The Swiss group Zimoun already provided incredible sound sculptures before. Now they have a new bunch of sculptures that were exhibited on The Ringling Museum of Art.

Solo Exhibition : The Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, USA.
Octoeber 11, 2011 – January 08, 2012

Curated by Matthew McLendon.

«Using simple and functional components, Zimoun builds architecturally-minded platforms of sound. Exploring mechanical rhythm and flow in prepared systems, his installations incorporate commonplace industrial objects. In an obsessive display of curiously collected material, these works articulate a tension between the orderly patterns of Modernism and the chaotic forces of life. Carrying an emotional depth, the acoustic hum of natural phenomena blends effortlessly with electric reverberation in Zimoun’s minimalist constructions.» bitforms nyc

«The sound sculptures and installations of Zimoun are graceful, mechanized works of playful poetry, their structural simplicity opens like an industrial bloom to reveal a complex and intricate series of relationships, an ongoing interplay between the «artificial» and the «organic». It’s an artistic research of simple and elegant systems to generate and study complex behaviors in sound and motion. Zimoun creates sound pieces from basic components, often using multiples of the same prepared mechanical elements to examine the creation and degeneration of patterns.» Tim Beck

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Exhibition design by Matthew Harmon. Project coordination and assisted by Stephanie Sherriff. Assisted by Vanessa Gageos, Florian Bürki, Matthew Hamron, Kyle Petreycik, Alvy Vereecke, Emily Martin, Morgan Janssen, Chris Schumaker, Gabbi Ricci, Tracy Keenan, Diana Lueken, Lester Gessley, Alicia Stein, Emily Meyer, Chris Degrer, Alex Wyllie, Katelyn Bobek and Anna Paul. Exhibition coordination by Donn Roll. Conservation by David Piurek. Volunteer coordination and academic affairs by David Berry. Photographies and videos by Zimoun.

Kindly supported by Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council and bitforms Gallery NYC.

zimoun.ch
bitforms.com
ringling.org

Jeff Snyder , inventor of the Manta controller now has a new midi controller shaken out of his sleeve. The JD1 has not only a chic little keyboard and a joystick, but also a sequencer and arpeggiator on board. The output signal of the JD1 performed in CV and MIDI . These first prototypes has been sent to a financier – the construction of ten additional units which will then be funded through Kickstart is already being planned.

Ritornell’s business cards are inspired by the project’s live show. The improvised concerts evoke a lively atmosphere by the combination of filigree electronics with playful timbres of diverse acoustic instruments and utensils such as egg whisks, toilet brushes, chopsticks or sewing needles. As an integral part of their set list, Ritornell invites the audience to bring along their private musicboxes. Arranged in a big circle, the players’ speed of turning levers is conducted: the results are as shimmering as you would expect.
Katharina Hölzl designed very special business cards to recreate this playful sonic universe. With the aid of laser assisted milling, nine micro compositions consisting of circles, triangles and Ritornell’s contact information were applied onto a long musicbox paper stripe. Before handing out the cards to interested adressees, each individual subdivision is played back via an especially designed musical box – thus providing every business card receiver with a tailor made musical experience.

More at: Create Digital Music

20 Hz observes a geo-magnetic storm occurring in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Working with data collected from the CARISMA radio array and interpreted as audio, we hear tweeting and rumbles caused by incoming solar wind, captured at the frequency of 20 Hertz. Generated directly by the sound, tangible and sculptural forms emerge suggestive of scientific visualisations. As different frequencies interact both visually and aurally, complex patterns emerge to create interference phenomena that probe the limits of our perception.

Code, music and art once again united for another beautiful piece. The very skilled programmed Alexander Chen, which works at Google Creative Labs, developed a great new form of musical visualisation. You may already seen this kind of music programing made with other softwares, but possibly not beau like this.

Here’s Alexanders description of the project:

Project summary

Baroque.me visualizes the first Prelude from Bach’s Cello Suites. Using the mathematics behind string length and pitch, it came from a simple idea: what if all the notes were drawn as strings? Instead of a stream of classical notation on a page, this interactive project highlights the music’s underlying structure and subtle shifts.

Details

I created eight strings, as the Prelude’s natural phrasing is in groups of eight notes. The orbiting nodes pluck the strings, like a rotating music box. You can also grab and throw the nodes off track, and watch the system slowly regain its rhythm.

A harp is built around string length, with strings shortening as they ascend in pitch. This piece behaves like an impossible harp, as strings morph to the needed lengths.

The looping, eight-note pattern is something we see all the time in grid-based drum sequencers. Bach’s Prelude is actually very grid-like as well. At every moment, the piece shows a visual snapshot of an arpeggio. It shows which notes change from bar to bar, and which stay the same.

Classical notation is convenient and concise code. But visually, it’s completely disconnected from any actual physical characteristics of sound. String lengths, on the other hand, are visual representations of the frequencies they produce.

I calculated lengths of strings using Pythagorean tuning. It’s math based on the fraction 2/3. I started with the longest string, setting it to a symbolic length in pixels. When cut to 2/3 length, it goes up a fifth. Cut its length by 1/2, and it goes up an octave. 3/4 length, one fourth. From these simple numbers, I calculated the relative string lengths for all the notes in the piece.

Performers of the Prelude all bring their own interpretation in tempo, timing, and expressiveness. My goal was to try to let the computer perform the data in its most neutral way. A pleasant surprise was how subtle shifts in timing naturally emerged due to the circular layout (and occasional performance hiccups). The machine becomes awkwardly expressive.

Like MTA.ME and the Les Paul Doodle, the visuals are coded in Javascript and HTML5 Canvas, triggering Flash audio in the background with the SoundManager library.

I’m launching baroque.me during this first month as a resident at Eyebeam. I hope it evolves into a series, exploring different pieces of Baroque music. Song requests are welcome.

Further Reading

Here is a video of Pablo Casals performing the piece in 1954. This book by Eric Siblin tells the story of how Casals discovered the obscure Cello Suites in a thrift store in the early 1900′s. The complete manuscript (by Bach’s wife Anna Magdalena) is available free for download here.

If you already listened to Björk’s Biophilia, you will notice a very particular sound for example on “Crystalline”. That’s the brand new born instrument made custom for Björk. The original steel bars of a vintage orchestral celeste were replaced with bronze tonebars hand-made by UK cymbalsmith Matt Nolan, and the instrument was rebuilt and MIDIfied by Iceland’s top organ-maker, Björgvin Tòmasson.

Abbey Road Studios is synonymous with recording excellence, having worked with some of the world’s greatest artists including The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Oasis, Lady Gaga and Florence + the Machine. This year marks their 80th anniversary, celebrating their rich heritage of being one of the leading recording studios the world over. While there’s no denying the extensive wealth of musical history the studio has produced over the years, Abbey Road Studios is keen to continue looking to the future and working to embrace and develop new artists and technology.

Abbey Road Studios are now proud to announce their Online Mixing service. Launched in August, the service offers you the opportunity to have your music mixed at the world’s most famous recording studios, by Abbey Road Studios’ award winning engineers.

The Online Mixing service offers a more accessible alternative to working personally at Abbey Road Studios, while still providing the opportunity to tap into their unrivalled range of equipment and skilled engineers. Simply upload your music to the dedicated online mixing website, and they will take care of the rest.

Coupled with the introduction of their Online Mastering service last year, Abbey Road Studios has provided a solution and one stop shop for musicians and producers worldwide.

For more information and pricing on Abbey Road Studios’ Online Mixing service please visit www.abbeyroadonlinemixing.com

(via Toast Press)

It’s here!

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The electronic duo from NYC, The Golden Filter got a little teaser now from Syndromes. Gotta love when people do these eye catching teasers, growing our anxiety and playing with our patience (in a good way).

They could go like IAMAMWHOAMI and make a series. Just a friendly tip.
While we wait for the full release, check the video from “Thunderbird”.

Produced by Smithson Martin, Emulator is a new approach on djing. Feels like an immense iPad with Traktor (or may be exactly that). Regardless of the comparisons, Emulator is indeed attractive.

Emulator is the World’s first and only multi-touch midi controller PC software for professional DJ and music, is the first REAL and USABLE Multi-Touch DJ System that allows the crowd to see exactly what the DJ is doing on a huge transparent touch screen.

These HTML5 experiments are reaching another level. The Chrome Web Audio toolbox is still in development, but you already can check some examples over here. Realtime analysis and 3d sound is already possible. This will improve even more the battle for a flash-free world. Not even counting the experiments the web artists will bring with it.

Aiming High!