drumFunny – percussive comedy & music humor

Thanks, Ben!

It’s worth coming back from hiatus just to share this amazing video. For anyone who watches Mythbusters, you understand how complicated something like this can be.

TwoYoutubeVideosAndAMotherFuckingCrossFader.com is not much more than a poor man’s DJ mixer that takes any two youtube videos and places a cross fader in between the two. It’s crazy simple in design and execution, but it does the job. Only drawback is you can’t preview a song before fading over (as is typical with a proper DJ mixer). Still, for poor college students who run party tunes from their laptop, the price is right; free!

(click the image to view working version)

This Misa Digital Guitar is a Linux-powered MIDI controller that ads the forgotten element of skill back into homemade electronic instruments. Explained by the creator:

“In electronic music, the timbre (or colour) of the sound can be morphed in an infinite number of ways. For a guitar to accommodate this, the right hand needs more control than just plucking strings. You need to be able to control elements of the sound, such as sustain, pitch, filter cutoffs, contour or any other synthesizer parameter, in a way that has no physical constraints.”

[Misa Digital via Engadget]

This guy is all I’d ever want in a household pet and a little more.

Here’s his basic thought process:
Crawl around, scout for an area with a playable surface (preferably flat), scoot into place, play a basic beat checking to see if it has a “good sound,” then make a sample he can then play over top of.

R2-D2 eat your heart out.

(via letsmakerobots.com)

We’ve done a bunch of posts in the last few months spotlighting new and emerging music technology applications (i.e. iPhone and Guitar Hero). I’ve been on both sides of passionate debates over whether these technologies are actually good for young and developing musicians. I’m curious what the drumFunny community thinks. Do games like Guitar Hero take the real work and commitment out of music, do they inspire new generations of musicians, or do you think they have zero effect in the end? Cast your vote and give your thoughts in the comments.

Stanford’s Mobile Phone Orchestra, or MoPho, is an experimental musical ensemble that uses mobile phones (primarily iPhones) as their musical instrument. MoPho takes advantage of the “unique technological capabilities of today’s hardware and software, transforming multi-touch screens, built-in accelerometers, built-in microphones, GPS, data networks, and computation into powerful and yet mobile chamber meta-instruments.”

MoPho began back in 2007 by Stanford University faculty member Ge Wang and held its first public performance in January of 2008.

With screen size being a major limiting factor, the market for apps like this should explode once tablets really take off (Mac tablet, prease).

What at first glance looks like a cross between a Lite-Brite and a dedicated minesweeper handheld device is actually the Tenori-On, a slick 16 x 16 grid of LED lights that responds to touch triggering different playbacks, in the end creating cool, futuristic music – almost what I’d imagine my personal theme music to be if I had a flying car in the year 2127. I still can’t figure out what the hell this guy is doing to get the playback he’s getting, but it’s cool nonetheless. If you’re not up for purchasing your own but want a hands-on demonstration, check out ToneMatrix – it’s a simpler, yet totally badass flash app using the same concept.

A fairly straight forward and simple music creating app that shows just how difficult retardedly easy it is to create cool grooves so long as you have the right sound samples. Admittedly, it’s pretty addicting. Click on the picture to give it a shot for yourself. Thanks to Doug Steinmetz for the link.

Free plug time!

Hey Houston people (and I know there are a lot of you)! If you’re into arranging and writing percussion (or just any music in general) and want to hone your skills using the most badass piece of percussion arranging technology to date, check out Bryan Harmsen’s Master Class on Virtual Drumline and Sibelius October 7th in Houston, TX. Official link is here.

Address:
Seven Lakes High School Band Room
9251 S. Fry Rd. Katy TX, 77494

Any person willing to sit and show you how to the intricacies and operation of a program like VDL and Sibelius is well worth your time. Take my word for it.