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Automated snare drum made to the order of Aphex Twin (2014)
- 1001101 10y agoGo on, give us a snare rush https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snare_rush https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snare_rush
- sagichmal 10y agoDada Machines have a Kickstarter for a set of MIDI-controlled solenoids that can be used to a similar effect. (Not affiliated, just a backer.) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1481744082/dadamachines-music-machines-for-everyone https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1481744082/dadamachines...
- mmastrac 10y agoThis was a really interesting project to explore. The videos were well-produced and whet my appetite for playing with this a bit. It's probably something I can do more cheaply with an Arduino, assuming I don't count the value of my time.
- tyrust 10y agoBased on the timeline [0] I'm guessing that these were used in his album Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2. I assume that this robot is used on the track snar2 [1] and perhaps others. [0] - "15.01.2015: Aphex Twin announces a release using Robosnar as well as our HAT robot." [1] - Listen to an unauthorized upload here: https://soundcloud.com/xiao-bao-ming/02-snar2 https://soundcloud.com/xiao-bao-ming/02-snar2
- orbitur 10y agoYou can also listen and send a few pennies Aphex Twin's way on Apple Music, at least in Canada.
- tyrust 10y agoAlso on Amazon, Google Play (https://warp.net/releases/computer-controlled-acoustic-instruments-pt2-ep/ https://warp.net/releases/computer-controlled-acoustic-instr...), and Spotify (https://play.spotify.com/album/5IUjJ4VcmUvZnGAONAp2IX https://play.spotify.com/album/5IUjJ4VcmUvZnGAONAp2IX). I just wanted to give people a quick taste of what the thing actually sounds like.
- djhworld 10y agoThe Spotify artist page UI is an abomination. If you go to the "Aphex Twin" artist page https://open.spotify.com/artist/6kBDZFXuLrZgHnvmPu9NsG https://open.spotify.com/artist/6kBDZFXuLrZgHnvmPu9NsG, the Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments EP isn't listed at all. However if you search for it using the search interface you can find it.
- hansjorg 10y agoIt's listed under singles for me.
- mturmon 10y agoWhich is a fun and enjoyable album. (e.g., http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20156-computer-controlled-acoustic-instruments-pt2-ep/ http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20156-computer-controlle...)
- pidg 10y agoI found it an interesting concept but pretty lacklustre as a piece of music, especially after the incredible Syro. What's there is nice, but hardly any of the ideas develop beyond "hey, look what I did with these instruments". More like a demo than an EP.
- kakarot 10y agoRichard has been around long enough. I don't think he cares if everything he does is a masterpiece, he just likes fooling around and experimenting with new things.
- jsmthrowaway 10y agoI read speculation somewhere that the first track of that album is the finished product, and the other tracks are works in progress or mood/jam palettes or investigatory scraps of various parts, some of which went unused. When I listened through with that in mind it made sense (and made the album more approachable), and the track titles may indeed support that theory. But, as with all things Aphex Twin, we are left to interpret on our own -- who knows?
- jenrzzz 10y agoThe Hit AnyThing bot is pretty cool too. You can hear them both on "Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 EP" (2015). http://www.logosfoundation.org/instrum_gwr/HAT.html http://www.logosfoundation.org/instrum_gwr/HAT.html
- guscost 10y agoWhat a neat project. I've wondered about the robots for that album, cool stuff.
- trevyn 10y agoVideo? :(
- glitcher 10y agoI've been searching, so far coming up empty. Would love to see a video of Richard James sending midi data to that snare that was meant for a completely different instrument, maybe one of the melodies from Windowlicker :-P
- VSpike 10y agoEven though I think this was video trickery mostly, I often wonder if the later experiments with computer controlled instruments were partly inspired by this Monkey Drummer video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZGIrNf71Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZGIrNf71Q
- glitcher 10y agoHadn't seen that before, thanks for the link! That video is funny, perplexing and frightening all at the same time! I was a little relieved to realize the human appendages were added digitally (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Drummer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Drummer).
- soylentcola 10y agoThis was the first thing I thought of as well. I remember rigging up some colored gels into makeshift 3D glasses to watch this back in the day.
- pidg 10y agoYou can listen to some of the tracks made with these instruments here: https://bleep.com/release/56481-aphex-twin-computer-controlled-acoustic-instruments-pt2-ep https://bleep.com/release/56481-aphex-twin-computer-controll... Track 2 ('snar2') is basically a demo of the device.
- ovao 10y agoAn outfit called Polyend has commercialized the concept with something they call PERC, though I don't believe they have something capable of engaging and disengaging the snare like this contraption. http://polyend.com/perc-pro-drumming-machine/ http://polyend.com/perc-pro-drumming-machine/ [Not affiliated]
- mrmondo 10y agoFYI - Aphex Twin owns this / several of these and speaks very highly of them.
- softwarelimits 10y agoPlease also note "The absurdity of copyright" by Dr. Godfried-Willem RAES: http://logosfoundation.org/copyleft/copyrigh.html http://logosfoundation.org/copyleft/copyrigh.html
- jzwinck 10y agoReally interesting writeup. The contraption has parallels to some of what we do with software: automating a legacy system without completely reinventing it. For such an accomplished practitioner, the author made one glaring mistake: > We will use one solenoid on each side of the snares, thus doubling the force Clearly they have a system with one solenoid pulling from each end of the same thing. This does not increase the force at all. Pulling on a rope with one end fixed is just as good as pulling on both ends (from the rope's perspective there is no difference).
- gattilorenz 10y agoCouldn't it mean that the inner solenoids are active in pairs, so the two most external ones hit at the same time? That would mean hitting in the same direction on two different spots on the diameter of the circle, effectively doubling the force...
- jzwinck 10y agoReally interesting writeup. The contraption has parallels to some of what we do with software: automating a legacy system without completely reinventing it. For such an accomplished practitioner, the author made one glaring mistake: > We will use one solenoid on each side of the snares, thus doubling the force Clearly they have a system with one solenoid pulling from each end of the same thing. This does not increase the force at all. Pulling on a rope with one end fixed is just as good as pulling on both ends (from the rope's perspective there is no difference).
- stevehiehn 10y agoAwesome! I just started building a robotic band with rasberry pies and a bunch of selonoids :)
- rdtsc 10y agoAphex Twin is probably one of the few artists I have consistently liked and gone back to listen to over the years. I don't know anything much about music, but I feel out of electronic music past and present his works are the most dynamic and interesting. Most other stuff I kind of like but it gets old so move on to other things.
- chubot 10y agoI feel the same way, but ironically I attribute this to his knowledge of music outside of the electronic genre. I do listen to a bit of electronic music, but generally I prefer the sound of "real" instruments and what human hands play. In other words, Aphex Twin is the most "organic" electronic music out there. This acoustic drum is a great example of how far he will go to achieve that. I'm really impressed by the detailed work described in this page!
- nof 10y agoAnd at the same time, he is the most inorganic ️
- kakarot 10y agoIn what sense?
- manyxcxi 10y agoI've got this weird place in my mind for electronic music. I listen to it in the background nearly 9 hours a day while working. I've got a pretty huge collection on Spotify and a well-tuned Pandora channel. Generally up-beat, few words for the most part, not too Vegas or rave like. It needs to be interesting but not necessarily so interesting I start paying attention to it. I've got some classical mixed in, but I found that either I get bored of it or I start paying attention to it, and thus, it's purpose as background music is nullified. When I'm in the car or at home, anywhere else other than in my office I never listen to electronic music. Heavy metal/rock for the gym, and then basically anything under the sun that I like when I'm just listening.
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- rorosaurus 10y agoIf you liked this, you might also be interested in Squarepusher and Z-Machines "Music For Robots". It has significantly fewer technical details, however. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MluikyEQF4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MluikyEQF4
- ruraljuror 10y agoVery cool write up. If you like this, and aren't familiar you should definitely check out Pat Metheny's orchestrion: http://www.patmetheny.com/orchestrioninfo/ http://www.patmetheny.com/orchestrioninfo/
- almost 10y agoIf you like this you might also like http://FelixsMachines.com http://FelixsMachines.com by my friend Felix. From a good few years before this one :)
- moritzsimon 10y agoShameless self promotion: Over here at SonicRobots we are working on electronic music and robots as well http://sonicrobots.com/tripods/ http://sonicrobots.com/tripods/ We also got a huge list of music robot projects for anybody who wants to read more about that stuff http://learning.sonicrobots.com/list-of-music-robotic-projects/ http://learning.sonicrobots.com/list-of-music-robotic-projec...