Create Digital Music » Sex

Censored Video: Max/MSP and Physical Computing Power X-Rated Musical Inventions

Peter Kirn — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:20:33 +0000

Photo: Donald Bell, via Flickr. By the way, USB ankle plugs aren’t just for women; I have one. It’s a huge boon while traveling, though I wish I were getting lower audio latency.

Expressive technologies, like any other media, will say whatever their creators want them to say and do what their creators want them to do. Surveillance? Entertainment? Worship? Porn? You can count on all of the above, and everything in between.

Usually, when you talk about interactive multimedia software Max/MSP and real-world sensor inputs, you expect live music performance. Multimedia artists Matt Ganucheau, Kyle Machulis, and Kelly Moore took their project in a different direction, building a mannequin that would respond interactively to simulate female pleasure.

Donald Bell (aka electronic musician Chachi Jones) describes this among other projects recently shown at the adult-only tech fair Arse Elektronika (a reference to the artsier European new media show Ars Electronica).

It may sound like Weird Science, but Matt promises that Lisa’s technology is nothing mystical. A cutaway in Lisa’s back reveals a Make controller board that works as a hardware router for all the touch-sensitive sensors mounted on the mannequin’s more sensitive areas. A USB plug found on Lisa’s ankle connects to a nearby computer that handles the software end of things. Matt developed Moaning Lisa’s unique software using a visual programming language called Max/MSP. The program uses a neural networking algorithm to monitor all of Lisa’s sensors and determine her state of excitement, which in turn modulates both her volume and number of moans.

More on Donald’s new blog for CNET, MP3 Insider (which I think will be far cooler than that blog name implies):
Weird science: Lisa the foreplay robot [CNET MP3 insider]
Making the ‘Moaning Lisa’ [CNET crave]

Donald also shot a video, but its adult subject matter and mannequin nipples were deemed too hot for CNET. As I said, technology clearly has a full range of possible applications, so I’ll leave it to you to decide. I’m not necessarily building a Lisa, but I assume you can determine on your own whether you find this offensive and choose whether nor not to watch. Not-safe-for-work / those who don’t like nude mannequins and iPod-powered sex toys:

Still not weird enough for you? Here’s the Electric Orifice Orchestra, which uses inputs responsive to pressure changes from, erm, places where the sun don’t shine. “Alternative controllers” doesn’t really fully cover this, though I suppose it makes economical use of your body.

Lots of additional photos from Chachi, including what I know really gets CDMers’ pulse racing: big, juicy, up-close photos of Max/MSP patches. (Okay, maybe I’m just projecting.)

BeerNotBombs’ buddy icon
Arse Elektronika Flickr set

Sexohol Releases First-Ever Widget Album

Peter Kirn — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 05:00:00 +0000

First vinyl, then 8-track, then tape, then CD, then MP3, now . . . Dashboard widget?

Yes, you heard that right. Sexohol is releasing its album Enjoy as a Dashboard Widget for Mac OS X. It’s free, and includes pictures of the lovely couple in the band plus lyrics. Only downside is you have to be connected to the Internet to listen to the music streaming. “But, Peter!”, you say, “I need to feel the hot loving of Enjoy even when I’m not connected to the Internet!” Sexohol hears you; US$9.99 buys you a Widget you can listen to anywhere. (Music without a live Internet connection? Who wouldathunkit?)

Sounds like the best way to enjoy this band is at their Bacchanalian performances, but if you can feel the love on your Dashboard, more power to you.

The press release is hilarious, so I’ve broken with normal CDM policy and posted it after the jump, along with a picture of bassist Logan for those of you who like young bass-playing boys (Shedonists, Gay/Bi Hedonists, etc.). Just promise you’ll pretend to act surprised when you find out this band is from L.A.

Disclaimer: CDM prints press releases only when they make me laugh out loud. Thanks, Trina!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: L.A.-Based Band, Sexohol™, Releases World’s First Widget Album

BEVERLY HILLS, California—August 15, 2005—Digital music innovators Sexohol™ today released their debut album, “Enjoy!” as a free Dashboard Widget for AppleÃ‚Â® Computer’s revolutionary Mac OS X Tiger 10.4. The free “Enjoy!” Widget Album lets music fans listen to any of the 12 songs from “Enjoy!” whenever connected to the Net, while providing lyrics and photographs from the CD. The full version, “Full Enjoy!ment”, lets fans listen to the album without an internet connection for just $9.99.

“We’re big fans of widgets,” says Roger Quickly, lead singer and guitarist for Sexohol™. “We’ve tried thingamabobs, doohickeys, and whatchamacallits, and frankly, they’re over. Have you tried to code a thingamabob lately? The dealybop syntax is so twentieth century.”

Sexohol’s co-lead singer and bassist, Golden Delicious, sees Widget Albums as the wave of the future. “Our Enjoy! album was added to the iTunes Music Store just over a week ago, but online buyers say they miss the full CD experience. Our attempts to squeeze a physical CD through an ethernet cable failed, so we did this instead.” She then adds, “And, oh yeah, with our tradition of innovation we thought it important to be first.”

Roger describes the innovative technology behind the Enjoy! Widget Album: “If you don’t own any of our songs, the widget streams them from the Net. But if you’ve bought our songs from iTunes, or copied them from your Enjoy! iPod shuffle or CD, tiny widget elves find and play the local copies. It’s all done by widget elves.”

Apple’s easy-to-use Dashboard environment let Roger and Golden create the widget themselves. “Usually, I’m not attracted to Unix,” explains Golden. “Something’s, you know… missing. But it’s a real pleasure working with Tiger’s tools. Rrrowwwrrrrrrrr.”

Pricing & Availability
The Enjoy! Widget Album, which streams songs on demand, is a free download. The Full Enjoy!ment Widget, which bundles the 12 songs into the widget, costs $9.99. Both are available immediately at the Sexohol website (www.sexohol.com) and require Mac OS X TIger 10.4 for Macintosh.

About Sexohol
Sexohol first achieved international recognition with the groundbreaking release of their album Enjoy! on iPodÃ‚Â® shuffle. Sexohol is an innovator in the exploding field of digital music technology and is dedicated to providing high-quality hookup music for America’s Hedonists and Shedonists. Sexohol appears exclusively on Satyrrific Records.

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Improve Band Relations: Have a 5-way

Peter Kirn — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 05:00:00 +0000

Jordan sends us this tidbit from CDM’s major rival, The New York Post. From the ‘New York Minute” gossip section:

The band that plays together stays together: Two male members of Hinder, a new act just signed by Universal, ended up in bed this week in their Vancouver hotel suite, along with “their female stylist, her female assistant, and the photographer’s female assistant.” After the 10- legged tangle, the photographer’s assistant apparently didn’t make her flight back to Los Angeles and was fired for missing a job.

Hey, to quote Brave New World, “Everyone belongs to everyone else,” right? But don’t leave your road crew out of the action; related link: How to host a Roman orgy.

Vintage Audio Gear Porn

Peter Kirn — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 05:00:00 +0000

Sleek, touch-able lines. Beautiful curves. Heartrate-pumping images. Oh, yeah, and the woman's not bad, either. (gallery)

Yes, I can't say exactly why this photographer chose to photograph his
vintage audio mixers and reel-to-reel decks with a scantily-clad tall
blonde model (8 track cassette tapes lined up between her legs?), but I
suppose it takes all types. The pro perversion watchers at Fleshbot
says it's something to do with an eBay auction and is equally confused.
Whatever you're into. At least it's not as disturbing as this women in headphones fetish site.

Knowing exactly what CDM readers are into, I expect you'll skip over
the model directly to the vintage reel-to-reel galleries (sans models).
Who needs hard-bodied women or men when there's the Phonorex? (Speaking of great legs . . . I really need to get back to the gym . . .)

Sex Album Creator Interviewed

Peter Kirn — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 05:00:00 +0000

Synthtopia today interviews
NYC multimedia artist Jessica Vale, creator of The Sex Album –
recorded sounds of people having sex manipulated into electronica with
vocals by Bale on top (pun intended).

So how's the album?
Well, while some of the found sounds are recognizable, others get
mashed into undistinguished digital mush, so with the addition of
spoken word narration the result seems a bit like a XXX-rated Laurie
Anderson. That said, how can you entirely fault an album that samples
S&M paddling for beats and uses electret condenser mics for body
cavities?

Maybe I should rethink the mic placement how-tos in my upcoming book.