Digital technology has made music oddly invisible, virtualized somewhere inside a screen – but it also allows music to be mapped more literally to the physical world than ever before. Some of these experiments may even be silly, but they suggest a lot of possibilities.
From Poland, BeatMachine is a project that sequences beats in a step sequencer using discarded beer bottle caps. Would-be Internet haters, I suggest you count the number of beer bottle caps on the table, and start drinking that number while watching. I guarantee eventually it’ll seem like a brilliant idea.
Make sure you keep watching to the clever-looking software they’ve evidently developed for the task.
If this seems familiar, it was in fact inspired by the Bubblegum Sequencer featured here previously, and its rival I Eat Beats. Through the power of the Internet, iterating and improving ideas isn’t just something you do for yourself alone – it’s something you can share with others. That’s the idea behind our own tangible interface hackday coming up on Saturday:
Thanks to Artur Nowak for the tip. I know we have a number of readers in Poland, so is there anyone who could help with a quick translation?
(Oh, and Poland, by the way – my book was actually translated into your language!)
Peter Kirn
Jaymis Loveday
James Grahame
Primus Luta
michaeluna
Kim Cascone
Ben Long
Tom Whitwell
John Jacobus
Chris Stack
Marsha Vdovin
Markus Schroeder
Matt Earp
Kristin Trethewey
very funny.
how do you switch patterns ?
My favorite part is definitely the cute little "LECH" icons in the software. I hope the LECH people pick up on this and sponsor the project
Speaking of I Eat Beats, I updated it a few months ago as a more generic control surface, but haven't had much time to play with it since then. http://vimeo.com/3273927
What Book?
something I'd actually want to use
YADMS (yet another drum machine sequencer)
If we're on this tangible sequencer bent, can i get in some shameless publicity for the Go based sequencer i created a few months back.
http://hackaday.com/2008/12/04/the-go-sequencer/
it's fallen down on my list of ongoing projects but eventually it'll be something….i hope
I'm from Poland and I've just realised, that i have your book. Nice one
and a translation (quick one) from the BeatMachine site:
BeatMachine Amateur is a musical step sequencer. It allows you to simply create music, using bottle caps (beer bottle caps of course)
It works in a quite simple way. The table has a glass top instead of a standard one. On that there is a piece of paper divided into tracks. Every track consists of several equal areas. Web cam placed under the table sends the picture to a software, which analyses in which areas the shadows of the caps are. If there is a shadow – there is a sound. You can assign different sound to every track.
To play with the device you just have to prepare a table (link) and run our software (link). We will be happy if you share with us your version of the machine and a screenshot of the software.(marcinw87 [ at ] gmail.com)
Here's a little show off of our beatmachine:
[movie]
We didn't create this to pass any kind of exam, nor to advertise anything. Just for fun and as a challenge. We didn't also expect, that so many people are going to like it. The only payment we got for this project is our satisfaction. And we thank You for that!
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