Twitter has been (rightfully, in many cases) maligned as a distraction, but at times the “microblog” can keep us connected in smaller bits of time, not larger. People read while something is rendering, when they feel a bit lonely or distracted to begin with (a bit like taking work to a virtual coffee shop), while they’re in line at the grocery looking at their phone. And for the bedroom- and studio-based music maker, Twitter reveals something of what the future might be like. Twitter itself can sometimes prove too unstructured to be useful, but that one service aside, it demonstrates that we can find ways of being connected to other music makers in new ways – ways that have probably only just begun to evolve.

Yesterday I looked at why I thought Imogen Heap was doing Twitter right – both as a model to follow, and a chance to see her as an artist in a different light. But I also hoped to hear who readers here might be following. In the informal tradition of “Follow Friday,” here’s a look at a few of those people.

Side note: I’ve actually gotten a whole lot of useful stuff from Twitter – it’s allowed me to keep connected to people I might otherwise lose touch with, and I’ve gotten great news leads and project stories out of it as a writer. I’ve gotten more technical help than musical – but that’s also helped me fix the technical stuff with servers and the like so I can get on with music and visuals. I have a mile-long list of complaints about how I think this sort of thing could work better, but – well, I’ve been online since the days when I had a 1200-baud modem. There’s always hope for change. Oh, and TweetDeck is the best client for processing information productively; I’m just waiting for multi-account support.

Reader Tips for this Week

The first two here also tour with Imogen Heap, but are great musicians themselves (with terrific accompanying solo careers). The last two take us another direction, thanks to one of CDM’s Twitter followers.

Zoe Keating, suggested by Tim/newmusicmonday in comments
Bio: “cello, computers, pancakes.” (great line)
Sample tweet: “mix, tweak, mix, listen, rest, mix, tweak, mix, re-record, listen, rest, go to post office, mix, mix, mix.”
Website | http://twitter.com/zoecello

Levi Weaver, also suggested by Tim
Bio: I’m always doing at least 3 things Ed.: hint – one of those is making great music
Sample tweet: “Just avoided RyanAir baggage fees the same way I used to try to make spankings not hurt as a child: Books down the back of my pants.”
Website | http://twitter.com/leviweaver

Todd Reynolds, the superstar violinist
Bio: Digital Violinist and Global Music Citizen and Advocate. Teacher.
Sample tweet: “If there is one thing that I learn over and over again in music, it’s that simplicity, when embraced, opens a straight shot to the core.”
MySpace | http://twitter.com/digifiddler

Steve Lawson, suggested by @MKS21471
Bio: “Bass 2.0 – musician, webbist, uni lecturer on music and technology, bass teacher, music journo… one of life’s enthusiasts. ) ”
Sample tweet: “WordPress nerds, what CHMOD settings do I need to have files uploadable to the server etc. but still be secure?” (hey, I told you this is part of what Twitter is useful for)
Website | http://twitter.com/solobasssteve

Steve’s blog, by the way, is full of tips on social media (still hate the term, but the idea is good). http://www.stevelawson.net/wordpress/

Regular Information Sources

Other active Twitter feeds I follow:
@stretta – of monome fame, “Graphic Designer. Musician. Tea snob.”
@Chris_Randall – of Audio Damage / Analog Industries
@podcasting_news – James Lewin on both his podcasting site and the prolific Synthtopia; expect a lot of tweets (but you won’t have to dig through RSS)
@wesen – for beats and powerful geeking on new projects like the Mididuino
@serial_consign – Greg Smith on digital media, culture, theory
MarkMosher is doing all sorts of things, Web and musical, including running the ModulateThis blog
@MusicThing – the blog is gone, but Music Thing lives on as Tom tweets

Modular Friends, Ableton Tips

Twitter is in everyone’s thoughts, this week, it seems. (Perhaps the perfect medium for a sagging economy?)

stretta himself rounds up a fantastic list of Twitter feeds, with an emphasis on modular synths.

As noted by Wire to the Ear (and note Oliver Chesler’s feed, too):
AbletonTweets, entirely unofficial tips on Live

Me

Oh, yeah:
The blog feed – more CDM business, CDM headlines
(I found it made sense to separate the two.)

Do say hi, and since I’ve lost track of who’s following them, send a @shout at me and I’ll take notice of you!

Micromusicblogging?

But what if Twitter really does seem like just a distraction? Could quick blog entries make you more productive musically, and help you share what you’re doing with others?

Dan Gillespie is trying a microblog concept in his own work: “MicroSong,” tagline, “publish your process.” It’s a bit like a musical tumbleblog – but only about the music, not the various Web distractions one finds online. He writes:

I’m hoping to have a couple friends and local artists come on and share their process when song writing and music making, this has always been the fun part for me.

Like I said, it’s just starting up, but it’s cool to see other people thinking the same sort of things. Maybe I’ll have to hook up with twitter as well.

microsong.blogspot.com

And yes, before someone steps in and says it, of course all of these are an additional drain of precious time. But then, that to me is the point – and it’s a good thing. Some of these ideas will prove to be distractions. But if you can find an approach where the benefit is worth the input, you’re likely to stumble upon something that’s efficient, that makes sense to you.

Let us know how it all works out, okay, Internets?

And, nope, this list isn’t close to comprehensive. That’s where you come in.

Mari Kimura is an experimental string player extraordinaire, regularly venturing to the edge of what’s possible at the meeting of acoustic and electronic technology. GuitarBot is a “guitar”-playing robot (perhaps more reminiscent of a shamisen), an invention of Eric Singer, founder of the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots. The two meet above in a lovely video – not new, but well worth watching any old time, as reminded to us by Richard Swelling’s Etherbomb blog. Mari writes in comments on YouTube:

HI, Mari here. For those wondering what’s happening: Behind the white box, there is a Mac and an audio interface. I am running a software MaxMSP, which is LISTENING to the pitch. loundess and the timing of the violin. The ‘patch’ I created in Max contains certain interactive instructions such as "listen to the E (highest open string on the violin)". For example in the beginning, if you listen carefully you notice when I play above E, it stops. Iinteractions change in predetermined time frames.

It’s a reminder that, technology aside, the key ingredient in electro-acoustic music is great musicianship.

Quite nice stuff! And the video is shot by my friend Liubo Borrisov; Liubo, if you’re out there, say hi.

Documentation is scant, but Helene writes us with this video to give you an idea:

I think it beats having just a laser harp.

Her links:
www.helene-berg.com
www.myspace.com/heleneberg

Finding exotic software instruments is rarely a challenge. A lot of users stumble more quickly when it comes to the basics. Cakewalk has unveiled a new set of soft synths called Cakewalk Studio Instruments, and a number of things about it are immediately interesting:

It’s dirt cheap. US$49.99 for the whole package.

It focuses on a few basics. There are four modules: Drum Set, Bass Guitar, Electric Piano, or String Section.

It’s available via mass-market outlets. Music tech stuff only trickles into the mass market, as a rule. Cakewalk says you’ll be able to pick this thing up at Apple, CompUSA, Fry’s, Micro Center, J&R, and Amazon.com.

It does phrases. There are included, pre-recorded phrases. Might be redundant in the age of GarageBand, but potentially useful to have.

It has a slick interface. The UI is pretty, provides lots of visual feedback (the bows on the strings even move), and puts controls where you’d expect them in the real world — so electric piano effects show up on a stompbox, for instance, rather than floating in softwareland.

Cakewalk Studio Instruments
Compatibility: Windows VST; Mac AU; Windows/Mac standalone
Platform: Windows XP/Vista/Vista x64, OS X 10.4.9, Mac Universal Binary

The idea isn’t new: Native Instruments had its “Xpress” line of lighter-weight instruments (including electric pianos), and M-Audio had similar selections like Key Rig. But the execution looks nice, especially for beginners. My only question is whether someone will want specifically electric piano, drum set, bass, and acoustic string but not other things — especially if they already have a decent instrument preset library and loops in something like GarageBand. And, while you won’t get the slick interfaces, spending a little more money may get you a deeper, richer sound set, even from Cakewalk. But for the beginner market at which it’s targeted, it’s certainly worth a look. I hope to try it once it ships.

The “trailer” doesn’t reveal much, but you can see the UI animation. This is definitely the opposite end of the spectrum as, say, the minimalism in Ableton Live’s interface, or the alien spacecraft controls of Logic Pro.

In other news: Cakewalk is definitely expanding its portfolio as a soft synth shop, much as Digidesign has done recently on the Pro Tools side (difference being Cakewalk’s stuff runs with other software).

Leave it to the work of an interactive artist to “reinvent the guitar” in the reverse direction: who needs individual string pickups, when you can get six guitarists and give each one a one-string guitar. Then, have them climb atop a giant tower, get a percussionist to trigger drum samples at its base, and load the whole thing into a complex Max/MSP/Jitter and Ableton Live setup with donated hardware and software from M-Audio, Steinberg, Mackie, Canon, and others. Brilliant fundraising, bizarre thinking — I’m sold. IK Multimedia, can you get these crazy kids some Stealth Plug digital guitar cables in time for the performance?

What is the sound of one one-string guitarist clapping?

Six String Sonics [Pixelsumo]
Project page

Now, to work on finding 88 pianists to play 1-note keyboards . . . one note jamming will never be the same.

Régine of Near Near Future has some more interactive strings, along the lines of last week’s laser harp:

Interactive strings

(Cellists out there are probably wondering why the idea of “interactive strings” is new. Well, clearly you don’t und. . . um . . . okay, you’ve got me.)

Anyway, this stuff is big business. Artist David Small got a gig here in NYC with cosmetics giant L’oreal; his poetry harp triggers billowing poetry.

As for the op_era, I’m at a loss. First, it claims to be four-dimensional. (Okay, it exists in time I suppose — so does a Calder mobile.) Let’s let them explain that: “If the interactor proceeds through dimensions 1D to 2D, the prior dimension is incremented to the next (2= 2+1), a rule that also correspond to the integration of the body.” Wait a minute, what?! Maybe the last line says it best: “In this dimension, space visualization and cognition is only possible through simulation.”

Yes, this gets at the real reason for designing this interaction: to make you get really, really dizzy. Think I’m exaggerating? Try the QuickTime videos. Help!! . . . I’m falling into a big spiral hole . . . aaaaaaaaaaa . . . .

Okay, I’m behind on Steinberg. But the summer lineup from them is just making me yawn, I’m afraid:

Steinberg Studio Case II: Status: just announced. US$299, Windows/Mac September, watered-down versions of everything Steinberg makes. For entry level users, this could be a decent deal: Reason, by comparison, costs $450 and has a lousy sequencer and no audio recording. Ableton Live costs around $400 and doesn’t have as many instruments. But there’s nothing here to write home about: stripped-down versions of everything? Spend the extra couple of hundred bucks and get what you really need.

HALion String Edition: Status: just started shipping. This one appeals a little more to the snob in me: 9 GB, nothing but strings. Haven’t heard it yet, but it sounds like it could be first-rate. Of course, you’ll be missing several sections of the orchestra, but . . . wait . . . that’s kind of a problem, isn’t it? Then again, strings are usually the hardest to sample, so if you need some violins to supplement your existing sample library, maybe this is for you.

The Grand 2: Status: shipped in July. I missed this because I was busy with Native’s new product, Akoustik Piano. The Grand has a strong reputation, but also a lot of competition: aside from Native’s virtual piano, there’s the renowned PMI libraries, cheap offerings from M-Audio, Ivory, and basically a zillion sampled pianos everywhere from Logic to Kontakt to MOTU Mach Five. What’s cool here: key click, pedal and hammer sounds and four-channel surround implementation. Upgrades are just US$99, and the whole thing runs US$299, so it’s bargain priced, and unlike some Steinberg products, it supports VST, DXi and AU (though Digi fans, you’re stuck with ReWire — no TDM/RTAS). Only time will tell: I want to get The Grand and Akoustik Piano and others together and see which sounds best.

Bottom line:

Studio Case II: Diet Steinberg? Ho-hum.

HALion String Edition: Why not a full orchestral edition?

The Grand 2: Verdict reserved until the Akoustik Piano shootout.

“The dream of a violin that can play itself has tantalized inventors for over a century.” Well . . . mad scientist inventors, maybe, along with dreams of self-cleaning carrots and ironing boards that can go into battle.

Nonetheless, here it is: I give you the Gulbransen Virtuoso Violin, a QRS Pianomation Player Violin. Put on a violin piece, and it sounds like the violin is really there — because it is. Ain’t no digital samples here, just a MIDI-controlled bow hacking away at a real violin.

List price, $20,000, but for some reason it’s at a fire sale bargain-basement discount bin price of US$12,500.

I’d love to feed it some unplayable Max/MSP patch, but they’ll have to let me get my hands on it first. And if there are audio samples there, I can’t get at them. Anyone else know about this bizarre invention? You’ll also find other instruments on the site, like the . . . hold on, this calls for another post. Thanks, LeMel!

Rope and Sound is an installation that uses rope tension to control sound. Pull on a cord, and the change in tension triggers electronic thuds and mellow chimes. The trick is conductive fibers braided into the rope; as the tension changes, the conduction of the rope changes, as well.

I got a chance to try out the installation at New York’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The show is up through October 30 and well worth a visit if you’re passing through town. The installation is beautiful and the concept brilliant, but the sound aspect was somewhat disappointing. The sounds themselves were compelling, but the ropes act like simple buttons: sounds are triggered as you cross a set threshold. If the whole point is the ability to monitor stress, why doesn’t that translate into sound? A velocity-sensitive keyboard is more expressive. That said, I think the underlying concept is terrific, so expect to see more use of conductive fibers in new sound interfaces.

If you’re near Emoryville, California, you can meet up with the Squid Labs folks who built this and other projects. (via O’Reilly Radar) And you can even one-up them by showing your own project. If you go, let me know what goes down!

[UPDATE:] I went to the source and asked Ben Recht (MIT Media Lab) about why the strings weren’t sensitive. In fact, they were! The reason they modulated timbre and not velocity was that he felt velocity was too hard to calibrate for different visitors. (And, obviously calibration is an issue, since I didn’t notice the timbre modulation.) This certainly demonstrates the challenges in designing new interfaces. And it also suggests that even with new designs, you need musicians to become adept at using the interface expressively.

Ben Dove’s String Thing is a cello-like instrument with four metal bars that can be struck or stroked. Like a fretless instrument, pitch is continuous.

Building String Thing: Laser Pointers and Vibrating Rods: What’s great about the String Thing is two-fold: first, it’s an ingenious design, and second, Ben rigorously documents how he did it, including some false starts. The steel rods are a “stroke” of genius: using magnets, the rods “vibrate” as you play them for physical feedback, while a sophisticated combination of laser pointers and webcams calculate your finger position. There’s plenty of expressive control, as well, though the limited Max/MSP-based demo video doesn’t quite do the sophistication of the controller justice. Ben has an impressive resume of other projects, as well.

See also: Haken Audio’s Continuum controller, which also works from the premise of providing continuous pitch control instead of the limitations of a keyboard. Via Regine / WWMNA.