drumFunny – percussive comedy & music humor

By deconstructing a perfectly normal marimba, rigging a circular 3 octave marimba, and hooking up a labyrinth of MD24 MIDI decoders, Larry Cotton has managed to create the first MIDI programmed instrument that actually sounds like, well, an instrument.

Thanks, Keith

We had a post back in April about Shimon, the marimba playing robot. Well, now it has a head…a head that can bob in time with music…and look around at the other musicians…and blink.

From the Georgia Tech Center For Music Technology

“The stage debut of Shimon, the robotic marimba player. Also, the world first human-robot rendition of Duke Jordan’s “Jordu”, for human piano and robot marimba.

The robot listens to the human play and tries to match its beat, sync, and themes. It uses choreographic gestures to generate both motion and sound.”

On a side note, can anyone identify the Robot’s mallet series of choice? 

Thanks, Amy!

Chelsea requested recognition for sending in this video, so here you go Chelsea…