Here’s a youTube of this awesome creation in action! :

and a link to Flickr images of the design:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52082118@N05/sets/72157632446508050/

Though a seeming departure from my latest musical interfaces, I have been pursuing research in a different type of media interface.  I’ve been investigating the history, technology and current use of digital and electronic tools, used to attempt communication with the dead.  Honest.

On Friday, I will be giving a discussion called: “Apophenia: Building Radios to Talk to the Dead” that covers the history and current state of this VERY interesting field.

Friday evening I will perform a multimedia exhibition using these devices as source audio and video.

On Saturday afternoon I will be giving an electronics workshop, where participants can build the device seen above (called a “Raudive Diode receiver”), that attaches to their laptop iPhone, Android phone or tablet to record potential ethereal communications. Kit and workshop info can be found HERE.

Just in case there might have been any sleep this weekend I will also be doing two VBLANK performances with chip destroyers exileFaker and Corset Lore at the Hope Number 9 chip music concert “The Ghost Dance Movement”.     I swear, that last title is an astonishing coincidence!!

Stop by! If you see me doing anything less than standing… buy me a Club Mate!

Ideally, this will help the community in general by allowing builders, visualists, and musicians to add their own tips, hints, suggestions and show off some of their own work.

If you have suggestions, hit me up in the forums!

Find it from the new Wiki! link in the top menu, or here: http://www.straytechnologies.com/wiki

Apophenia explores the phenomena of how we experience patterned order out of randomness. The effect is often explored by “ghost hunters” who use electronic tools to find patterns in the environment around us, and explore them as a way to communicate with spirits of the deceased. The experience is most dominant at the moment where recognized communication begins to fall apart, and our minds fill in the gaps.

This short audio-visual performance makes use of devices found used for the reception of “EVP” or “Electronic Voice Phenomena.” Supporters of the method of supernatural communication feel that spirits from the beyond are able to tap into and manipulate the electromagnetic energy that governs the output of these modified radios and home-built detector circuits.

Some more info about this video:

The setup is using various free VSTs (software synths) with default settings in a free stand-alone host called “Savihost” by Hermann Seib. There are no extra effects or tracks. The oneString and one software synth is generating all sound.

I bought a new cheap camera (Creative Vado HD) as it has an audio input. I now realize that the Vado is auto leveling the audio, which is why you hear static swells in between notes, and very little variation in volume. There’s actually quite a bit of volume range generated from the pressure sensor that the camera is killing. Regardless! — you still get the idea!

I’m VERY excited to see some REAL musicians get there hands on this thing!

You’ll also notice a set of dots along the length of the controller, which I’m using like pearls on a guitar neck to stay oriented. They’ve been very helpful to me, but are a matter of taste and style. Another musician who tested the controller suggested that I let users design marking strips from a template, and upload them to share. With this in mind, the first kits will go out with instructions on how to generate a useful pattern, so each user can make it their own. I’d love to get some feedback on this! This is really part of what takes this device out of the “Theremin” realm and into being a real useful instrument for the rest of us.

Any feedback on the design or video would be great (save dissing my lack of timing!). I’m VERY excited to see this get out to the world!

Ribbon & pressure sensor -> arduino -> USB(MIDI) -> OSX or WIN -> synth software.

It looks like kits are going to land in the $50-$100 range depending on the sensor setup you choose. I’m using the Kickstarter to generate pre-orders, get larger parts quantities from suppliers,  and keep the price down.

More info there:   http://kck.st/zvTD9Q

The only trouble with a new instrument is learning to play it!

(spoiler HERE)

On investigation, it turns out that there’s very little in the market that is under $200 AND does USB. (and I’d always prefer <$100!) If you’re into 5-pin MIDI, check out the Coagula controller,  it’s killer and has an awesome LCD for setting tweakers.

What I’ve been thinking about has more to do with this:

This is “One String” Sam posing with his Diddley bow at the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues Fest. (Image from the Ann Arbor Sun,Sept. 24, 1973).

A true folk instrument is cheap, easy to make, and super expressive. What I’ve come up with is this:

Based off of the spectrasymbol position sensor and a second pressure sensor, it’s cheap, simple, USB, easy to make, and runs MIDI via op-source drivers and Arduino firmware which will be released in late spring. The second sensor allows for an unusual percussive attack on volume and effects (yeah,video is coming!). 15 modes will allow setings from pitchbend mode, to octave span variation, and … an “open string note” mode that will be tunable on the fly via a tuning knob. (Think Blues D backbeat drones…)

The trick to this project is to leverage a big parts buy with pre-orders, and get the cost WAY down!Those position sensors are a bear at $30-$50 a pop.

If you’re interested, give the project a link or a pre-order via the project’s

Kickstarter page!

I’ll be accepting pre-orders at a reduced price through March 15th. It looks like I should be able to ship all pre-orders before the 25th of this March. Pre-orders can be placed here: Bliptronome Kit!

I foolishly sold someone one of my pair, and will be looking forward to running 2 in tandem again!

This project, Apophenia will be performed along with works of Hans Tammens and MAKS as well as several fabulous video works at “Everything is Falling Apart,” an evening curated by Mathew Garrison. If you’ve seen my VBLANK performances, this will be unlike anything I’ve ever done (except for the wires hanging out everywhere). Check it out if you’re in NYC, the works will be performed at the Thomas Hunter Performance Space at Hunter College’s 86th & Lexington building. Check it out!

If Reason is your center, and you’re wondering how to get started with the Bliptronome and its cohorts, this video is a great place to start.

For those that aren’t into soldering and building a Bliptronome from scratch or from a kit, I’ve also been able to keep a small flow of fully-built Bliptronome conversions around. I can’t keep make them fast enough to list them in the kit shop (And they’re not price-effective to ship outside the U.S.), but feel free to drop me a line and see if I have one on hand, or can build one for you: wil-at-straytechnologies-dot-com.

A standard build in an new with the cable runs about $145 depending on supply and outside pricing changes. …. and yeah! If you’ve never seen one, they’re really 6″x6″… that’s portable!