Created by Sebastian Trump, Orphion is a musical instrument in-between string and percussion. Aim is to create easy or virtuosic melodies just by moving fingers on virtual pads. Included are a several layouts and depending on the surface area of your touch, the sound is softer or on the contrary with more attack. Here is what is included:

• Different articulations from soft to plucked to hardly slapped
• Natural interaction
• Extend your ways of expression as a percussionist, guitarist, pianist or other musician
• 9 transposable pad-layouts with different tonalities from easy to complex (Five, Bluesscale, Pentawheel, Piano, Guitar Strings, 5ths circle, 3rd Matrix, Bassdrums, Waterdrops)
• 8 individual voices for 8 fingers (4 on iPad 1)

Continue reading.... Orphion – Musical instrument for iPad [iPad, Sound]

Karl Bartos (electronic musician, ex-Kraftwerk, co-composer of songs like The Robots, The Model, Computer World,…) and Masayuki Akamatsu (media artist and author of various iPhone apps) created a 16 step music sequencer now available for free on the AppStore. Created in support of Red Cross site, the app was presented in the form of installation in Kyoto comprising 35 iPads and inviting guests to download the app to the iPhone and use the room as an instrument

Continue reading.... Mini-Composer [iPad, iPhone, Sound]

The Product, a Berlin-based design studio with a focus on objects, space and interaction, was commissioned by Volkswagen to develop a set of visuals for an interactive musical performance for the premiere of the New Beetle at the 2011 IAA motor show (September 15-25, 2011, Frankfurt am Main). What the client got instead was Soundmachines – a custom-built instrument for performing electronic music by DJing visual patterns on record-sized discs. Honk for ingenuity

Continue reading.... Soundmachines [Arduino, Processing, Objects]

WaveShaper by Damien Di Fede is an audio synthesis app that lets you control a sound wave on an iPad. Use two fingers to control four parameters in real-time shaping and deforming included 20 audio files or  add your own audio files using the Documents folder in iTunes. There are also 8 preset slots for storing control point positions, touch-and-slide on the presets to scrub between them and you can share your recordings on SoundCloud from within the app.

Continue reading.... WaveShaper [iPad, openFrameworks, Sound]

[Photo: Anne Helmond]

Crackle-canvas is an ongoing electronics project of the Netherlands-based media artist Tom Verbruggen (aka token). This endeavour playfully challenges the conventions of artistic consumption by reimagining gallery space as an interactive musical playground rather than an arena of sullen observation. Each Crackle-canvasis a modular ‘synthesizer painting’ equipped with switches and knobs that allow rudimentary control over the sound generated by the device. While these objects can be played individually, things get considerably more interesting when they are patched together into a collaborative cacaphony. Verbruggen has developed several iterations of these devices that range from stark white minimalist surfaces to more colourful, user-friendly controllers complete with graphic prompts for novice operators. While there is an abundance of video documentation of the artist performing on arrays of these controllers, the work is most interesting when there is are participants involved – the above image from a recent exhibit in Paris speaks to the type of engagement these objects engender.

Continue reading.... Crackle Canvas [Environment, Sound]

A few months ago, Marc Tiedemann got asked to come up with an animations for the upcoming documentary ”DAIKU | 10000 Japaner singen Beethovens Neunte” to be aired 31.12.2011 15:20 on ARTE. They required a main title and graphics within the movie. Friedemann Hottenbacher, the director of the piece, showed him the work of Malinowski which turned out to be the key inspiration for the graphics.

Thinking of Japan and Osaka, big cities as well as tradition came to mind. So the result should in a way resemble both while still keeping the aesthetics of a notational system. So I started to program my very own Music Machine based on a simple FFT analysis via processing and played around with shapes and the depth in 3D space.

Continue reading.... Daiku [Processing, Sound]

In collaboration with Rump-Recordings, Futura Epsis 1 (the collective behind GRID) have just released QDD, an iPhone game and music promo for Quasi Dub Development’s newest LP “Limousine to the Guillotine”.

The app combines game mechanics with unlockable tracks featuring remixes from artists like Thomas Knak aka Opiate, Jason Forrest , Kim Hiorthøy, Guido Möbius and Loopspool (Tied + Tickled Trio). Task in the game is to destroy enemy cells by firing particles from your own cells. As you fire the particles your cells reduce in size which can then be merged by applying multitouch to the screen. Each enemy cells has a lifeline and they also fire back. As you complete the level, next level and remix unlock.

Made with Objective-C and OpenCL. Effects made in After Effects.

More screenshots and demo video below.

Continue reading.... QDD [iPhone, Sound, Games]

‘Ground’ is the new audiovisual installation by Ryoichi Kurokawa. Full screen recommended.

2011, 3 HD displays | 3.1ch multi sound, Duration: 12’00″ Loop.

Continue reading.... Ground [MaxMSP, Sound]

The video below, created by Lasal, shows a short part of a new installation which explores the relationship between 2 Harmonic waves in different graphical/musical ways. The piece includes 98 pair of points trigger notes depending on the collision position in the Y axis and panning depends on the X position. The phase and velocity of booth waves are synchronised to collide in a harmonic chord.

Continue reading.... Harmophon [vvvv, Sound]

Designed by Katharina Hölzl, the following are very special business cards for Ritornell, experimental music duo. The cards were inspired by the project’s live show where Ritornell invited the audience to bring along their private musicboxes. With the aid of laser cutter, nine micro compositions consisting of circles, triangles and Ritornell’s contact information were cut onto a long musicbox paper stripe.

Continue reading.... Ritornell for Musicbox [Objects, Sound]