I found this cool looking and bizarre baby head circuit bent-synth for sale on Ebay...Hurry there's only 3 hours left! Go HERE for more info.
Until Next time... Over N Out
RED
Last Saturday, March 20th, after the Austin Handmade Music workshop I was lucky enough to catch performances of two cool experimental electronic groups at the Salvage Vanguard Theater: Loud Objects & Bodytronix.
Loud Objects is a duo from New York who in real time create 1-bit noise circuits on a glass plate on top of an overhead projector. It starts out silent, obviously, and then as the circuit gets built and they play around with connections you can hear the noise change. Its loud and noisey and I wouldn't call it musical, but it was definitely interesting to watch and hear. It was probably one of the most unique art sound performances I've seen. Below is a picture of Loud Objects creating the circuit, you can see the two guys below huddled over the overhead projector.
Here's a another picture of the progression of the circuit during the performance.
You can see more pictures of the circuit on my Flickr page if you're interested.
The second group I got to see was Bodytronix which is an Austin duo made up of Eric Archer and Erich Ragsdale who do live electronic jams with a couple tables overflowing with odd handmade electronic instruments and retro gear. The philosophy behind Bodytronix, jamming with homemade gear & retro gear, isn't new but what is so appealing about this group is the musicality of their jams. They are able to take this mish-mash of oddball gear and make music that is refreshing but has a musical sensibility about it. They walk the line between experimental and popular music with a mad scientist edge about them. The prize piece of gear at the show was Eric Archer's new vocal synthesizer which he had singing in english throughout the performance. The heart of Bodytronix is the spontenaity of their live performance, but their recordings stand up as well, so I suggest checking them out on MySpace if you get a chance. Below is a pic I took of the group jammin' out.
Until next time... Over N Out
RED
On Saturday, March 20th, I went to the 6th Austin Handmade Music workshop at the Salvage Vanguard Theater in Austin. This month we were able to choose a kit from all of the previous kits that were offered. I was sick for last month's workshop so this worked out great for me. I chose the kit they made last month, the Space Baby, designed by Nathan Wooster of Wooster Audio. The Space Baby is a delay box with controls for delay, ring modulation, delay modulation, feedback and mix. It has a nice mellow echo-ey sound and the ring modulation and delay modulation make it sound even trippier. This was the most difficult kit in the work shop series, mostly because it was hard to read the resistor color codes on the myriad of blue resistors on the kit... good thing Nathan was there with a meter so I could test them. However once I got past that it was pretty easy. Nathan was nice enough to offer advice and double check solder joints while I put it togethor. Where else can you go to build a kit and have the engineer actually keep an eye on you while you put it togethor? Pretty cool if you ask me. Below is a video demo Nathan made showing off what the Space Baby can do.
I think this kit is my favorite yet of the Austin Handmade series and I've already spent hours playing with it. If you want to build your own Space Baby you can order kits HERE.
There was another kit available that I haven't made yet because it is new. It was Eric Archer's "Tune in Tokyo" LFO noise maker which sounds like endless tuning for an AM station that doesn't exist. It sounds pretty bitchin'. You can check it out HERE.
For more information about the Austin Handmade Music workshop series go HERE.
-Over N Out - Til next time :)
RED
The Nebulophone!
On Sunday, January 18th, I attended the 4th Austin Handmade Music workshop at the Salvage Vanguard Theater in Austin, put on by the Church of the Friendly Ghost. For this workshop we made a little synth called the Nebulophone, created by John Michael (Dr. Bleep) from Bleep Labs. The Nebulophone is a little bit like the Stylophone in that it has a little metal keyboard that you run a stylus type device on… its an alligator clip on the Nebulophone. This arduino based synth features an arpeggiator, an LFO that modulates an analog filter, as well as a waveform generator, which allows you to choose between: saw, square, triangle & noise wave forms. The arpeggiator can be clocked over IR and can hook up with the other devices we have made in previous workshops:
Below is a sample of what the Nebulophone sounds like
Nebulophone demo by redfaux
This little guy sound great and is really fun to play with. I think this is my favorite kit we've done in the series so far! The next workshop is on February 28th at the Salvage Vanguard Theater in Austin TX. For more information or to sign up for the next workshop go HERE
-til next time…. Over N Out
RED
On Sunday, December 20th, I went to the third Austin Handmade Workshop at the Salvage Vanguard Theater put on by the Church of the Friendly Ghost. We were originally scheduled to build a Nebulophone Synth designed by John Michael of Bleep Labs at this workshop. Due to the release of his new Thingamagoop 2 for Christmas, the Nebulophone project was postponed until January. Instead, we made a drum machine... a different version of the one we made previously in the first workshop.
Andromeda Space Rocker mk-4 is the official title of this new Eric Archer creation. This drum machine produces an analog bass kick with adjustable tuning & decay as well as a primitive loop sequencer. As with all of the Andromeda Space Rocker line it syncs up with the other models via infrared. The drum box also has a filter that is controlled by a photo cell. This is why you see footage in the videos of people waving flash lights at these things. ;-) The drum machine also has the option to be triggered externally instead of using the onboard sequencer. This can be done via a jumper on the circuit board.
One thing I also want to mention is that if you want to run your drum machine off of a midi clock, as I do, there is a MIDI-IR synch box available from www.woosteraudio.com. You can buy a completed box or if you like to solder you can buy the kit as well.
Aside from getting to make these cool kits in the presence of their creators: Eric Archer, Dann Green (4MS Pedals) and John Michael (Bleep Labs) the workshops are an excellent opportunity to meet other amazingly creative electronic musicians and artists. At this workshop Chris Palmer who was nice enough to show off his Monome controller in an Etch-A-Sketch case… yes it is as cool as it looks. I also got to see Shawn of Lustigovi perform some very interesting music with some bizarre homemade gadgets made with wood, bells, springs, rubberbands and contact microphones. So once again the Austin Handmade Music workshop delivers the goods: awesome new electronic instruments and insteresting people.
Until next time... over N out
- Red
On November 15th, was the second Austin Handmade Music workshop at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre in Austin, which I attended and had a great time at. Sadly I must admit I was pretty busy in November so I didn't do a post on it. We made these incredibly cool autonomous bassline generators that were made to synch up with the drum machines we made in October. The bassline generator was designed by 4MS Pedals. You can buy the kits online so chek it yo.
Next is workshop #3 which I will be attending on Sunday and I promise I'll be more forth coming on the post for that one :) However in anticipation for workshop number #3 here is a short video that I made from footage I took of the last workshop.
If you're in the Austin area and interested in attending future workshops the info is: HERE
Enjoy... until next time...
Over-N-Out
- Red
It's that time of year where most people are scrambling to figure out the perfect gift to buy for everyone on their christmas list... well what about that geeky electronic music loving person on your list... what to get them? All you ever hear from them is bizarre talk about oscillators, circuit bending, drum machines and keyboards... holy crowballs what to get for them?
Well you're in luck ;-) I'm about to tell you. Here is my list of 10 cool and geeky electronic music things under $60 to get that electronic musician on your christmas list. There's only a few shopping days left if you are ordering online so here you go... just in time!
1. The Bliptronic 5000 LED Synthesizer ($49.99)
This item is extremely popular this year and I almost didn't mention it because everyone else has. However, for $50 this is a great synth toy that with a little effecting and perhaps even hacking could be a very useable part of an electronic musician's setup. Not to mention it has cool red lights... everyone likes red LEDS :) At ThinkGeek.com
2. Andromeda Space Rocker DIY Drum Machine Kit ($50)
Perfectly suitable for beginner DIY'ers this cool little drum machine kit is easy to make and fun to play with. See my previous post on these from October. At EricArcher.net
3. Autonomous Bassline Generator Kit ($55)
This is also a suitable DIY synth kit for beginners. It is a bassline synthesizer that is part of the same line as the Andromeda Spacer Rocker Drum machine I listed above. You can synch this bassline synth with the drum machine to create cool music :) At 4MSPedals
4. Stylophone Beatbox ($25)
Made famous by the Brett Domino Trio viral video this is a must have for any retro electronic musician worth his salt :) At 100miligrams.com
5. Sound Machine ($15)
Whether you just want to annoy people, add silly sounds on the fly to your performance or are looking for something interesting to circuit bend, the Sound Machine is perfect. Comes with 16 "cartoonish" sound effects. At urbanoutfitters.com
6. "Let's Get Keytarded" T-Shirt ($14)
Sometimes you just wanna let loose and "get Keytarded", this is what you wear when you do that ;-) Another perfect gift for the electronic musician in love with all things "retro". On Ebay
7. Retro Cassette Wallet ($43)
More retro cool than an 8-Track and not as heavy ;-) these handmade cassette wallets are super cool! At DesignBoom
8. 555 Noisemusick Kit ($20)
Another easy beginner DIY synth kit, this awesome little noisy synth will have you toying with it for hours. I know I want one :) At MakerShed.com
9. UCreate Music Toy ($30)
This mysteriously showed up on Amazon.com one day and I am intrigued. Its a sequencer toy basically. Which allows you to create your own beats and music. This would be perfect for someone who loves synth toys or a nice inexpensive gift for a beginner. At Amazon.com
10. Waveforms Mug ($15)
Any seasoned electronic musician has seen these waveforms plenty of times... and would love to proudly display them when drinking coffee!
Happy Shopping...
Until next time... Over N Out
- Red
The second workshop started around 7:30 PM. After a brief break we all sat back at our work tables and the parts and documentation were passed out for the second project, the one we all were waiting for the “Andromeda Space Rocker” drum machines.
Don’t let the size of these little guys fool you, they are seriously cool. There are 2 photo-cells up at the top that effect tone. Shine a light at different intervals on these while the machine is running and you get a cool filter like effect. The thumb dial down at the bottom left effects tempo. The dip switches to the left control the rhythm and are a simple pattern generator. There is an LED, in the case of mine, RED, (you know… for REDFAUX…jeez) that is hooked to the tempo. It also highly increases the sex appeal of these little beasts… I mean who doesn’t like colored blinky lights? On the bottom side there is a infrared led that allows you to synch up with up to 4 of these guys to create a full drum pattern. There are 4 basic flavors of the machine:
- Hi
- Mid-hi
- Low-mid
- Low
So if you have one of each going you can get a pretty full sounding pattern going. The version I made on Sunday was the Low-mid.
The switch up above the thumb dial allows you to set your machine to synch and follow any others it is chained with. The button gives you a drum fill.
There is also an empty circuit matrix, called the “personality center” that allows you to add mods to the machine. Eric promised he would post some projects for this in the future.
Putting this together was more involved than the beginners project, but still fairly easy. You just have to make sure you are connecting the right parts to the board basically and that your solder joints don’t touch each other.
This is another project I want to make more of. Guys please make these kits available for sale. I will buy them… pretty please J
Here is a picture of my Andromeda Space Rocker along with some samples…
Lastly I want to say that this workshop was fantastic guys! Thanks again. This has taken away my apprehension in getting into building synth kits. The guys were helpful and friendly. I am looking forward to enhancing my new music with these great little instruments. I will definitely attend future workshops.
- Over N Out til' next time
On Sunday, October 18th I was lucky enough to attend the DIY Synthesizer workshop in Austin at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre presented by the Church of the Friendly Ghost, Eric Archer, Bleep Labs & 4MS Pedals. They gave two workshops: a beginner’s workshop where attendees built a simple push button drum machine which Eric had named “Mini Space Rockers”, and the advanced workshop where attendees built one of Eric Archer’s “Andromeda Space Rocket” drum machines. I sat in on both.
I got there a little early so I could check the place out and offer any help setting up if needed. I met Eric and the rest of the guys and helped them set up. When we were ready they put a graphic of the circuit board on the overhead handed us all the parts we needed and we were off like soldering monkeys. The kits we did in this first class came together in about an hour. Everyone had different combination of capacitors so all of the little machines sounded different. After all the soldering was done the room was alive with bleeps, bloops and the occasional screaming “Space Hawk”. Eric also showed us how we can change the sound of our Rocker by putting different capacitors on the board. You should check out Eric’s site he has some samples of the Mini Space Rockers and a short video showing one in action.
www.ericarcher.net/devices/mini-space-rockers
Here is a picture of the one I made.
The sound it makes is called “Spin Back” and here’s some samples. The sounds start to morph as I start pressing on the electronics, which probably isn't what you're supposed to do with them but it sounds cool.
I really want to make a few more of these little guys. I like the way they sound and look. I’m hoping he’ll have kits or at least printed circuit boards available for sale soon on his site. If you want to hear what the different types sound like, Eric has posted a bunch of samples on his site.
Next up I’ll have a review of the advanced workshop and show you the awesome drum machine I made along with some samples. J
p.s. Special thanks to the Church of the Friendly Ghost, Bleep Labs, Eric Archer & 4MS pedals who made this possible. This workshop was really fun guys!
They will be doing another workshop in November, December & January. See http://handmademusic.noisepages.com/2009/10/introducing-handmade-music-austin/ for more information.
- Over N Out
