Hack Your Holga: Get Quality Pics From Cheap, Chinese Plastic - Lens blur, color distortion, harsh vignetting in the corners -- all things the inexpensive, plastic Holga camera is famous for. Learn some tips for modifying these cheap film cameras to produce some brilliant, artistic pictures.
What's Goin' Down at Maker Faire - Maker Faire, the largest festival for DIYers, runs this weekend with more than 600 exhibits. 80,000 people are expected to attend.
Handcrafted CPU Is a Beautiful Mess of Wires - An exhibit at DIY festival Maker Faire is sure to attract some geek attention: Steve Chamberlin will show his homebrewed 8-bit CPU and computer that took 18 months, about $1,000 and 1,253 pieces of wire to create.
Shouting at Robots for Art's Sake - Two experimental robots draw pictures as they respond to sounds they hear and the shadows they encounter.
DIY Freaks Flock to 'Hacker Spaces' Worldwide - Around the world, geeks have banded together to create nearly 100 "hacker spaces" where they can share tools and information, and work on projects collaboratively.
It was like a low-stakes X Prize for music as musicians, inventors and hobbyists competed against each other in the first annual Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech for cash prizes of $10,000.
More than 60 people applied, and 25 were chosen to show off a stunning variety of musical instruments of their own devising.
The judges — Harmonix co-founder Eran Egozy, Georgia Tech professor Parag Chordia and Wired.com's Eliot Van Buskirk — had to evaluate a diverse field of worthy competitors. Meet the contestants and judge the instruments for yourself.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Jaime Oliver's Silent Drum uses a technique somewhat akin to shadow puppetry to create stunning and engaging music.
As his fingers press the flexible drum head, it forms black shapes in front of a white background. Those get picked up by a video camera and piped to a laptop where Max/MSP software turns the shapes into sound in real time.
The patches are pre-programmed, but Oliver's analog, light-based interface offers a surprisingly expressive range and precision. The judges were impressed; Silent Drum took home the $5,000 first prize.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Second-place Eric Singer's GuitarBot performs guitar parts for Lemur (League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots), but it's also capable of surprisingly complex solo compositions.
A single electric-powered fret slides up and down each string, while four-sided rotating picks pluck the strings. The instrument's distinctive sound comes partly from the frets that arrive just in time to play some notes, giving transitions a slightly pitch-bent quality.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Berkeley University professor, electronic music veteran and third-place winner David Wessel performs on the Slabs.
Like many of the instruments at the Guthman Competition, Slabs is an interface for the Max/MSP audio program. Interlink VersaPad touch pads allow for a level of expression not found on most electronic instruments; each pad tracks X and Y coordinates and fingertip pressure levels.
A homegrown ethernet audio driver transmits this torrent of data to a Linux PowerPC Mac, which assembles it directly into sound. Wessel says the high-bandwidth approach is "the future" when it comes to ultra-expressive electronic instruments because it allows so much performance data to be captured.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Finalist Neil Feather's Vibro Wheels rotate vibrating pellets and batteries at varying speeds, from glacial to dizzying. The wheels whip past guitar pickups with the help of a modified drill. This generates harmonic drones that move in and out of phase with each other, based on each wheel's ever-slowing rotation and the remaining juice in the batteries.
The sonic inspiration for this instrument came from the sound of a motorcycle engine, and a motorcycle's limited cargo room inspired its size (Feather needed to make Vibro Wheels small enough to carry on his motorbike).
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Jan Perschy's SGSX-H 750 is just what it looks like: a motorcycle engine with a keyboard attached.
As the teeth of the engine's gears travel at varying speeds past pick-ups that normally detect piston position, they generate tones that can be controlled with a keyboard. The third component, pictured to the left of the keyboard in the photo, is the voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA) that makes up for relative discrepancies in volume.
Perschy said his goal was to play the gears in a motor the same way that a Hammond organ plays its spinning tone wheels. The VCA module wasn't working when we made the recording below, an apparent victim of rough travel, but this was still a fascinating display.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Before Hye Ki Min can play her Sorisu, she must solve a game of Sudoku using wooden blocks.
Each block has contacts on the bottom edge that lead to an inner resistor. The resistors correspond to various digits, so the board knows which plays she has made and adjusts the music. Successful gameplay adds pleasing layers of melody, while a misplayed block triggers jarring dissonance.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Finalist Arvid Tomayko-Peters' The Toob is like a trumpet on acid. It tracks the air pressure generated by the player's mouth, while six buttons control and manipulate homegrown software on a computer.
Tomayko-Peters coaxes some otherworldly sounds out of the instrument, embellished by his polished stage performance and a synchronized video.
Some of the finest moments of Tomayko-Peters' performance involved adding live vocal samples in real time with the microphone. But sadly our audio sample below does not capture these.
Audio courtesy Arvid Tomayko-Peters: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Finalist Skot Wiedmann's untitled instrument houses discrete modular synthesizer circuit boards connected by a neural network of wires in a star-shaped interface. It has oodles of knobs for sound-tweaking.
The instrument's somewhat unpredictable nature is mitigated somewhat by performance controls: Rotating dials and blue touchpads shape and add elements to the sound, from theremin-like whines to shuffling beats. Imagine this magnificent contraption providing live accompaniment to a silent science-fi film screening.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Craig Hanson and Mike Gao built the Lumi consoles for mixing and remixing music on the fly. In their demonstration, Gao recorded a piano riff and was able to chop it up into a 16-step sequence, reconfigure it and match it to a beatboxing sample he also recorded live.
These multiapplication consoles can be networked, so one player can light up buttons on the other's board. The teams says this helps keep both players on time and in the same key, and it can facilitate teaching. With some refinement, the Lumi could come soon to a DJ table near you.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Kathrin Stumreich's fashion background inspired the Fabric Machine, a loop-based instrument that runs fabric at controllable speeds through lasers that react to thread count, thickness and seams.
She designed them to be played as a pair, with one machine focused on drums and the other on bass. To select a new sound, the operator slides the laser to another spot in the loop, so it picks up the next strip of fabric in the loop.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Langdon Crawford put much more into these handheld Air Guitar MIDI controllers than meets the eye. The lead guitar controllers offer a full range of notes for spontaneous shredding, while the identical-looking rhythm controllers handle chords.
Crawford and Air Band bandmate David Fastenow played Ween's "Voodoo Lady" live to a prerecorded drum track. They played guitar parts with finger combinations and strummed them with an accelerometer. Air guitar made real — at long last.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Pieter De Buck crafted this keyboard-like interface to control a rotating electrical engine that vibrates a dilapidated violin that he refers to as simply "the Instrument."
De Buck chose this format not for the violin's unique resonant qualities, but also for what he calls the "nostalgia factor." Rounding out the setup, in addition to the pictured controller, is a homegrown analog synth module with separate outputs for speakers and electrical engine.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Imagine if Edward Scissorhands' fingertips were light-sensitive transistors instead of scissors. If he pointed his fingertips at a cellphone, he may have noticed that its screen gave off a distinct frequency.
Finalist Robert Mathy, by amplifying the signals generated by his four optical sensor fingertips, plays various tones on a set of recycled cellphones while blinking bicycle lights provide the backbeat. The closer his fingers get to a light source, the louder it gets. And if someone turns on the lights, the show's over.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
The Multi-Mallet Automatic Drumming Instrument (Madi) pounds multiple brushes and sticks on a snare drum. At the same time, its counterpart, Poly-Tangent Automatic Monochord (PAM) plays a stringed fretboard beside it. Together, PAM and Madi employ techniques that would be impossible for a human musician to replicate.
Troy Rogers, Steven Kemper and Scott Barton compose for their mechanized instruments with the goal of exploring new "temporal, timbral, dynamic and harmonic possibilities." The result sounds like no humans we've ever heard. These Ph.D. students built the instruments on their own dime, constructing Madi for a mere $200 in materials.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Peter Blasser says he built the Radio Zither from a tree that had been struck by lightning — a fitting origin, given that the rest of the instrument also incorporates traditional and electrical elements.
The Radio Zither includes pluckable strings, two theremins and a pressure-sensitive control. It's particularly effective when one of the theremins picks up the motion of the strumming hand, because you hear its motion in two ways.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Andreas Haider and his partner demonstrate the Disc.o, a light-based instrument that toys with the concept of the compact disc.
The lower platform holds a circular sequencer, which holds eight spinning CDs with chunks cut out of them. Rather than reading ones and zeros on the discs with a laser, this instrument uses photodiodes to convert the light passing through each disc into an audio signal. The pair walk around the instrument, activating and deactivating CDs to alter the sequence of tones, which emanate from eight corresponding speakers.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
To build one of the strangest instruments at the competition, Thomas Gerhardt (aka DJ Porcelain and The Plates) slapped 5-bit binary RFID chips on the bottoms of the pictured plates. The chips trigger certain samples when spun on the end of the poles. But what really makes the instrument sing are the black-and-white, yin/yang-style patterns — also on the bottom of the plates — which play the samples at varying speeds depending on the rotational velocity of the corresponding plate.
Gerhardt said this unlikely combination of concepts was inspired by a strange cocktail of influences: plate spinners on the Ed Sullivan Show, the notion of DJs spinning records and his own urge to entertain an audience while performing electronic art.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
The Tongue Music System is twofold. Hye Yeon Nam taps out a rhythm section by activating magnets inside glass cups, while Ramaldo Martin triggers any of 128 piano notes with his tongue using headgear normally used to control a wheelchair.
Both parts require that a small magnet be glued to the tongue with gentle dental adhesive so that it can activate the cups or communicate with the headgear — although apparently certain tongue studs work too. They hope their system will allow paraplegics to make music.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Finalist Dan Stowell bridges the gap between his larynx and a virtually emulated sound chip in his laptop by speaking the chip's language.
A microphone captures vocal articulations, allowing his voice to power the chip's quirky, 8-bit audio engine.
A tablet slung around his shoulder allows quick transitions between chip parameters, while an onscreen image displayed an 8-bit version of Stowell as well as everything that's happening on his screen.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Using a standard keyboard and homegrown software, Xiang Cao's instrument lets the player tap out melodies (alphabet) and chords (function keys) using guitar samples on the computer's hard drive.
One of the less ambitious designs in the Guthman competition, the Key Board Band makes up for that with pitch-bend and envelope-manipulation keys and the fact that it can be replicated using software, a guitar strap and a little glue.
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Greg Kellum uses two ancient technologies as an interface for his hypermodern Touch Plane instrument: paper and ink. An overhead camera and table-clamped infrared lasers track finger movements with only almost no latency, allowing him to use controls that are printed on a piece of paper. In one instance, he played a paper sequencer instrument. In another, he DJed printed discs of color that triggered and manipulated samples. To switch instruments, Kellum places another sheet of paper on the table and toggles to the corresponding software. He hopes to add an acoustic sensor to the Touch Plane to tell the instrument how hard his fingers are hitting the paper.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Talk about more cowbell. Juraj Kojs's fascinating performance involves playing bells that then play other, computer-modeled bells.
The handmade sheep bells are from Kojs's home region in Slovakia and his software program not only models bells, but also allows real-life bells to essentially play other bells in a virtual environment.
His instrument, "cyberbell structures created with physical modeling synthesis," is noteworthy not only for the extensive theory, technology and cultural history that went into it, but also because it works so well in practice.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
The T-Stick is a tubelike "gestural music controller" with pressure sensors under its outer plastic membrane and an accelerometer to detect touch, taps, twists, tilts, squeezes, tilts and shakes.
This data, along with data from the pressure-sensitive foot pads, travels over USB where it triggers and manipulates patches in Max/MSP. Built by D. Andrew Stewart (pictured) and Joseph Malloch, the T-Stick integrates the performer's movements more than most electronic instruments which leads to a lively performance.
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
The Kreol instrument turns the top two rows on a computer keyboard into a musical keyboard. But unlike a normal piano, Kreol players can alter the "Do" note – the root of the scale – in order to play the same melody in a different key, sort of like a guitarist sliding a chord to a new area of the fretboard. Meanwhile, the mouse controls note length and volume.
Mike Block and his colleagues designed the Kreol software instrument to capitalize on the fact that many of us already know where all the keys on a keyboard are. Kreol also includes drums and chord modes, so with three performers you can tackle lead, chords and rhythm (see video).
: Photo: Ben Keyserling
Seokhwan Cheon's Pondang instrument wasn't working during the competition – no surprise, because he had just traveled to Georgia Tech from Korea and his instrument is made mostly from water.
When it's working, the player dips his hand in the watery interface to produce a theremin-like tone while shapes float past on the screen beneath. Cheon scrambled to get the Pondang working in time for the competition, but one part refused to work, so we have no audio sample for this one. However, the video shows it in action.
Open Source Hardware Hackers Start P2P Bank - Two open source hardware enthusiasts are pioneering the idea of a peer-to-peer lending community as a way for enthusiasts to fund open source hardware projects.
Build Your Own Kindle-Killer for $3K - Hobbyists and engineers are using a $3000 prototype kit from E Ink to create their own versions of e-readers that come loaded with a full fledged browser, maps and other applications.
Modify the Oboe - Hi
I would like to prolong the staccato-samples of the Jam-pack Oboe but have no experience of this type of thing. There is a legato-oboe but it...
Logic Pro 8 Mixing Questions - Hello there!
I'm a long time Digital Performer user and i'm making the switch to Logic. I've got some questions about working in Logic, and I...
Midi editing pedaling - I recorded a piano piece using the software piano instrument and i notice when i cut sections and relocate them the pedaling that has been saved with...
Pan control out of control - My panning control automatically pans and I can't stop it. I have a midi timepiece (motu) hooked up to a contoller keyboard. When I turn off the...
Steve jobs on the mend - Greetings,
For those that don't know, Steve Jobs was here in Elvistown,Tn. for his liver transplant and is now back in SF. From all reports he is...
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It used to work with my older version of Logic (7) but doesn't with...
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Problem Exporting Audio To QT in Logic 7.2 - I used to be able to export a sound track made in Logic 7.2 to a Quicktime Movie using Options>Movies>Export Audio to Movie". Logic seems to go...
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I have the score editor set up this...
Generic audio-bin - An Apple/Logic issue.
I want a "speaker" symbol in the Apple-menu bar. Pushing this button will start a recording of any audio going through the...
Syncing Logic to Nuendo 4 - My studio's main DAW is Nuendo 4 but we're working on slaving Logic to Nuendo. I need some serious help since I run the Nuendo side of the studio and...
File name too long loading samples into EXS24? - Recently I was attempting to chop up a sample and assign to different keys through the EXS24 sampler as I normally would do. However when I drag the...
3 Rock Songs made with Logic - http://www.myspace.com/scottkerrguitar
Well, check it out, lemme know what you think. I'm not much of a singer/songwriter but I'm getting there....
5555 Writing Tips and Resources - Effective writing skills are as important to a filmmaker as their camera. Many filmmakers believe writing begins and ends with the screenplay, but from development to distribution there are endless amounts of required writing.
Acquiring good writing skills takes time, patience and determination. Even gifted writers need to polish their [...]
iPhone 3GS Shoulder Mount Rig - Want the portability of an iPhone but the rock steadiness of a shoulder mount rig? There’s an app for that.
… well it’s not really an app.
Adventures In DIY Theatrical Distribution - Jon Reiss chronicles his efforts to self distribute his film “Bomb It” in this informative piece from Filmmaker Magazine. If you ever considered hitting the open road and theatrically self distributing your film make sure and read article.
…My story is not unlike that of most independent filmmakers these days. [...]
155 Screenplay Formating Tutorials - When it comes to formatting, screenplays follow strict rules. Proper format is the first thing agents and other prospective readers look for in a script. In this hyper competitive world, you can’t afford a bad first impressions.
Beyond the basics of layout and margins, there are some gray areas of formatting [...]
FilmFellas: Cast Two - Zacuto USA brings us another series of table side chats, this time with filmmakers: Steve Weiss, Joe Swanberg, Susan Buice and Kris Swanberg covering all different aspects of filmmaking and whatever comes to their minds.
Check out Cast One
Descriptions are from the Author
5. “Talkin’ About Your Film Generation”
In Webisode 5, cast [...]
FilmFellas: Cast One - Zacuto USA brings us a series of table side chats with filmmakers: Steve Weiss, Philip Bloom, Peter Hawley, Steve DaDouche, talking about how the web is impacting filmmaking and anything else that happens to come up.
Descriptions from Author
1. “Web of Opportunities”
2. “A Reel Experience”
The Fellas begin to reminisce on their [...]
Sony Vegas Tutorial: Lightsaber Effect - This video tutorial offers a slightly different method for creating a lightsaber in Sony Vegas without After Effects, VisionLab, LS Maker, or anything else.
VIA: ShamefulProductions
From the Author:
You have to rotoscope. That’s the only way, regardless of what program you use.
FOR MULTIPLE LIGHTSABERS, you have to repeat the process [...]
Short Film Distribution Guide - Scottish Screen offers a comprehensive guide (”You’ve Got it Made”) to the ins-and-outs of distributing a short film. Visit their site to download the guide and while there check out some of the other great resources they have to offer.
— Scottish Screen | Visit Site
Writing Loglines that Sell - by Jonathan Treisman
Have you ever been stuck listening to a friend tell you a joke that seems to go on without ever reaching the punch line? Your mind starts wandering and you stop paying attention as the joke painfully loses its momentum.
Pitching your ideas effectively, whether from a script, [...]
PodCamp Events Updated - The PodCamp Events section has been updated. PodCamp Boston 3 and PodCamp EDU 2 have been added to the list.There are 2 definite and 4 possible PodCamps scheduled between now and the New Media Expo this August.PodCamp Chicago (in planning) - June 6-8, 2008 PodCamp Austin (in planning) - June 20-21, 2008PodCamp Ohio - June 28, 2008PodCamp Boston 3 - July 19-20, 2008
The PodCamp Events section has been updated. PodCamp Boston 3 and PodCamp EDU 2 have been added to the list.There are 2 definite and 4 possible PodCamps scheduled between now and the New Media Expo this August. PodCamp Chicago (in planning) - June 6-8, 2008 PodCamp Austin (in planning) - June 20-21, 2008PodCamp Ohio - June 28, 2008PodCamp Boston 3 - July 19-20, 2008
Events Section Updated - The events section of podcastFAQ.com has been extended to include lists of scheduled PodCamps, PodCamps in planning as well as other events such as the Podcasters Across Borders.
The events section of podcastFAQ.com has been extended to include lists of scheduled PodCamps, PodCamps in planning as well as other events such as the Podcasters Across Borders. PodCamp EventsOther Events Are we missing an event? Please contact us and let us know.
Welcome to podcastFAQ - Welcome to PodcastFAQ, the place with answers to frequently asked podcasting questions.
Welcome to PodcastFAQ, the place with answers to frequently asked podcasting questions.podcastFAQ aims to contain the most up-to-date podcasting information for podcast creators, consumers and businesses. The information on this site is intended to be easy to find, to the point, and without clutter. RawVoice created this service to help the podcasting community grow and mature. RawVoice hopes visitors who utilize this resource will consider using other RawVoice products and services as well.More about RawVoice and the podcasting products they offer may be found at www.rawvoice.com.
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Andy Sneap showing new ITB-made Megadeth song Headcrusher from Endgame -
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Found this video on MusicRadar. I ended up picking [...]
Zplane ‘Summer of harmony’ special - You thought the special offers were over for this month, did you? Zplane is doing a summer special as well, selling their vielklang for €199/$219.
I have yet to try vielklang myself so any opinions on it are welcome.
Even more offers today: Arturia 10 year suite and IK Multimedia group buy - Pick your poison. We’re flooded with offers which makes me wonder if one should every buy plug-ins at a regular price.
Yesterday I reported that Native Instruments, McDSP, Waves and and Ableton tried to convince us to buy their products, today it’s time for Arturia and IK Multimedia.
Arturia is celebrating 10 years in the biz by [...]
URS announces URS N4 series EQ -
URS has announced a new EQ plug-in in their N series that supposedly recreates the sound of a vintage British Six Band Equalizer (4 bands plus HP/LP Filters). My question is, do we need another? Maybe…
From URS:
It has a hi-pass filter with four frequencies- 27Hz, 47Hz, 82Hz, 150Hz and 270Hz.
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Waves Online Installer (WOLI) beta is here - Waves has obviously been working on an online installer called WOLI that’s now ready for public beta. So far it’s for Mac only.
From Waves:
WOLI is a small download engine that lets you pick exactly the plug-ins or bundles you need to install. Whether you need a single plug-in, the entire Mercury bundle, or anything in [...]
Native Instruments “Kompletely insane” offer - Native Instruments has just announced the “Kompletely Insane” offer, allowing you to purchase Komplete 5 for $399/€399. Despite Native Instruments are Berlin-based, they seem to forget that $1 does not equal €1.
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VirSyn release REFLECT 2.0 -
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From the VirSyn press release:
Version [...]
Offers from McDSP, Ableton and Waves -
Making Sounds with Sampler
Three emails with offers just hit my inbox.
Ableton lets every customer who buys Live 8 before August 31st get Sampler for free. This includes users who upgrade from Live Lite.
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Downtime - We had some downtime and for once it was actually all my fault. Sorry about that. Now we’re back and cookin’,
KILLING LIGHTS in CINEMA4D - If you're familiar with CINEMA 4D's ability to export to Adobe After Effects, you know that all of the camera and light data can be saved in a single file - for use within a 3D composition in AE. However, sometimes unnecessary light animation and 3D data makes that AEC file heavy. Here's how to clean up your export file.
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Hewlett Packard Z800 workstation - Hewlett Packard, one of the most widely respected company's in the history of computing, and a true technology innovator (versus marketer), has blown the whole notion of computer design wide open with the latest version of its Z 800 workstations. The system is unique in that not only does it sport the latest Intel technology; the engineers have created a workstation that is both highly functional yet elegant in its form, inside and out.
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300+ Free After Effects Tutorials - After Effects has always been a popular topic for our writers and editors. We thought it would be helpful to list - with direct links to them on our After Effects Channel - the more than 300 different After Effects tutorials we have so far. In this list are After Effects training videos, After Effects hands on tutorials and techniques, and lots of After Effects Quick Tips. All professional quality, and all free! Enjoy!
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Star Ranger 7's four year journey - In the 23rd century, Star Rangers are the peace keepers of the galaxy. For now they are under the power, Marc Kimball and Michael Harnois. It actually started back in 2004 - a whopping 4 years ago when Marc and Michael decided that they would take on a film production - - IN ADDITION to their regular gigs. They jumped, feet first into the project, enrolling friends and several feet of greenscreen.
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