Steve Mann, Chris Aimone, et al of the University of Toronto have developed a system for using streams of water to play a musical instrument. They describe the results in theoretical terms for the academic community, referring to ancient Greek water organs and the ability to have greater tactile feedback than other alternative instruments. But let’s get to the bottom line: this is a fun water toy that is not only tactile, but wet. You can play the instrument by manipulating streams of water directly:

The “FUNtain” (hydraulophone) is an interactive multimedia fountain that responds when people block, one or more of the water jets, or touch, restrict, or interact with the jets. In particular, it can function as an extremely expressive musical instrument in which each jet of the fountain is a soft key that can be pressed in infinitely many ways to obtain fine control of note volume, pitch, and timbre.

The hilarious send-up of educational films that was Look Around You: Music was only the beginning. BBC comedy show Look Around You has its own fantastic website filled with still more goodies. And it gives us a much clearer idea of the future of music technology than, say, a teaser from Moog.

Readers have been sending in “Life in the Year 2000″ entries, which include the five-string bass guitar, sex changes using Bach violin concertos, and my personal favorite, Halson Hoek’s invention that improves your keyboard chops by sending electrical shocks through metal gauntlets. At this point, that might be the only thing that can save my piano playing.

Best of all, Look Around You gives us what must be the mascot of Create Digital Music: enigmatic “musechnologist” Synthesizer Patel. He’s shown here with the watery keys of the Liquinth, perhaps inspired by a post here on the water-powered Mocean? There’s more from the new music episode, including a playable Mini-Trelm synth which has sadly been “stolen”. The TV network that gave us the Radiophonic Workshop deeply feels the trade we all ply:

“Synthesizer spends hours at these machines, carefully programming crochets, demi-clefs and arpeggionnes to achieve that special blend of sounds.”

Here’s a twist on interactive aquatic music: how about letting the fish be the music-makers? BBC News reports that digital artist Julie Freeman has created an installation out of a fish tank, installed in a silo at the Tingrith Fishery in Bedfordshire, southern England. Surgically-implanted radio tags track the movement of the fish, which generates music and animation. (via Gino Robair at Electronic Musician)

I think this is even better than the MIDI hamsters.

Artist Abinadi Meza has created a remixed composition of the “lighthearted” sounds of the movie Jaws (think drunken sailor sounds and off-key clarinet blasts), into a piece that wlll only be played underwater. To hear the output of the submerged speakers, you have to strip to your skivvies and float in the ocean. Title: Soft Jaws. Details of the project plus an MP3 for landlubbers are available from PS122 Gallery’s Artwurl zine.

Speaking of this, have any of you experimented with underwater speaker placement? (or simulating it digitally?)

I looked at Mocean last month, but Liubo Borissov, one of its creators, alerted me to an updated site with better documentation and video:

Mocean @ Organic Interfaces

Here’s where it gets really cool: the Mocean creators hooked up the water tank to a pipe organ (video included). The impact of the water interface on the harmonic content of the organ is simply sublime. I could go on, but go check it out for yourself! (Setup: MIDI organ + Jitter software.) Liubo tells us Mocean 3 will be “bigger and badder” and “almost a bathtub.” Can’t wait. If you can get to Vancouver at the end of May, you can check out Mocean and other innovative new instruments at a
conference dedicated to the subject.

If you’re interested in doing this sort of thing yourself, one of the professors at NYU (at which the Mocean team is based) has a terrific book called Physical Computing. There are great Web resources, too, but having it all in a book is worthwhile — definitely on my bookshelf.

Mocean
is an interactive installation that uses a tank of water as an
interface for sound. Dip your hands in the tank, and the installation
whistles and hums. The water doesn't create the sound directly;
instead, an array of antique organ pipes resonate above the tank,
triggered by a video camera that analyzes pictures of the water.
(Complex but interesting solution!) Mocean was created by Maia
Marinelli, Jared Lamenzo, and Liubo Borissov (in NYU's Interactive
Telecommunications Program or ITP); I found out about it as I'm in a residency now with Liubo at Dance Theater Workshop here in New York.

I hope others try water-based experiments, too; I saw something
similar at a 42nd-street space called The Tank. Watching the video,
while the sound is eerie and lovely, I think I'm more taken by how
expressive the water itself is. Other sensor solutions might make other
liquid interfaces create new musical sounds.

This week's understatement of note: "Sometimes I am self-driven to do some weird stuff. I have no idea why."

Indeed, Troy Errthum. Like turning an old upright piano into a 20-gallon pianoquarium, complete with live fish. (via
hackaday) The piano itself is no longer playable (guess that's what
happens when you replace the soundboard with fish), but there's room
for an electric piano.

CDM challenges its readers to start building fish storage into digital instruments. Maybe there's a market here.

The Nintendo DS is already a model for thinking creatively about handheld interaction, but a game slated for Japanese release called Electroplankton
looks to be the most creative yet. It's hard to say exactly what it is
– maybe just as confusing even if you do read Japanese — but it
appears to be an underwater musical game that finally expands beyond
the old 'Simon' model employed by games like Dance Dance Revolution.
Against an ever-present calm backdrop of rising bubbles drifts an
imagined landscape of imagined, smiling single-celled organisms and
protozoa, generating cheery, modal aleatoric music, as bouncing objects
on leaves produce notes and mic input (look at that spectral input in
one of the shots) and stylus perform simple, organic tasks.

And, of course, something involving the classic Mario theme.

What, you think I'm making this up? Go take a look.

Ah . . . soothing bubbles . . . like staring into a fish tank . . . (via joystiq)

Free reverb? Ho-hum.

Free reverb that can simulate bizarre acoustic spaces and even make your mix sound like it's underwater? Now you're talking.

Dasample Glaceverb
(VST Windows) is a Residual Vector Modulation reverb plugin — think
physical modeling applied to reverb. With control over every parameter
of the space and its materials and 64 presets, it's capable of
everything from traditional stage reverbs to bizarre boomy metal boxes
and underwater effects. And it's completely free, so if you're on
Windows there's really no reason not to be applying odd, boomy 20s
reverb tails to your stuff within moments.

It sounds a bit like a spring reverb from an alien culture. Have fun!

Okay, it's a stretch. Despite its name, the Wetronome covered yesterday by Gizmodo
is intended for pacing strokes in swimming, not music. But given the
innovations in portable music covered here alone, why couldn't your
next instrument be — waterproof? The Wetronome is a model of aquatic
design, completely sealed and programmed with a magnetic wand. If your
cello weren't water soluble, you could be practicing in the waves right
now.

Don't let me down, technology inventors out there. I know you're up to the task.