The Ohm-ing Beacon

The new instrument, The Ohm-ing Beacon, is not built from an audio device at all. By happy accident, while trying to use the LEDs from a spinning top toy, I discovered they produced tones!

The tones are varied; the alternating brightness and colors of the lights produces different notes. This isn't the one I used, I didn't think to take a picture of it since I thought I was just salvaging components, though I would love to get my hands on this one now. The two I got were taped to cereal boxes. In Korea, you get a number of random things for free at the grocery store that are just taped to other things!


The tops I used have 3 Leds, red, blue, and green. One of them had to be shut off for the sound circuit to work, connection to the green light made the best audio loop, but turned the brightest light off. The green Led still produces sound from what I can tell, but no light anymore. It wasn't until I saw the following picture I realized a connection between the light and sound: Both are the same circuits but for some reason, one is brighter than the other. Interestingly, the darker circuit plays in a lower key than the other! I am thinking that the pulses you see in the picture are the visual representations of the aural oscillations.


This is the original circuit I accidentally attached to a speaker in an ass-backward way:


March of the Light Emitting Diodes


As a bus for some of the multiple connections, and as representation of the spiritual elements of the instrument, I used two totems.

Humanity: wired to the mind, clueless, and wide eyed. There is not much control here try as it might, just things flowing in and out of the mind.


Divinity: god of music. The soul of sound. Keyboard at hand and omnipotence in a three-eyed elephant face.


Two synthesizers. Two totems. Lots of Hot Melt Glue!

I turned the switches around on the circuits and balanced the boards on a ruler I shattered. It has a 1/4 inch output from an old tape player. I didn't bother to remove it from the old circuit board. You can see it on the

Bottom:


Side:


Other Side:


Front and Top:


The name refers to the electronic Ohm, the Hindu/Buddhist Om, and a homing beacon. It is an aid in finding one's way.

The video does not have properly recorded audio. It was made before the instrument was finished for documentation in case I destroyed it accidentally. I hope you find what you are looking for.

finished for now

Finished the Tremolo build.


Unfortunately I didnt do anything with the housing because I was to impatient and just wanted to get soldering. Even though the plain unfinished metal has its own aesthetic, I decided to start covering it with some felt I had lying around. The googly eyes were also lying around and fit too perfectly to resist.



My real plans are to make a vest or "coat" (?) for the pedal out of felt. Its going to be one piece of felt with holes cut where the knobs, LED, and jacks are, and wrap around the pedal. I can then glue and sew things onto this base. There will be velcro on the back for a snug fit and so I can change the batt trees. More on that as I begin my trial and error process of cutting and sewing.

Tremolo

FINALLY got around to building one of the effects pedal kits I have been sitting on for the past few months. This is a Build Your Own Clone Tremolo.



I l o v e the digital macro function on my camera, components never looked so good.


This shot is for Colin. He knows why.


I started around 7 but unfortunately could not finish it all in one sitting because I am an old man with a full time job and a bed time.

abb cents

I offer many apologies for my extended absence, here is a quick run down of the past months activities

I helped Jen with her thesis in early April. Several hundred plastic bags, a phone call from the fire marshal, and a furious 24 hour finale later, it came out a total success! I will be sure to post pictures once Jen finishes her finals and has some more time on her hands. It took me 6 months to post a video of my thesis on this blog so I am in no position to hurry her.


I helped Benton-C Bainbridge on a collaboration with experimental drummer Bobby Privet called April in New York 2008. It was 5 nights of performances at a Swing Space at the South Street Seaport with a different musician/dj/artist collaborating with Bobby every night. Benton, who is a VJ, was experimenting with "video as lighting" and created different environments and configurations every evening with various lamps, gels, Xmas lights, flat screen TVs, and projectors. The whole event was filmed to be made into a DVD sometime in the future. Here are a few photos I took of the different set ups before the event started each night.

This picture is the sound check on Wednesday with Mike Pride. Probably my favorite night in terms of the music played. Mike Pride, aside from being awesome, has the most righteous mustache I have ever seen.


This is from Thursday with laptop artist Ikue Mori. Note the totally sweet flat screen TV tables we made. You can thank the magic of artists grants for making this ridiculous(ly awesome) use of expensive electronics possible.


This is from Saturday with DJ Olive when Jen helped out as well.



Before all of these events occured I had my first "real" opening at City Without Walls in Newark for their 1800frames|Take4 exhibition. I got three one minute videos in, biking, driving, and throwing. You can watch all the videos from exhibition on the cWoW website or here.


This past weekend there was Bent Fest 08 in the city. It was a fun time, but a little disappointing due to poor location and organization. Workshops that could have been incredibly informative went on to long and then were cut short before any real useful information could be obtained. This is the first year I stayed for the shows in the evening, and that too was a bit disappointing. Way to much listless boring noise. Spunky Toofers brought some much needed energy to show with his bent-hendrix-noise-flailing that melted a few faces and my favorite band of the evening was definitely Alias Pail, who rocked out some wonderful glitchy bent pop music.


Thats about it. Not many eel lock true nick things happening in the past few months, which, however unfortunate or necessary, will be corrected shortly. TONS of stuff just sitting on shelves, in harddrives, or in my brain that need to see the light of day (and by that I mean the internet), so expect some house cleaning and updates on regular starting.....now!

Fortune Favors the Brave

1. The Wee Ones at the Base of Mount Dreamy Plans

The Wee Ones gathered around
to decide the fate of their town.
The idle mountain, avalanching tears,
caused the villagers panic and fear.

The mountain cried to them,
“I’m coming down!”
but the Wee Ones protests resounded:

“We need dreamy plans. We need dreams.”

Said the mountain, to everyone:
“You best get out of here.
The time has come.
The pressure’s too great
up in the clouds,
so I will join you all,
down on the ground.

Then came rumbles underneath
all of the Wee Ones steady feet.
Mount Dreamy Plans
saw them stay.
The mountain begged them
to go away,
but the Wee Ones
wouldn't move,
filling Mount Dreamy Plans
with love.
Inside Mount Dreamy Plans
it all built up.
Instead of coming down,
it did erupt!
Now, Mount Dreamy Plans
is piled high.
The Wee Ones let out
a smiled sigh.
The Wee Ones
at the base of Mount Dreamy Plans
lived their lives fine.

2. Fable for the Future



There was one Wee One that did not stay to support Mount Dreamy Plans. The special connection Gϋbi shared with the mountain’s spirit gave him insight into why the mountain was feeling anxious. Mount Dreamy plans, now loftier than ever, could no longer feel the ominousness brushed against its face by the wind. Before the mountain could come down or hold up, Gϋbi made haste to the village archivist’s hut. The lone Wee One set to the task of recording the premonition that struck him like a finger flick from god. Ensuring he spoke slowly and clearly, but unable to keep his voice from trembling, Gϋbi recollected the danger that all living things would face in the foreseeable future. The capsulized record was the only Wee-made item to survive the village.



3. Motorboat Rainbow

Before his daydream materialized, Gϋbi set out on the Ones’ only vessel, across the foggy Sea of Forgotten Friends. Having never traveled away from the village before, with no insight as to which direction to go, and knowing his memory would be extinguished during the journey, he pointed himself toward the unknown horizon. Gϋbi hid the archive capsule in the hull of the boat. It was the only memory that would survive from the Village of Wee. He needed to protect it from himself, while traversing the sea. The memory would be coveted, conjured and quickly ebb with the tide in a last effort to maintain the sanity of an anchored memory

How long have I been out here? How long has it been since the day I left the shore? How long? How long do I have to...

I'm waitin' for my rainbow; searchin' for my pot of gold. If a rainbow's a circle there is no end and I'm becoming my own best friend.

Telepathy is possible when your all alone, but it's still hard to hear the thoughts and where they're coming from.

Where am I coming from? Have I forgotten so soon?

I'm lost in a sea surrounded by rainbows. I cannot see.
I'm lost in the ocean surrounded by water I refuse to drink. I stay thirsty.

I'm running out of gas.

I'm hungry for a rainbow.

I gotta paddle back.

I haven't tasted the colors, save for gray.

I have to paddle back.

I have to paddle back.

Maybe that's it.

Gϋbi had lost himself, both in person, and in location. In a final panic, as the last memory disappeared into the fog, he frantically paddled the now gnarled boat. How did the boat come to be gnarled? How far? How long? Now Lost, with the rest of the How’s, Who’s What Where and Why, the If’s, And’s, or But’s and When; it was all gone.

4. The Day the Field Workers Were Forever Frightened

The Wee Villagers didn’t have enough time to realize Gϋbi was gone before mayhem struck the serenity of the scene. The rumbling of the mountain had only subsided slightly when a new rumbling came over the horizon. From behind the mountain appeared a monster. Those who tried to escape were annihilated; and everyone tried to escape. Explosions were not rendered in slow motion, as if they were a scene in a movie. They came and went with the speed of lightning bolts; the sound mixing with nightmarish screams and damning bellows. The path the monster blazed scorched the Earth. The village was destroyed. The monster concentrated on bringing darkness to every corner of the land.

Mount Dreamy Plans was the only entity that did not fall under the monster’s determined destruction but the mountain was still affected by the event. Unable to bear the pain bestowed upon his symbiotic surroundings, the mountain plunged into a coma. Years passed as the mountain lay dormant. The Ghosts of the Ones surrounded the area, but after the monster was finished with it, not even ghosts dared inhabit it.

The only thing we have is fear itself.

5. Buildings

Gϋbi, unaware of his name, his past, or his whereabouts, continued into graying skies until he reached a village much unlike the one he had long lost and forgotten. Things were strange. Gϋbi knew he had lost the memory in his brain, but in the new surroundings, even his subconscious instincts were thrown into loops. He doubted every decision, was unsure whether to come or go. He sank into himself for comfort, but there was nothing left inside to warm the cold that had fallen on the outside. In seclusion and anonymity, even Gϋbi’s core emotions were lulled into dormancy, and though he had contact with others, they too were blank faced and empty, adding to his isolation.

Despite his emptiness, or maybe in response to it, Gϋbi sensed something welling up inside of him. It pained him to have no outlet. He was on the brink of insanity and revelation, of despair and desperation, but there was nowhere to go with any of it. Almost torn as he was, Gϋbi stabilized himself in an unnatural system in hope that something would change before his whole being burst.








6. The Mad Machine

The Mad Machine was planned long ago. It was brought into being by a few likeminded conspirators who were eventually consumed and outlived by the monster. All living things were forced to do its bidding. No plant, animal, or microorganism was spared from suffering its order. The only being able to remain stable in the new environment was The Mad Machine. Its adaptation was almost immediate to evolution of its own motives.

The machine’s control over the entities of the world became a sinister dance, an orchestral operation conducted by an evil engine.

I’m telling you:

The buildings went up and the Wee Ones went down.

None of them knew they were robots.

The Mad Machine destroyed their dreams.

El Colin is The Mad Machine.

None of them knew they were robots working for The Mad Machine.

7. A Meditation on the Myriad Life of the Metropolis

While working for the Sanitation Commission setup by The Mad Machine, Gϋbi saw something unlike anything in the machine’s world. It was bright and glowed with life. There had not been one day since he stared that Gϋbi left work early. It was the way things worked. He only had one bag and that bag was disposed of by the Disposal Commission exactly when his shift ended. Gϋbi abandoned his sanitation bag and ran to his domicile, passing many other automated entities along the way. He did not stop and his presence was barely noted. His discovery was concealed with his anonymous identity in a nation of stagnation.

When he reached his designated place of sleep, Gϋbi burst through the door. Immediately, the room was filled with the life of the light. He had forgotten all of his inabilities. His surroundings melted into a canister of hope placed directly in front of his fixed eyes. Risking the newly obtain feeling of warmth and acting on the first autonomous thought he had since before he could remember, he pried open the capsule. At once, like a vivid dream, the memories of his life bombarded his dormant mind, leaving him paralyzed with wonder.

Gϋbi saw the mountain, saw the families of his forgotten race. He knew he had to confront the worst feelings he had ever been subjected to. Instead of retreating back into the cold shelter of the darkness, Gϋbi faced the future with an exhilaration he had not felt in years. He remembered his name. He knew his place: He was Keeper of Mount Dreamy Plans! He must find the mountain before all that the Ones lived for was lost.

8. Dance of the Downtrodden Optimist

Gϋbi’s spirit was reconnected with the mountain. He was shocked to discover the close proximity of Mount Dreamy Plans. Buried in the middle of the metropolis, the mountain was resting in a concrete cage, surrounded on all sides by the faces of windowless buildings. The overpowering sensations building in Gϋbi caused an explosion. Gϋbi’s body was flung through a wall in his designated domicile and he landed, miraculously, at the base of Mount Dreamy Plans!

The abrupt impact of the One woke the mountain. Gϋbi felt as though he had been broken, but suddenly, he realized the sensation was that of breaking free! He danced around the mountain, proud to be reunited with a small piece of his past. Celebrating and sharing strength, the mountain and Gϋbi reveled in each others’ company.

The concrete at the mountain’s base started to crumble and grass began to grow from the forsaken ground. Hope was flooding all of Gϋbi’s being. Mount Dreamy Plans fed the feelings and gave comfort to Gϋbi when remember the great loss of the past. Gϋbi rested on the mountain and slowly finished taking in the memories of his life. As Gϋbi regained his color, so did the world around him. Spreading out from the mountain, a natural equilibrium fell on the immediate area.

A new system was sprouting inside an obsolete machine.

_______________________________________________________

The new album is here! This is the official release! You can download it for free!

Go to this website:
http://www.archive.org/details/AllOverTheWhere-FortuneFavorsTheBrave

**It may look confusing but follow my simplified version of the page in the next to pictures:

To download the music:
Click on "VBR ZIP"
---see the picture below
(If you own a mac, I think you hold 'option' and click)

To download the art and the story,

Click on "271.4K"

----see the picture below

I apologize because, no matter what I tried, I was unable to get all the information for each song file save on the file, so you may have to do some work editing song name, album name, artist name and track number. It bothers me but I did everything I could... a small tweak in an otherwise well arranged release...

The idea was to release the album as fully downloadable and free. To make the art and music as obtainable for a stranger on the street to my best friends and family... All of whom, are too far away for me to simply give a cd at the moment.

The original hope was to release the album on Feb 29th - Leap Year Day, but having only worked on it for about a month or 2 at that point, I knew there was a lot more to be done with the concept that was shaping. There are still improvements that could have been made, however I am eager to move on to the next projects in music and instrument building.

The album is mostly a product of a gray winter away from friends and family and anything familiar.

If you need help, have questions, wanna start something or anything else, just drop me an email.

-el colin

seoul, republic of korea, 4/14/8

Dance of the Downtrodden Optimist

The Making of...

The making of the new album, Fortune Favors the Brave, has been fun, painstaking and is just short of coming to a close.

It is my pleasure to debut one of the songs from the album entitled "Dance of the Downtrodden Optimist" with a brand new music video!

The making of the video was extremely fun. A lot of the credit is owed to my girlfriend, Renae, who was half of the videoing team! - Thanks to her, I remain sane throughout this project.

Finishing the video is huge for me - the end is almost near! Expect the album in the next few weeks! Until then enjoy this preview of the preview... a few pictures from the process of the videoing.



My 2 favorite characters.




People on the subway didn't seem bothered that I gave up my seat to a plastic shark.



The frog-typed thing was a child's purse. It cost 800 won @ the Beautiful Store.





My newly obtained desk was detained for the project immediately.





...and lots of smiles were had by all.

it lives!

Mana-Fest @ Seed Gallery this Friday

Doug Oneil, Philippe Garcesto, and Asad Khan are putting on a show, Mana-Fest, at the Seed Gallery this Friday the 22nd. The Seed Gallery is at 239 Washington st. Newark, which is a few blocks away from ECC, Rutgers, and Penn Station. [Directions] .

It starts at 8 with performances, interactive media art, food and wine, and then I guess turns into a party as it says it goes to 3am. There is a cover, so if you plan on going I recommend printing a flyer so its cheaper and drinking/eating/dancing your monies worth.





They asked me to show some work so the Where will be showing Divination, the interactive video element from the thesis show last year. This time Im using a Sonic cartridge instead of Tiny Toons.

Brave, But Not Stupid

Although all of us have probably had to dumb ourselves down a bit over the past 7 years, we can at least take away lessons from G.W. Bush's mistakes. The lesson applied here is that if necessary, previous comments and commitments must be amended to adjust for current situations. Due to new developments in sound, storyline and production,

the new album, 'Fortune Favors the Brave' will not be released on the original date of 2/29/08.

It would be a glorious date to release on, but it was even ambitious to presume completion by the 29th, and that was before more ideas started to develop.

The album, will most likely be released in March, if not, in April.

The reasons are as follows:

1. The sound, although aesthetically fit, can still be improved through editing.

2. The album is a concept album. It fits to a story and the story and artwork must be presented properly. To this date, the artwork and finished story are not completed.

3. The album will now be co-released with a DVD of videos for songs on the album! The videos are yet to be completed.


The goal of the release is to be accessible, sensible, artistic and supportive.

The written story, 2D art and Sonic pieces of the album will be released for free online!

The DVD and some limited edition CDs will be released as the physical manifestation of the album and will be available through members of All Over the Where.

Until Next Time...

Be Brave!

this is what i do at work

at my new job we dont have internets, im not supposed to be on the phone, and we cannot read magazines or books. but we do have ms paint. so for the last week, this is what i did.

inspired in part by colins songs for the new album and jacki's work ms paintings

more news from this side of the vvorld vvide vveb soon.

The New Album

The new album is set to be released on the extra-est day of the year; February 29th! 2008.

A day that only happens once every four years is the key to unlocking greatness. It is the day my hero and cousin, Daniel Nester, was born and will be the day the new album is released.

The name of the album has yet to be discovered...


As a teaser trailer of sorts, to the album, here are a few of the song names in a semi-particular order:

The Wee Ones at the Base of Mount Dreamy Plans
Fable for the Future
Motorboat Rainbow
Buildings
The Day the Fieldworkers Were Forever Frightened
Simultaneous Singular Migration
The Mad Machine




There will be a few more songs added, possibly some taken away, surprises and wonder galore...

I am excited... I know you are too.

This post will self destruct in 18 days. A new post, with the final track listing, will be posted on February 1st. The album and artwork will follow 28 Days Later - on February 29th.

recently

Music Video

"How High the Sky, How Far the Moon?"

from Electric Animals Go Sleepy Bye-Byes and Other Byoots




Go to the source to watch it fullscreen!

Discography

I am working on a new album! It will be released under All Over the Where. The details again are spectacularly fuzzy. I thought you might enjoy these sacred relics though.

The "Blue Collar Sessions" CD is the first aspirations for glory. It is a live album. The initial session includes Faeli on Guitar, Jango on Drums, Me on Keyboards, and Reid on Bass.
The Second Session is included and has Bujak and Jesse thrown into the mix on guitar, drums, and maybe keysboards I think.



It is a poorly recorded album but the quality is there in the heart of the music. The album also includes "The Lost Track" - a track that wasn't recorded on Reid's computer but was captured on my cassette recorder! This album was ultra-limitedly released. It is a gift from Reid to me and consists of one CD. There have many illicit copies and who cares.

It is called the Blue Collar Session because all or most of us were wearing blue collared shirts at the time.



The "Wires and Adapters" CD is the 2nd release and the first release that captures the direction we have been heading in from the beginning. It has a wide array of sounds, mostly recorded on "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" 4 track recorder and some on my hunker cassette recorder or the dictation machine. Our wildest dreams are on this CD in audio format. It includes songs that tell a short story about chipmunks that end up drunk driving, a love song for the bottom of a lake, a song for wallowing when the donkey lost, and a song for the judicial trial of a milkweed bug, just to name a few. Another gift of a release from Reid to me - there is only one actual released copy of this album with plenty of other copies made for those who are interested.







Rend A Clonic Hell was never released:



Before my first solo album, "Rock Me Hardplace" was released, this was another potential album cover and name. "Rend A Clonic Hell" is an anagram of my name. Another one is "A Chill Clone Nerd" but was saving that one for a follow up album. Well the anagram album was altered and was eventually released as "Rock Me Hard Place" The release included 50 CDs. Each one has original art work inside as well as a number and a WOB (Word of Booklet). I still have number 1. My WOB is "Whippersnapper." This CD was still a collaboration with Reid because of the circuit bending sampling that was a main base for the album. It is considered an All Over the Where release.

The album was released at a halloween costume party, which was fitting. The charge for the album is anything you want, an idea which Radiohead stole from me for their new album, which I haven't listen to yet... I ended up making almost enough money back to pay for the party so it was worth it. The album got a great response. The artwork for the outside covers looks like this:



As with all of these you can print this out and copy your own All Over the Where album. I will send copies of the songs for each album and maybe even more artwork by email if you contact me about it!

The hit song from this album, Marsupial Moonshine, is still on my myspace page: El Colin .You can see the drawing it was based off of in the artwork. Sam and I had a bet whether a Tasmanian Devil was a marsupial. I won saying 'of course it is' and Sam had to make me a drawing, but I fulfilled my song side of the bet anyway, inspired by the drawing.


After the "Rock Me Hardplace" album (which is me between a rock and a hardplace if you didn't notice,) there was a stretch of focusing on creating new instruments and experimenting on circuit bending that took All Over the Where to a new level.

We developed "The Frog Opera" over months with some new and old instruments. There are a number of Frog Opera recordings, but the one that was released was "The Frog Opera: Live at Lovemonster's" This CD is a Live CD of the performance at Lovemonster's house in December of 2006. There is a video of the end of the second to last movement and the last movement, or 'song' here:



It is really poorly documented video wise. There is not enough light to see what is going on but The person most shown is me, Reid is in there somewhere. This was the wrap up of the whole "Opera" that turned out to be a hip hop track called "Bringin' it Back".


The "Frog Opera" has a 'booklet' that was given to the audience with a concise description of the performance:
Act 1
-Life on the Surface
-Stuck in the Mud
-The Great Storm
Act 2
-The Whale in My Pond
-Bringin' it Back

Above is a picture of the setup. "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" 4Track is working as a mixer and recorder. All of the audio is pumping out of the large bass amp. We were working with multiple circuit bent instruments, including a new invention of the summer I will post about at a later date. We switched tapes on the last song to a prerecorded. circuit bent, casio beat, and recorded out rap live. The rest of the performance is fully live. The high five before the last song is for not recording over the prerecorded tape we were about to rap over. Although "Bringin' it Back" was planned into "The Frog Opera" long before the performance, we did not write the song until the day of the performance. Although there were some mistakes in flow on my part, I still claim the overall performance of this song could not have been beat for the time and place. The rest of the 'opera' was executed perfectly and spontaneously but save the end of "The Whale in My Pond", mo more of it was caught on tape.

There was another very limited release of CDs for 'The Frog Opera'. About 5 were traded for other pieces of art at a gallery exhibition Reid and I performed at. There were about 5 others made personally for friends who were there through most of the process. These are two of the custom collaged covers. All of the covers included a frog and a whale and some other elements of the 'Opera':





If those of you who have the other copies of "The Frog Opera" could scan them and send the images back to us, it would be greatly appreciated. The same goes with the El Colin CD artwork. You will be rewarded for your cooperation in this matter. Ha ha ha ha (evil laugh).



The last album released is documented on the blog. Right before I left for Korea, with even more new breakthroughs in circuit bending and instrument building and song development, "Electric Animals Go Sleepy Bye-Byes and Other Byoots" is the perfect transition to a new era of All Over the Where. The description of the original release is here. Byoots stands for beauties. It is a transition album from Wires and Adapters into the new release coming soon. Again This album is inspired by, and inspires, dreams.

The CD is a 50 album release so far with other copies being made by request. The album art can be downloaded and printed. The artwork was copied at my previous employers and each CD was simply folded into the piece of paper the artwork was printed onto. If folded properly you can fold the side flaps into each other, securing the CD in the paper. The other songs on my myspace page are from the 'byoots' album.



An unreleased version of the studio "Frog Opera" song "The Whale in my Pond" can currently be found at the All Over the Where myspace page as well as two other unreleased awesomes.

There will be a sort of audio 'teaser trailer' of the new album appearing on the blog soon. The other audio is definitely worth checking out for now. Keep updated and email me :
elcolin (at) gmail.com
for copies of previous albums and artwork,copies of unreleased songs, and the like.

Strobe Light Tremolo

I got a free volume pedal from Build Your Own Clone and decided to try modify it somehow. I attached a photocell to the volume pot so now the volume can be controlled either by the pot or a light source. This may seem like a pretty silly thing to put on a volume pedal but my reasons are two fold. One is to allow ambient light effect the volume of particular instruments (for when it gets warm again and I move my set up outdoors) and the second is to try and make a strobe light/vactrol powered tremolo. Here is the video:



As you can hear the main the issue Im having is the clicking or clipping sound that happens when the volume cuts out. Not to sure how to fix that. Trimpots and resistors come to mind but I think the problem is the strobe light itself so the next test I am going to do will be with a vactrol and a pulse circuit. More to come.

forgot...

...to mention that i posted this video clip of my thesis show. this is the first short clip of several i will be posting in the coming weeks. this one is of evan demarow.

Stop Motion

I found this stop motion video bye Colin and Renae on my computer. They havent put it on youtube yet so I figured I would. Here it is, and sorry Colin and Renae if you wanted to post this!

some things i did today

Fixed Jacki's drum machine. This thing is acid house music in a box. I could literally sit with it for hours using samples and drums to make minimalist house techno. Tons of fun, but unfortunately designed poorly, the power adapter plug port thing easily brakes, and turns a perfectly functional techno machine into junk.




Also finished Jacki's keyboard. Didnt do anything too out of the ordinary with this one. Standard pitch-bend and body contact with a 1/8inch output. I also added two LEDs which ended up being totally useless. I tried to wire them to the audio output so they would flash in time with the music but using one two of them would make the audio too low to hear. My next thought was to use it for some photocell action, but then realized that if they dont change with the music or modulate in some way its sorta useless. Although I did figure out a neat little trick to make them turn on and off with the keyboard without having to deal with those really annoying PCB slidey switches all circuit benders hate. All you gotta do is add a new wire from the LED to the + of the battery and attached the LED ground to the speakers ground and it works perfect. I tried to think of cool things to do with the lights, but nothing work so Im leaving them as is. I also tried to etch/scratch it with a dremel but the plastic was really brittle and proved way more difficult than I anticipated.



Started building a really simple volume pedal I got for free from Build Your Own Clone. Its the simplest possible pedal, but it is apparently pretty nice, so Im adding among other things a photocell to control the volume. I dont know if this is a terrible idea or not (Im guessing it probably is) but I think it might let me make really ghetto tremolo effects in a dark room with a flashlight with some delay. Put some reverb on that, and I could probably get some nice volume swell effects going on as well.

Tomorrow I am going to Hand Made Music (scroll down a few entries on the cmd blog to find info) with Jen. Its a very cool looking/sounding event in Brooklyn dedicated to homemade instruments and audio devices so expect some photos and words on that later.