77 Comments

TW

heh, them crazy japanese folks..
great stuff!!

April 16, 2010 @ 10:49 am

ben

Fake. This is well-produced baloney. Not a real demo of flex sensors. Flex sensors are much more difficult to control than this video demonstrates. Just a medium-clever ad idea from an ad agency.

April 16, 2010 @ 12:00 pm

genjutsushi

Peter – great couple of articles youve posted in the last few days. The standard of CDM is excellent at the mo!

Ben. Looks like each shoe only has one function – and mostly they are just triggering one shot samples. Bit of modulation on one worn pair. So what makes you think its fake?

April 16, 2010 @ 12:29 pm

six.fingered.chyld

absolutely impressive!
fresh creative and fun!
whether it was real or not, the end product definitely takes my attention away from all the indonesian sweat shops where these shoes originate from…
thanks for posting the vid!

April 16, 2010 @ 12:53 pm

peter Nyboer

I tried to play the bottom movie, but it takes me to the signal flow jpg. (osx.5,safari). Delete this stupid comment when it’s fixed :)

April 16, 2010 @ 12:54 pm

strauss

Too bad the music is so bad. And really. Who cares HOW you control the music. Gimmicky if you ask me.

April 16, 2010 @ 1:32 pm

AO

“I hope people think it is not fake :)”

I imagine most people will assume it’s fake; I did prior to reading this article . . .

April 16, 2010 @ 2:01 pm

Foosnark

Of course it’s gimmicky — you might have noticed they’re selling shoes. :P But it’s amusing.

They probably should have shown some of the build process and the software to help convince people that it wasn’t fake.

April 16, 2010 @ 2:04 pm

salamanderanagram

kinda sad, really that people cannot imagine putting a motion sensor inside of a shoe and must therefore assume it’s fake? faking something like this would be almost as much of a pain in the ass as just doing it, ffs.

April 16, 2010 @ 2:12 pm

Nike Music Shoe Commercial |

[...] Details on how it was made at CreateDigitalMusic.com [...]

April 16, 2010 @ 2:34 pm

s

Its really not that hard to put in a bend sensor or use accelerometers to trigger notes etc, so I don’t know why everyone assumes it is fake. The hardest part would be the performance, timing etc.

April 16, 2010 @ 3:10 pm

fizzle

Quantize.

April 16, 2010 @ 3:41 pm

waveplant

As someone who does a lot of composing for advertising, I’m struck by this on a completely different level. Knowing how much time and energy are often spent in the process of original music creation with the agency hiring several different music companies to throw different ideas at the same piece, I think this is a great example of marketer and composer making a true commitment to partner up and build something seamlessly tailored to communicate a specific message. That’s innovative in and of itself, and subverts a method that in my opinion, quite often devalues original music while confusing the process.

April 16, 2010 @ 3:50 pm

Musical Shoes : The Ramblings + Musings of Jae Bordley

[...] [via Create Digital Music] [...]

April 16, 2010 @ 4:10 pm

ZZZtupid

Ah cool the new Nike Air Max…for live.

April 16, 2010 @ 5:39 pm

TechLo

A foot guy just told me bendy shoes were bad for your feet, but I guess I’ll keep that on the down-low as I only live a mile from Nike World HQ :)

April 16, 2010 @ 6:40 pm

zero ref

@Waveplant…..good point! The fact that an artist is, or their art is, more or less the advertisement itself is a benefit. Anything that allow for a more direct expression of art to people, putting aside questions of judgement on said art, can be a good thing.

That being said, I find it difficult to ignore the commercial nature of this piece, and by association CDM’s support of it. I know CDM blogs about all sorts of stuff, and the music business (especially the tech) is a business, but for those of us who feel strongly about the negative impact advertising and the economic system it helps drive have on society and culture (and I’m not saying Peter isn’t one of those people), it is a strange, though altogether familiar sensation to be delighted by a Nike Ad.

Food for thought: Would it be OK for CDM to be sponsored by Nike, even if given creative freedom?

I would say that just as open-source software is so important because of its ideological implications, discussing what art should or shouldn’t be is equally important. And that’s not to dismiss the post entirely – ever since Warhol there have been all sorts of challenges facing artists around commodification, and the very term ‘selling out’ and the binaries it represents feel outdated and stale.

That being said, for me personally, I would have liked to see Peter devote a little time, in addition to the excellent technical breakdown of the ad, to describing his thoughts on the relationship between artists and advertisers. Showing the Nike ad is an act which inherently supports that corporations interests, so spending some time discussing the cultural issues surrounding said ad seems like an appropriate way to enable a transparent, open culture (culture in the ‘Culture’ sense, not CDM’s culture, which I’ve always found to be pretty open).

peace yo

April 16, 2010 @ 6:45 pm

Lephrenic

All respect to Daito’s work, but no discussion of Nike is complete without mention of their sweatshop labour force. Any acceptance of sponsorship from Nike constitutes an endorsement of their practices.

April 16, 2010 @ 6:51 pm

Damon

I desire to obtain the holy terror of the shoe bomber. But rather rigging my own shoes, I think I shall just wait for the Sonic Shoe Application for iPad. Either that or I shall go with Sonic Bunny Slippers.

April 16, 2010 @ 7:45 pm

Dwil

“Shoes sold at retail will NOT make music when bent or twisted”

That was my favorite part. :-)

April 16, 2010 @ 9:20 pm

DJ Ramiro

Fake… it’s just a joke…

April 16, 2010 @ 10:48 pm

newmiracle

Zero Ref-
Really? I feel that show casing the work of electronic musicians is important. This was a very interesting demo, and I’m glad we got to see the project in more detail. Some digital music is made for music’s sake, and some is made for commodity. I would like to see all interesting digital music approaches covered, commercial or not.

Lephrenic-
While I agree with you, I don’t think that this is realistic. There are tons of stories related to Apple without citing the fact that they are one of the least green computer companies.

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/anya-kamenetz/green-day/apple-least-green-big-four-it-companies

I’m not really sure where Nike’s sweatshop offences would fit within this article, as much as one would mention Apple’s “non-green” status on a post about the iPad.

And finally,

“strauss

Too bad the music is so bad. And really. Who cares HOW you control the music. Gimmicky if you ask me.”

Why does every article always have to have some post criticizing the music? I care about how I control music! That’s why I come to this site! I don’t have to like the music to understand what’s going on technically and being interested by it. There’s a discussion to be had regarding this attitude towards process vs results, but I’m really wondering why you would read CDM if you really felt that way. And I’m being honest here, not sarcastic. It is seriously confusing.

April 16, 2010 @ 11:03 pm

griotspeak

@newmiracle – that article is pretty old. not to overhype them, but in most of apples computer updates in the last year+, some emphasis has been placed on the fact that they are made with ‘green’ materials.

they also will recycle you computer for you (mac or not)

that said, i can still imagine their carbon footprint being pretty large.

@ srauss – i disagree. with everything you said there. but opinions are ours to have?

April 16, 2010 @ 11:52 pm

gregorz

I use and program Arduino+Bluetooth with sensors and Max4Live on a daily basis. Faking this would be retarded – why would you do that when arduino and Max4Live works together? And yes indeed, the serial object crashes (for me that’s the final proof that it’s not fake…). The brilliant thing about Arduino is that it is sooooo easy to learn to use it and set it up to communicate with softs like Max, Flash, Java/Processing, Ruby, you name it.

April 17, 2010 @ 9:54 am

gregorz

By the way, if anyone has problem with the crashing ‘serial’ object, try different Baud rates! It worked for me:)

April 17, 2010 @ 9:54 am

Nike’s bendable sneakers morphed into turntables [W/Video] - fujiang.info

[...] Via: CreateDigitalMusic/UberGizmo [...]

April 17, 2010 @ 10:24 am

aaron

Daito seems a genuinely nice guy after following his stuff @ youtube etc the past couple years. His workshops for kids are really cool. Nice to see him turn a (i imagine) nice profit from his work.

DJ Ramiro; no, its not..

April 17, 2010 @ 1:12 pm

gregorz

“Flex sensors are much more difficult to control than this video demonstrates.”

Once you get the values to Max, you can scale them to your liking or average the fluctuating values. It’s the case when someone comments for the sake of commenting.

April 17, 2010 @ 1:18 pm

Foosnark

TechLo, running shoes with lots of “support” are bad for your feet, as are high heels, as are shoes that confine your feet too much. Aside from the chance of abrasions and infections and dropping stuff on your toes, barefoot would be best. I’m not sure why bendy shoes would be bad…

April 17, 2010 @ 2:59 pm

Suecae

I’m one of those people with some questions about Nike’s buisness ethics. But it was an entertaining video nonetheless.

April 17, 2010 @ 3:05 pm

y

well..at the end of the day
why all this effort for nothing ?
I mean, they could sell the shoes with the arduino blah blah and max pirippippero, wired to RJDJ something…and do a real hit !
what’s the next gimmick ?

music is horrible, but no news about that, who cares.

April 17, 2010 @ 3:41 pm

y

Hey Pete, what bout :
Control Digital Music
(Create is a bit old fashion innit ?)

April 17, 2010 @ 3:46 pm

dave

This is totally fake. Don’t trust marketing agencies.

April 17, 2010 @ 4:08 pm

De:Bug Musiktechnik » Werbung: Der Turnschuh-Controller

[...] [via] var addthis_language = 'en'; Share| GA_googleFillSlot("ContentAd_Index");GA_googleFillSlot("DeBug-300×250"); Auch gut: [...]

April 17, 2010 @ 5:21 pm

Nike’s bendable sneakers morphed into turntables [W/Video] | Gadgets Now

[...] Via: CreateDigitalMusic/UberGizmo [...]

April 17, 2010 @ 5:52 pm

Nike’s bendable sneakers morphed into turntables [W/Video] « renefmlive's Blog

[...] Via: CreateDigitalMusic/UberGizmo [...]

April 17, 2010 @ 6:51 pm

renzu

haha, this article is surprisingly trollable for how innocuous the project itself is– some guys made running shoes into buttons that trigger Ableton Live clips.

Suddenly you have a torrent of people screaming “it’s FAKE!!” (Is this such an astounding technical and artistic achievement? Running shoes as clip triggers?) along with “it’s SO GIMMICKY!” (did you expect something more from a couple Japanese DJs advertising running shoes?), along with other non-sequitors like “no discussion of Nike is complete without mention of their sweatshop labour force” etc.

Maybe because there’s so little to say about the project itself that we’re left with struggling comments like these. I mean it is what it is– a vaguely amusing ad for running shoes. It ain’t The Future of Music Production and Performance, that’s for sure…

April 17, 2010 @ 7:24 pm

beaver the believer

yeah, the shoe actually sends out MIDI information via audio jack…*sigh*

April 17, 2010 @ 9:13 pm

Damon

I like my music with good ankle support, a sound (ha) arch, not too pressed into the toes, and with laces that do not chafe until broken.

Then again, are the shoe jockey’s a crock, or is that just what I am wearing?

April 17, 2010 @ 9:17 pm

trees

What’s the big deal they are just triggers? You could do that with anything.

April 17, 2010 @ 9:33 pm

PooPoo the Korruptah

The black pair with red laces are fly!

April 17, 2010 @ 11:08 pm

arm3l

HIFANA! i love thes guys!I know their work and their music and i don’t think it’s a fake!

April 18, 2010 @ 4:41 am

Nike Music Shoe | ??????????

[...]  ???w+k???? Daito Manabe? Tomoaki Yanagisawa???Nike???Music Shoe????????????Nike???????????DJ??????.??????????????????MAX? Ableton’s Max for Live?????????????????????????max?????????????Daito?blog .via createdigitalmusic daito creativeapplications [...]

April 18, 2010 @ 4:46 am

What.

How can there people decry this as a fake underneath an article with a max patch and previous work by the artist?

Just because it is commercial doesn’t mean that it’s fake – how many people called bullshit when he did his facial bending thing?

April 18, 2010 @ 5:30 am

scaining

clothes jeans

April 18, 2010 @ 5:44 am

zero ref

@newmiracle

I’m not sure where I disagree. I also feel showcasing the work of electronic musicians is important, which is why I said

“The fact that an artist is, or their art is, more or less the advertisement itself is a benefit. Anything that allow for a more direct expression of art to people, putting aside questions of judgement on said art, can be a good thing.”

peace yo

April 18, 2010 @ 6:28 am

aaron

What: some ppl are just that thick headed

April 18, 2010 @ 12:01 pm

Peter Kirn

Whoa. I’m guessing solar flare activity maybe causes more negative commenting? Not sure.

April 18, 2010 @ 1:52 pm

salamanderanagram

what’s funny to me is the collection of curious sound objects a few weeks ago were probably more complicated to make than these yet nobody was decrying those as fake.

it’s a common theme i’ve seen on youtube as well… any video of a moderately good dancer doing waving or liquid has people saying it’s fake.

April 18, 2010 @ 3:52 pm

Dan Wilcox

Daito does some really awesome work. I agree the project is for an ad and deliberately simple but who cares? Can we not discuss such projects without yelling at Peter for “sponsoring the company who’s ad the project is for”?

If you want to discuss global politics and business practices then piss off to youtube. You don’t *have* to read the article after all, nor do you *have* to buy the product they are selling.

… anyway, if you hate the project and Nike, don’t throw Daito under the bus for this, check out his work, especially “Smiles” : http://www.daito.ws/work/smiles.html

April 18, 2010 @ 3:55 pm

kingsize — Sneak Attack

[...] gets heads nodding by toe tapping some Ableton Live-connected shoes in a campaign for Nike. via Create Digital Music var addthis_brand = 'kingsize';var addthis_language = 'en';var addthis_header_background = [...]

April 18, 2010 @ 6:01 pm

stefan

I’d like to hear a little less about multinational corporations using new media to hawk their wares, and a little more about artists who are applying their skills toward creating a more democratic world.

How could anybody get excited about this? It’s almost as sad as that Daedelus Obama video.

April 18, 2010 @ 10:26 pm

Joe

I have seen some really cool stuff on CDM and that is why I keep coming back. On the other hand lately I have seen a lot of stuff that I think is horribly gimmicky. I don’t have a problem with this stuff existing, I’m just sick of it getting more credit than it deserves. I’m sure someone this week will bring this up to me thinking that I think it is cool and maybe I will be nice and say “yeah that was pretty neat” when in reality pretty neat would be a bit of an overstatement.

April 19, 2010 @ 12:56 pm

BAR fly

Fixed:

“haha, this article is surprisingly trollable for how innocuous the project itself is– some guys made running shoes into buttons that trigger Ableton Live clips.

Suddenly you have a torrent of people screaming “it’s FAKE!!” (Is this such an astounding technical and artistic achievement? Running shoes as clip triggers?) along with “it’s SO GIMMICKY!” (did you expect something more from a couple Japanese DJs advertising running shoes?), along with other non-sequitors like “no discussion of Nike is complete without mention of their sweatshop labour force” etc, along with “I mean it is what it is– a vaguely amusing ad for running shoes. It ain’t The Future of Music Production and Performance, that’s for sure…”

April 19, 2010 @ 1:50 pm

Peter Kirn

Actually, part of the reason I shared the details was because, since it is a simple project, it’s an easy inspiration for someone to try something similar.

But enough, already – I’m traveling and teaching this weekend, there’s more coming by tomorrow (Tues). Patience, folks. Sheesh. ;)

April 19, 2010 @ 2:26 pm

Machines

This stinks. CDM used to have a comments section that somehow magically avoided the trap of the trolls living under the bridge, but I guess those days are over. I used to love reading the comments for constructive feedback or discussions that evolved out of the original posting (got a LOT of good new electronic music from the ‘Best of 2009′ post not too long ago).

Now, all you get is people screaming that there’s too much iPad coverage (which has also helped me find apps I would have never otherwise found) or complaints about the content being too accessible. Give it up guys. Spend more time creating the stuff you think is so out of this world rather than spending all your time being cynical.

April 19, 2010 @ 2:44 pm

Birds Use Stars

Machines+++

haha, why would someone fake this, and then make a max patch to trick you?

April 19, 2010 @ 4:24 pm

Experimentelle Klangkunst « Don´t Panic

[...] Create Digital Music ist das ganze kein Fake, sondern wurde von Daito Manabe, einem japanischem Programmierer und [...]

April 19, 2010 @ 4:26 pm

Peter Kirn

Well, some of the negative comments come from readers I know – apparently on days when they’re in a bad mood.

What I think of comments is irrelevant, because it’s a forum for readers, short of comments I remove that are spam or could be found abusive by other readers. But I’m open to suggestions about ways of allowing readers to highlight certain comments. I haven’t loved the vote up / vote down schemes out there, but maybe we can think of a smart implementation that allows readers who don’t comment to highlight those they find useful or insightful. I have a thick skin; I’m not looking to weed out negative things and I still find comments useful. But obviously, more articulate, reasoned criticism is more helpful to everyone than quick reactions.

April 19, 2010 @ 4:43 pm

zero ref

@Dan,

I agree with you that we all should be respectful on the blog, both of Peter, the work he presents, and the opinions of those who post. And some of the critical comments towards the Nike ad have been reactive, vitriolic, or just plain angry. But so have some of the responses to those criticisms. If there must be sides, a concept which I personally have avoided (working very hard to write nuanced posts which acknowledge the complexity of even simple-seeming issues such as this), then we both can work to listen to and respect each other.

But I do feel very strongly that, ultimately, you can’t separate music from ‘global politics and business practices’ as you intimated. It’s an art, a form of human expression, and a means of mass entertainment. It reflects the world we live in and, as musicians, we have every right to discuss how music is used to shape and affect the lives of those who listen to it. To do anything less, to continually devalue the importance music (or any art) can play in life would be, in my opinion, to devalue the art itself. Music is _about_ something….always, whatever that something may be. It, like everything else, is a form of human communication.

I don’t believe music must always be ‘high art,’ or that popular/music/entertainment/music sponsored by Nike is bad, lesser, lower than ‘art music’, or anything like that. I enjoyed the video! But as a musician who’s also a human being, existing in the world and caring about culture, I have questions and issues with corporate sponsorship of the arts. I’m not knocking Daito. I mean, is it all that different than Bach – wasn’t he the organist for a church? Similar issue, different times.

Thanks for posting more of Daito’s work, I will check it out.

peace

April 19, 2010 @ 5:41 pm

zero ref

On another tip, the shoes themselves seem to have a pretty high degree of potential for interactivity musical performance.

Putting aside the question of which elements in Daito’s performance were for ‘show’ versus using the shoes as an instrument, here are the benefits I see of a shoe-like controller:

-Small enough to hold in both hands, large enough for satisfyingly tactile and expressive manipulation. Can be seen by people in the crowd. Color coding/variation in shape allows for the identification of object with sound.

-Tactility. Bendy, with some stiffness and some softness. Twisting feels different than bending feels different than tapping.
-Mass production at a reasonable price!
-Parameters. You can:
-bend it
-twist it
-tap/stop it
-turn it
-move it through space
-Do all of these things at once

Nike might not be a bad hardware manufacturer for ‘soft’ midi controllers! Materials science, design, human factors engineers, hip-hop cred, etc. While perhaps not an actual shoe, the shape and materials involved seem like they have a future.

April 19, 2010 @ 6:37 pm

zero ref

oops! I meant …’have a high degree of potential for interactivity and musical performance.’

April 19, 2010 @ 6:52 pm

newmiracle

It’s kind of odd how negative comments flare up here. They rarely happen, but I feel like they happen at least twice a year or something.

I’d prefer having to deal with some particularly heated threads and have an active commenting scene, than have everything be polite and borning or ghost town.

Imho CDM has some of the best comments on a blog out there. I think the main sticking point with people is “unwarranted hating” vs “stating your opinion”. It’s a subjective line, but people will always call others out for being haters. That being said, I think calling people out can be good… IF you have a mature group of people talking. zero ref, I get where you’re coming from now. You got some good food for thought in your last few comments. Glad we can get bear fruit from discussion and debate.

April 19, 2010 @ 9:26 pm

zero ref

@newmiracle

Thanks, I really appreciate that. There’s something about comments that makes it extra-difficult to express yourself beyond the initial ‘yea’ or ‘nay.’ And I agree with you that the commenting scene here is really valuable – and I have to say this thread, though heated, still seems within relatively reasonable internet bounds. Its great to see the diversity of opinion which is expressed.

April 20, 2010 @ 1:45 am

amigoni

Sweet! I think the originality of the interface. Is great. This opens up lots of options and ideas for the future.

April 20, 2010 @ 2:06 am

HIFANA Get Creative With Nike's "Free Run+" Running Shoe | Onelargeprawn

[...] beginning is a nice touch. If you’d like more technical details on how it’s done, see here.I believe there will be a disclaimer saying the shoes sold at retail won’t actually make [...]

April 20, 2010 @ 5:28 am

renzu

BAR fly: I’m not dissing it, I’m just saying it’s a simple project.

April 20, 2010 @ 8:08 am

renzu

I guess to be more specific, I suspect there’s an expectation from readers that CDM is all about highlighting music production trends and possible future paradigms for what we do. Obviously a row of shoes on a table as an Ableton Live controller is not one of those things, and I suspect those “its gimmicky!” comments stem from that expectation, like “hey, this doesn’t help anyone make or perform music better than I can without… a row of Nike shoes.”

What I was getting at is there are plenty of articles on CDM not exactly highlighting the all-new new, and we should take things for what they are, and not what they aren’t relative to some false expectations. These Japanese DJs did a funny little music project for Nike. I can’t find a lot of legitimate, on-topic ways to criticize that.

April 20, 2010 @ 12:05 pm

boycott nike – enjoy the ads – kcDigitalArts

[...] shoes + arduino + ableton + max/msp + macbookpro = awesome coolness love the ads, hate the company full story here [...]

April 21, 2010 @ 4:43 am

Schoenen zijn de nieuwe draaitafels Medialandschap – trends, kunst en technologie

[...] via E-mail, RSS, Twitter of Facebook. Veel leesplezier!Althans, als het aan Nike Japan ligt. Voor het project werd een bekende turntablist gevraagd. Hij heeft de een serie schoenen volgehangen met sensoren en [...]

April 21, 2010 @ 6:56 am

Nike Free Run 5.0 Sneakers Turned into Sound Controllers » Techtosterone Zone

[...] via Engadget via Create Digital Music ] Share and [...]

April 21, 2010 @ 6:39 pm

Nike Music Shoe « djmx

[...] Createdigitalmusic.com also published a good article titled “Bendable, Musical Shoes for Nike, and How They Were Made“. Check it out to find out more about this great idea and some background information. [...]

April 24, 2010 @ 5:01 pm

kingsize — Sneak Attack2

[...] gets heads nodding by toe tapping some Ableton Live-connected shoes in a campaign for Nike. via Create Digital Music // By gerry, on 17 Apr 2010, in Uncategorized, and tagged . Permalink. Share. « [...]

April 26, 2010 @ 4:29 am

Interactive sneakers…. « Fish and chipsing

[...] and it’s real check it here [...]

April 27, 2010 @ 5:12 am

40fakes » Nike Music Shoes

[...] Daito Manabe y Tomoaki Yanagisawa han creado este spot para Nike Japón, donde mezclan la flexibilidad de las zapatillas con musica para crear una potente historia, usando las zapatillas como hardware, creadas por Tomoaki, y un desarrollado por Peter Kirn. [...]

May 7, 2010 @ 6:30 am

Engineers + Music = YES « MusicInside11 – Joseph Mirasole

[...] is plain awesome. How it was made. It seriously is way way way real. Check out the Max programming patches for [...]

May 17, 2010 @ 3:19 am

Tinkering in London » Blog Archive » DIY IOT

[...] used to meet) has sold more than 150K units world-wide and has been used by the NASA, BBC, Nokia, Nike and more to build cheap flexible interactive projects that span across r&D research, marketing [...]

June 1, 2010 @ 1:31 pm

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