Monthly Archives: May 2010

The Gamelatron :: An Ableton Controlled Robotic Orchestra | Dubspot Blog

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Not only is the idea fucking badass, the name is to be respected.

Modeled after traditional Balinese and Javanese gamelan orchestras, the GamelaTron is an amalgamation of traditional instruments with a suite of percussive sound makers. MIDI sequences control 117 robotic striking mechanisms that produce intricately woven and rhythmic sound. Performances follow an arc similar to classic Indonesian gatherings, where stories from great epics, such as the Ramayana, are told and settings given in words that are continued in music.

via The Gamelatron :: An Ableton Controlled Robotic Orchestra | Dubspot Blog.

Here is the main Gamelatron website.

A writeup in Gradient Magazine on the Gamelatron.

TouchOSC + laptop + music software + iPhone/iTouch = Siiiickness

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TouchOSC running audio softwareIn college I DJ’d, it was fun and I mostly just did it at friends houses who liked the same music I liked. What sucked total ass what carrying my records around. Sure they sound better and have some sentimentality to them, but bottom line is they are heavy as fuck and skip.

For years I have thought about getting one of the various MP3 ‘scratch’ systems out there, but the problem then is I still have to have a set of turntables around. Turns out those aren’t so light either.

Then I saw Jason Ayers at Desert Bloom Phoenix using his iPad to play Logic from the couch and had a brain fart: I have an iPhone which is the same as an iPad, just smaller. So where is the app for iPhone that lets me play Ableton Live?

Turns out its right here:

The application allows to remote control and receive feedback from software and hardware that implements the OSC protocol such as Pure Data, Max/MSP/Jitter, OSCulator, VDMX, Resolume Avenue 3, Modul8, Plogue Bidule, Reaktor, Quartz Composer, Vixid VJX16-4, Supercollider, FAW Circle, vvvv, Derivative TouchDesigner and others.

via h e x l e r . n e t | TouchOSC.

Here is an excellent writeup for using TouchOSC with Ableton Live.

Here is a neat video showing how Ableton Live can be controlled via iPhone with TouchOSC.

Cateye’s Social Network – World Commute – Measure your Carbon Offset – Verdict: Bridge to Nowhere

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by aloshbennett

by aloshbennett

So Cateye has a new product called Cateye Commute. Its a cyclometer that helps you measure your ‘Greenness’ and stuff and it sounds pretty cool. You can read the Wired review of the Cateye Commuter here. I am more interested in the social network that they built to go along with this device – WorldCommute.com.

The basic concept is not new, there are a number of excercise and carbon offset tracking websites out there. However this one seems to combine them both and acts like a Nike+ for bikes. Unfortunately it is not going anywhere.

There are a few basic reasons for this:

  • Publicity
  • Networking

Publicity – External and Internal

No one is talking about this site. How do I know this? Yahoo is currently showing 7,000 backlinks. That is sad. Whats worse is that the top result on Yahoo’s list is cateye.com. In voodoo SEO terms this means the strongest link Cateye is getting for their Social Network is from Cateye. Nice outreach. For a topic this hot there is no reason they shouldn’t have government and educational sites linking to them as a way to take resposibility for your energy use. Send Obama a computer and get him to blog about it on the Whitehouse blog or something…

How commited is Cateye to this project? From looking at the Cateye website and its lack of a mention or link to worldcommute.com I would say not very.  Currently a search for “site:cateye.com world commute” gives a total of 7 results, on a site with over 1400 pages. The product page for the Cateye Commuter has no link to worldcommute.com. (As a side note there is no link to a Youtube video of how to install the Cateye Commute Cyclometer, or how to use it.)

Networking – As in Social

Cateye knows about Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, but for some reason it doesn’t want to connect its own Social Network to them. This is perplexing to say the least. Considering the Privacy issues that they bring up during signup, I really don’t want to give you my birthdate, it makes sense to take advantage of the info that people have already given to their existing networks. Also its a pain in the ass to send an individual invite to each of my friends to get them to join me at WorldCommute.com. With all the latest stuff going on at Facebook and connecting sites together this is a major mistake.

Is there a way to sync the info from the Cateye Commute to my computer for upload to worldcommute.com? I assume no as there is no mention of this on the product page. This is a big miss as well considering the rise in various tracking methods on iPhones and Blackberries like Nike+ and AllSport GPS.

Conclusion

Cateye is taking a good direction here in terms of broadening their audience and message but in the end no one is going to use worldcommute.com as it is currently setup. There are 105 groups on the site but each one that I scanned over had less than 5 members. Cateye can make this a success if it can link their Cateye Commute Cyclometer to the site and connect worldcommute.com to the rest of the internet better. If you are running the show at Cateye I would love to talk further on this and help make it a success in exchange for some cash.

National Journal Magazine – Repairing The Job Machine (Interesting read, even if you love Jesus.)

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Put that in your tea bag and drink or smoke it. If you want I can come and tea bag you for a small fee as well.

Bush’s total, of course, was suppressed by the slowdown he inherited from Clinton and the full-scale meltdown during his last year. But even during the recovery in between, job growth lagged. In only eight of Bush’s 96 months did the economy create as many jobs as the 290,000 it did last month. Clinton exceeded that level 33 times. Reagan exceeded it 24. In all, the economy gained about 1.2 million jobs annually during the six years of recovery under Bush. It averaged about twice that during the expansion from March 1991 to February 2001.

This record suggests two conclusions. One is that there’s no evidence to support the argument from congressional Republicans that tax cuts offer a silver bullet for expanding employment. Job growth boomed after Reagan cut taxes, but expanded even faster after Clinton raised them, and then faltered despite two massive tax cuts under Bush. If tax rates are the critical factor in that record, the relationship is well disguised.

via National Journal Magazine – Repairing The Job Machine.

FRONTLINE: digital nation – (Get off InterTwitterBook and Watch This now)

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Within a single generation, digital media and the World Wide Web have transformed virtually every aspect of modern culture, from the way we learn and work to the ways in which we socialize and even conduct war. But is the technology moving faster than we can adapt to it? And is our 24/7 wired world causing us to lose as much as we've gained?

via FRONTLINE: digital nation: introduction | PBS.

DJ Thread – The Unraveling | Watch your Levels people!

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From rykerstribeWow and double wow.  This was my third episode of dnbradio.com and was my second experience at mediocrity. The mixing was much better here but the levels were too high so I got a nice pop in my ear every 2 seconds or so. Not pleasant. Please people watch your levels, if they go red then you need to turn down your master a touch.

DJ Thread – The Unraveling | Drum and Bass Downloads.

DJ Quake n Surrept – Monday Night Mashup | Drum and Bass Podcast

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listen to drum and bass podcasts

Finding more DnB Podcasts for listening to while working and the dnbradio.com does not disappoint. Would like to see more tracklists for all the podcasts but considering the sheer volume of episodes they are churning out a little leeway is given.

This is the first one I heard and if it is a representative of what they will all be like I should be happy. Lots of new and classic tracks played and pretty flawless mixing with no talking.

DJ Quake n Surrept – Monday Night Mashup | Drum and Bass Downloads.