iPhone Paintings and Amazing Guitars
An animated video I painted and created using an iPhone and the amazing people I met during my life in Venice, Italy. Read On!
Electronically Modified, Blue Tooth Didgeridoo!
An incredible union of ancient spiritual craft with the newest digital technology, Kyle Evans has created an electronically enhanced didgeridoo who’s beautiful body competes with it’s voice for center stage. Read On!
Bacterial Orchestra
An evolving cluster of aggressive, and possibly angry, iPhones wants to take over the world! The experiment is called “Public Epidemic No 1″ and the goal is to create a world-wide audio illness, infecting one cell at a time. Read On!
20 Very Odd Musical Instruments You Can Play Online
American Public Media has produced a playable-online collection of Harry Partch musical instrument inventions for your extreme enjoyment! Read On!
“Sonic Banana” Music Controller (Max/MSP)
Eric Singer, a roboticist and experimental musician, engineered what he calls a “Sonic Banana.” The rubber worm-like tube houses 4 variable bend sensors which work together to create a malleable and “versatile performance instrument.” Read On!
Review of the Tenori-On
The Tenori-on is a refreshingly innovative tool of musical personality. The Tenori-on, with its double-sided white LED grid and its sleek aluminum frame, is a stylish way of creating and presenting music. Read On!
Music Controlled Face
Daito Manabe is a programmer, artist, and designer who obviously isn’t afraid to experiment. From Daito’s website, “Yes. It is painful. but not as much as you think.” Read On!
Dueling Banjos, Man Vs Machine!
I’d like to warm things up here at the Oddstrument. Without further ado, may I present Stuart, an amazing musician and singer, playing his equally amazing Kazookeylele (a mini grand piano/ukulele/kazoo) vs. the WaldFlöte. This crazy fellow lives in Edinburgh, UK. The WaldFlöte is a computer controlled MIDI retrofit of a 1890’s era 16 foot pipe organ. “It converts MIDI input into solenoid drive to directly press the keys on one of the manuals - there is no permanent modification to the organ.” Read On!
Telemegaphone Dale Update
The Telemegaphone Dale loudspeaker will continue to “speak” incoming phone calls until September 20th, 2008. For those of you who don’t know, Telemegaphone Dale is a 23-foot-tall wind-powered loudspeaker sculpture that picks up incoming calls and projects them into the mountains of Norway and the nearby village of Dale. Read On!
Computer Controlled Wine-Glass Thing
Here’s a curious percussion machine created by yaaaratheone for a Physical Computing class at Union College, NY. Read On!
Listen to a Sunrise
Richard Widerberg from Göteborg, Sweden has some very odd and interesting sound recordings on his website including a track entitled “Sunrisescape” which makes use of light sensors and two oscillators to record the gradual illumination of a rising sun. Read On!
Monome Videos
A monome, besides being contemporary sexy, is a key and light board which, using community created applications, can do virtually anything imaginable. Expect to pay between $500 (for the 64 button) and $1,500 (128), that’s if you can even get on the waiting list OR you could buy a kit and do it yourself! Read On!
Call This Number! Odd Instrument Telephone Speaker
Call +4790369389 to have your voice blasted into the luscious lands of Norway! Telemegaphone Dale is a 23-foot-tall wind-powered loudspeaker sculpture that picks up incoming calls and projects them into the nearby surroundings. This Telemegaphone, created by the Swedish designers at Unsworn Industries, is located on a mountain overlooking the village of Dalsfjord in Western Norway. Apparently, a “massive” amount of people have been calling. Read On!
“Acoustic Radars” and Listening Trumpets
Before the advent of radar and hearing aids, hearing “trumpets” and the like were used to amplify distant sounds. Acoustic radars were invented during war time to locate ships in the fog and approaching airplanes. These listening devices not only enabled the listener to hear subtle, distant sounds, but also allowed for great accuracy in pinpointing the direction of the sound source due to the increased spacing and size of the giant “ears.” Some of these devices are very accurate, for example, the German RRH is able to detect the size of an approaching aircraft formation 8 miles away with the directional accuracy of 2 degrees. Read On!
50 Particles in a Three-Dimensional Harmonic Potential
The “50 Particles in a Three-Dimensional Harmonic Potential” is a 10-minute composition derived from the algorithms explained in the “Sonification of Particle Systems via de Broglie’s Hypothesis.” The composition is broken up into 5 movements (listed below), each 120 seconds long. You do not have to be a physicist in order to enjoy the sounds of this strange recording but if you are, and want more information, visit Composer Scientist. Read On!
Super Sensitive Mic Can Hear Snail Heartbeats, Ant Footsteps
Somebody pinch me, please… “The microphone has a remarkable contact point design, through which it can detect minute sounds that are virtually inaudible to the human ear, such as an ant’s footsteps or the heart beat of a snail.” Read On!
iBand, the iPhone Musical Trio
iBand is a trio of techie musicians who play two iPhones and an iPod Touch (and occasionally a Nintendo DS). Read On!
“Light harps” - Playing with Lasers
Light harps are interactive art installations that use laser beams to detect motion which, in turn, play corresponding musical tones. Jen Lewin, who created the instrument below, has been building light harps for the past 12 years. Her work has varied from indoor musical laser sculptures to on-stage performance pieces and outdoor installations. This light harp uses sophisticated motion detection to accurately mimic the player’s movement with sound. Read On!
The “Tonal Plexus” - an 844 Button Keyboard
These incredible microtonal MIDI keyboards have 211 keys per octave (normal pianos have 12 keys per octave) and each key can be custom tuned! Read On!
Native American Flute Diagram
For those of you who enjoy diagrams, here is a great diagram of the systems in a traditional Native American flute. Read On!
The New Revolutionary Turntablism
The iPod Touch, iPhone, and Nintendo DS are the tech generation’s contribution to musical innovation. With the right software, these portable devices can be modified to play virtually any instrument and any effect. Read On!
ArcAttack’s Musical Tesla Coils (Shocking!)
From Austin, Texas: An advanced composition of Tesla coils, robotic drums, and a computer controlled, self-resonating pipe organ makes ArcAttack and Resonance Studios one wildly electrifying group of sounds. Their main venue is the club/dance/spirit scene and I could definitely picture ArcAttack performing downtown with some high budget videography (as if the 10ft electricity-arcs weren’t captivating enough). ArcAttack has a sound distinct from anything I’ve ever heard before. Read On!
Glass Armonica, Playable Online!
This is a crude, but interesting digital emulation of the glass armonica’s sound. Read On!
The Dual Primate Console
Dewanatron is composed of two cousins, Brian and Leon Dewan. In this video, they are playing one of their homemade instruments, the Dual Primate Console. Each side of this instrument is operated by one primate. Read On!