A selection of the many LEGO appearances we’ve seen previously:
Brilliant LEGO Mindstorms Drum Machine, NXT-606 – New Video
A LEGO Sequencer, Imaginary Electronic Antiques, and Other Yoshi Akai Creations
LEGO Christmas Tree Plays Carols, Courtesy Max/MSP, Custom Electronics
DIY monome Case from LEGOs, Live Performance in a Bathroom
And, most recently, of course, LEGOs even made a CD case.

Check it out in action:


Original post by Peter Kirnon on create digital music.

Monday, April 2, 2012

We are Marshall

Often brands are told to stay close to what they are known for, but there are indeed some exceptions to that rule, especially when the core values and products are not impacted or partially ignored. Marshall refrigerators on the other hand almost falls in the category of a match made in heaven, or at the very least, a somewhat clever licensing deal.



via Guerrilla Marketing defined: We are Marshall: Often brands are told to stay close to what they are known for, but there are indeed some exceptions to that rule, especially when the core ...

Thursday, March 22, 2012

We love music, we love to fuck.

He/She just arrived. Everything is perfect: you cleaned your room, you took a shower, maybe you opened a bottle of good wine, you now just need the perfect music!
Fuckmusic has the right songs to make this moment more perfect!



Thanks to papodehomem from Brazil for this wonderful idea.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Fighting cats: the power of sound design

Choosing the right Sound design and Soundtrack for your movie can make the difference!



Sound Editor: ignoramusky
http://www.youtube.com/user/ignoramusky

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Dj from the top: Carl Cox

I was always curious to take a look over the shoulder of a big DJ to watch what is doing exactly... I've got it now. Almost one hour of Carl Cox "from the top". Enjoy.



Thanks to djsounds.com

Monday, January 30, 2012

Like a Wheel Within a Wheel: Beautiful Optical Turntables Generate Spinning Rhythms

Like a Wheel Within a Wheel: Beautiful Optical Turntables Generate Spinning Rhythms:

Music is deeply tied up with motion; seeing that in a machine is somehow satisfying. Soundmachines, from the enigmatically-titled Berlin studio TheProduct*, is an interactive physical installation made from optical turntables. By moving the “tone arm” – really in this case an optical sensor attached to an extended mount – you can change rhythms and sound sweeps.

We’ve naturally seen many visualizations, tangible and digital, that make loops into wheels. But it’s worth noting the particular connection to a kinetic experiment by The Books’ Nick Zammuto from the film earlier this week. In fact, my one criticism of this piece is that the rhythms are so regular. Some syncopation in a machine like this would be not only pleasing, but immediately visible to the eye and therefore understandable. Perhaps even decoupling the wheels from the motor could allow a user to experiment with sound. That doesn’t mean you have to go from minimal techno to irregular chaos, but there’s quite a lot in between.

That’s not to take away from the impact of this piece, and in particular, the beauty of its installation. The presentation in an iconic object is a message in itself. And the circle remains the ideal design for a looped rhythm, embedded as it is in the repetition we perceive in our world.

http://www.the-product.org/soundmachines





More details:

Three units, which are resembling standard record players, translate concentric visual patterns into control signals for further processing in any music software. The rotation of the discs, each holding three tracks, can be synced to a sequencer.

The Soundmachines premiered on the Volkswagen New Beetle stand at the IAA motor show in late Summer 2011. In cooperation with the sounddesigner/producer Yannick Labbé of TRICKSKI fame, we developed three unique discs, each controlling one track of an Ableton Live Set exclusively made for the Event. The show was supported by a set of realtime generated visuals, running on a 25m wide LED wall.


One/One oneone-studio.com
TheProduct* the-product.org

Client

Volkswagen

Agency

Vok Dams, Hamburg

Sounddesign/Producer IA
Yannick Labbé yannicklabbe.com

Special Thanks

Matt Karau
 matt.karau.com
Andreas Schmelas invertednothing.com

(See also a compelling-looking visual collage. It’s supposed to be set to John Cage’s “First Interlude,” but because of copyright concerns, is instead (arguably) set to Cage’s 4’33″. Let’s hope they don’t get sued for that.)

Original Post by createdigitalmusic.

Lidl Advertisment with Vivaldi

Surprising choice for a lidl advertisement: Vivaldi. The discounter tries to look classy!