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More goodness from the increasingly prolific monome community.




Edison's latest. Better in HD. The average density of awesome is off the scale.

miroirs

I was really hoping to make a video of hot hot double monome action and finish gomé before this happened, but I've now taken delivery of my Livewire AFG and first two Plan B ELF modules at the same time. Two packages. Both from Pamona CA. So I apologize, but you're going to have to excuse me while I immerse myself in an orgy of modular dorkitude for the next few days.

I had also planned on making some really horrible AFG demo videos, but, as I live on the East Coast, many others have received their units already and trumped my plans by posting pointless videos that make the AFG sound like a tortured Speak & Spell instead of the magnificent piece of technology it really is. However, Fleix Inferious has posted some worthy audio demos that demonstrate a slice of what is possible with a single AFG.

So, I'll leave you with this video from Trent Gill, using MLR with an monome 40h. I personally would love to see a jam with him and edison playing together - one making beats, the other playing tones.

You haven't seen these yet.

I've been pre-occupied with enhancing polygomé and making versions for the 128 and 256, but here are a couple monome videos that aren't getting the love they deserve.

Hazel Mills - Freestanders




This is a fresh live jam with some great MLR sample choices. I'd like to see what tim and edison come up with together.



How can you look at these examples and not marvel at the flexibility of the monome interface?

polygomé video

After adding a few new features based on feedback from the monome community, I finally got around to making a video demo of the polygomé application.



There are a few more operational tweaks I want to do, and I'd like to clean up the user interface a bit. I want to get this stuff out of the way before I make a 128 and 256 version, as once I branch, there isn't any good way to fold bug fixes or changes into all three versions. I considered a unified version to accommodate all three monome sizes, but there are too many operational conditions to keep track of.

download polygomé v0.91 for the monome64

OK, so who is going to make a virtual monome for the iPhone?

iTunes Remote App FAIL

I was so jazzed about the prospect of controlling iTunes with my iPod touch. It was such a great fit and natural extension of the capabilities of all the technologies involved.

Now, the iPod touch is... an iPod, of course, but it only holds a small amount of data and the electronics are not exactly high quality. So, when I want to listen to music, I want to use my good stuff - my nice gear and lossless-encoded files. The problem with this is controlling iTunes means getting up from my chair, mucking with the computer, etc... So, an iTunes remote gives me the best of both worlds: a brilliant portable control surface, accessing a large library played through good gear.

Unfortunately, you're not connecting to an iTunes client, you're connecting to a local iTunes library on an iTunes client. In plain English this means you can't access any shared libraries though the iTunes remote - just what you have stored on the local machine. I don't do this. At all. I store all my music on a 24/7 remote server in the basement so everyone in the house can access it. Therefore, the iTunes remote app, is useless for me.

polygomé

I've been working on a new monome patch called gomé that is rather large and involved. I was recently reminded that there are 8-9 times as many 8x8 monomes in the world than there are 16x16s, so I started thinking about how I could adapt gomé to the smaller grid size.

To my surprise, the result was far more fun to play than my original project. I also somehow managed to make it polyphonic in the process. Since it was designed for 8x8 monomes, I also added tilt support which made everything super extra fun as you can control note duration and velocity from the orientation of the unit. It is cute.

I'll see if I can make a demonstration video in the near future, but you can download the patch now.

download polygomé64

The Silent Encroachment of Power

Hey, anyone remember the Military Commissions Act? This was a bit of legislation that was "vital to our national security" and needed to be rushed though to protect us from terrorists. Does this sound familiar? In reality, the MCA did two things: 1) legalize something unconstitutional and 2) provide protection from criminal/civil prosecutions for those involved. The activity we're talking about here is torture and the suspension of Habeas Corpus (holding someone without charging them with a crime). This was struck down by the Supreme Court on June 12, 2008, but the immunization (and the real reason for the bill's existence) still stands.

All this bears a striking resemblance to the FISA bill that just passed the Senate. It was also deemed "vital to our national security" and was also rushed though. It is also unconstitutional, and also provides ex post facto immunization.

Now, the president (legally) has access to all of your electronic communication, internet searches and email. Now, the truth behind the domestic spying program will never be known. Now, we've turned out backs on the core principles this country was founded upon, and find that the rule of law only applies to some of us.

I'm disappointed in all the members in Congress who voted for this bill. I'm disappointed in the Senate, who voted for telecom immunity without knowing why it was even required.

I'm deeply disappointed by Barack Obama. It is indefensible that a Constitutional scholar should support this. I thought he was different. He consistently did the right thing, not the politically convenient thing, and, for that, he earned my respect. I got exited about the future direction of this country. He gave me hope - something I haven't felt in years. Now he's just another politician and the lesser of two evils. I am not exaggerating when I say I'm heartbroken.

Oh, and Clinton voted against the bill. I wonder how she would have voted had she been the democratic nominee. I wonder how Obama would have voted if he were just another Senator. Is it all just politics, even when we're toying with the Bill of Rights?

FISA Vote on Tuesday

Here is a great video on FISA history and ramifications of the upcoming vote. Confirms everything I've been saying over the past few weeks.




Since the New York Times story in December 2005, which first exposed the Bush Administration's 'terrorist surveillance program' in which the NSA (National Security Agency) is authorized, by executive order, to monitor, without warrants, phone calls, email, internet activity, text messaging and other communications on US citizens, I've been speculating about what is really going on.

When FISA came into existence in 1978, large-scale data mining wasn't really possible, yet FISA explicitly forbade electronic surveillance without a warrant. Today, this kind of analysis is possible which is one reason why there is a push to 'modernize' FISA. The problem is, this activity has been going on, illegally, since before 9/11. Doing something grossly unconstitutional, then retroactively making it legal sets a disturbing precedent.

You can't have a democracy with this legislation. It is the foundation of a tyranny. Please go here and let your senator know how you feel.

Random Video Thursday!

Here is Weather Report playing Birdland live. If you were listening to this without watching, you'd assume the first melody line is played by a guitar. Nope. It is Jaco. The other interesting thing is later in the piece when Joe Zaniwul starts soloing, we learn the perils of performing live with analog gear. I would have dropped a brick, right there, on stage. Nice gear spotting opportunity.



How to create a pop star. Needs no explanation.

Musical Modular Toy

Forget about circuit bending your Neurosmith Music Blocks, now your kids can upload or directly sample their own audio into colorful little modules called 'Klangbausteine'. Each module has a button and variable control. As it appears that the modules function independently, I'm not exactly sure how the aggregate creation changes the behavior - maybe the loops sync? Thankfully, the base module includes a headphone jack. Whew!





Speaking of kids toys, I'm not going to spend $400 on a Lego Death Star play set. I love Legos, I really do, but come on. It isn't an Ultimate Collector's Edition type of thing so the adult target market could keep up some sort of pretense of 'model building', it is a frickin' play set. Pew pew pew!

Jürgen Haible's PCBs get parts kits

Jürgen Haible is somewhat of a star in the DIY community. He has a habit of reverse engineering delicious, but expensive, difficult to obtain gear, creating beautiful working prototypes, and offering the PCBs (sometimes). He made a clone of the Korg PS-3200 and a clone of the Synthi. That inspired a pin-matrix style effects processor called the Matrix FX.

Oh, and somehow he finds the time to make music too.

One of Jürgen's more recent creations is a string filter, a unique design that combines several techniques. I lust for this thing, but the only way I'd be able to have one is if I built it myself. That isn't going to happen. As you can see, this isn't a trivial project. Plus, sourcing the parts would be a complete nightmare. Wait. Scratch that. Tobias Schilly is now providing parts kits for the Jürgen's string filter.

So if anyone is interested enough in this project to build one, make one for me too and I'll buy it. Yes, really. I could also use a JH Triple Chorus and JH Dimension (no PCBs for that one, though...)