THREE PIECES sound installation from Ziggy Campbell on Vimeo.

Digital music is extending more deeply into the physical world, thanks to sensors and robotics. The result: gorgeous acoustic sounds as part of the lexicon. When we last spotted Simon Kirby and the Found Electronics collective, they were taking the tangible interface out of electronic music and applying them to ambient sampled sounds out in the woods. Now, they’re talking to plants and channeling traditional Chinese instruments.

Found Electronics: Three Pieces Project Page

Simon writes with some of the details:

Perhaps fueled by YouTube comepetition, robotic instruments are looking more and more impressive. What I’d most like to see: a robotic battle of the bands. The latest creation comes to us from the all-robot band The Trons, based in New Zealand. They have cute names, and I bet the ‘bots are more fun to date than some, ahem, real drummers my friends have gotten involved with…

The crew:

Ham (vox and rhythm guitar), Wiggy (single string lead guitar), Swamp (drums), Fifi (keyboards, one hand working!)

Hmmm, basically true of my keyboard playing, as well. And here’s their blurb:

The Trons are a completely self playing robotic junk band! They are made mostly from old computer and mechanical parts and play original songs using an array of old amps and instruments. They now have five gigs under their belt and have just completed Hamilton’s Ignition Fringe Festival.

They even did an “interview” in NZ (speaking as a sometimes-music journalist, there are times when you might prefer to speak to robots):

MM: How did you get together and what made you want to start a band?
TT: This old photocopy card vender machine turned up and was going to the dump. And there was this pile of meccano and an old guitar. We just put three and three together.

Who are some of your inspirations? Do you look up to some of the pioneers of electronic music, such as the Juno 6 or the Commodore 64?
Definitely the ZX81. Clive Sinclair and 1K of RAM! You gotta have limitations to make good music. We can’t keep away from 3D Monster Maze too.

Hamilton, NZ’s Mammoth Live Events Guide Interviews The Trons
http://www.myspace.com/thtrons

Thanks to NZ’s Frank “flunki” for the tip!

Previous robotic musicians on CDM:
Yellow Drum Machine Robot Creator: You, Too, Can Make Your Own Robots
Robot Drum Machine Roams, Samples, Bangs On Stuff
Video: Robotic Theremins, Ready To Replace a Human Near You
Robots Can Be Friendly, Groovin’: Max-Powered Keepon and Beatbots
Robot Drummers, Compared: Like Musicians, Robots are Better When They Listen
Robot Drummer Responds to Human Playing; How They Did It

If music technology has ever made you dream of autonomous musical robots, crawling around the floor making sound like a Juilliard of mechanical insect prodigies, I’ve got great news for you.

While we’re on the subject of DIY electronics, here are some words of encouragement: the designer who made that fantastic drum machine robot making the rounds on the Web says he’s got a day job, and you, too, can do what he did.

Yes, you.

First, check out the autonomous, banging-on-stuff and sampling drummer robot pictured above, if you haven’t seen it yet:

Robot Drum Machine Roams, Samples, Bangs On Stuff

Creator Frits Lyneborg (aka fristl) writes CDM (after hurdling our spam filters — sorry about that):

Hi there – Yes I am out there, and next to me is some sticks & wires & some yellow belt tracks :D

Thanks for all the street-credit etc, thank you so very much. I hope my next robot / next weekend can live up to this, lol!

I am CEO of bee3.com – consider this brilliant company next time you want a website. Well – what else to do with my 15 minutes of fame, if not an ad for my company ;)

Anyway – it is very easy to make these robots, seriously; I do not have much of a clue, I just have plenty of glue. Hey – what a little fame can bring up in you, rhyming now, so muzical :)

i have made a walk through on how to make a quite capable robot, that uses all the same basics, and it only takes 2 hours once you got the parts send by mail.. letsmakerobots.com

Trust me; it is fun and easy to build robots!

Still skeptical? Here’s an even simpler design:

This has been making the blog-o-rounds, but if you haven’t seen it, the Yellow Drum Machine is a brilliant musical robot — brilliantly musical, and brilliantly simply technologically. (There’s something to be said for elegant design.) It rolls around, looks for objects nearby, bangs on them, and samples that sound. (Hmm, it’s like a little robotic equivalent of me around my apartment.) As seen on MAKE.

The specs are terrific:

• Cost to build: $120
• Time to build: 20 hours
• Actuators / output devices: 6 geared motors in total, 2 speakers, sound sampler
• Control method: autonomous (very)
• CPU: Picaxe 28
• Operating system: Picaxe basic
• Power source: 4 AA batteries
• Programming language: Picaxe basic
• Sensors / input devices: SRF05, microphone
• Target environment: where ever there is something to play on

By “fritsl” — fritsl, if you’re out there (or anyone else), want to let us in on who you are?

Previously:

Robots on CDM

Robot Drummers, Compared: Like Musicians, Robots are Better When They Listen

Robot Drummer Responds to Human Playing; How They Did It (speaking of which, Gil and company at Georgia Tech, perhaps it’s time for a Haile Mobile?)

Got something cool like this and can get to San Francisco in April? I hope you’re entering our competition!

Just in case mastering the subtleties of playing a Theremin isn’t hard enough for you, you’re in luck: you can master the subtleties of building a robot that has to then master the subtleties of playing the Theremin.

Sarah Angliss, a human Thereminist in the UK, sends us this video of a creepy doll robot playing the Theremin. (If you’re prone to the jeebilies, you may not want to watch. Sarah writes, “I’ve posted my latest jam with Clara 2.0, the theremin playing robot doll, on YouTube. Hope you enjoy watching her talents (or lack of them).” (Technical details after the jump.)

Our friend Ranjit promises this week he’ll bring his Theremin-playing bots to Handmade Music, so if you’re in the NYC area and free this Thursday, you can meet them in person. If not, here they are on YouTube playing “Crazy”. Ranjit describes thusly:

ROBOT BAND! LEV the thereminbot and his newly-built pal thumpbot play “Crazy” with help from a 20-year-old MT32 synthesizer. OK, Lev’s a bit out of tune, but hey, ROBOTS. A tribute to The Ether & Aether Experiment’s marvelous performance.

I don’t know. I’m nervous. I think we’d better whip up some Theremin Laws of Robotics quickly. (Wait — on second thought, those conflicting laws don’t work out very well, do they?)

More technical details on how Sarah pulled off her creeptacularly brilliant robo-Thereminist: