1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:08,880 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 3 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from hotfi dot com. Hello again, everyone, and 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,080 Speaker 1: welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulettin. I'm 5 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: an editor at how Stuff works dot com. Sitting across 6 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: from me as always, senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, 7 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: that was very musical. Thank you. We're going to talk 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:36,240 Speaker 1: about musical hecks today. So again we're in our series 9 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: of episodes about using technology to do stuff what it 10 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: was not meant to do, or or to to to 11 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: manipulate it, change it, to tweak it in some way 12 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,839 Speaker 1: so that behaves in a new and exciting way. We 13 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,319 Speaker 1: wanted to talk about that sort of culture, that and 14 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: the music culture and how those two overlap, because it 15 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: turns out that a lot of people who have liked 16 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: to hack physical as well as virtual types of stuff 17 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: are also really into the music. That's true. Um, you 18 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: had a lot of the uh. We we've kind of 19 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: touched on this in the past, recorded in an episode 20 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: in early two thousand and eleven about chip tunes. Yes, 21 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: chip tunes being music that you generate from those old 22 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 1: eight bit machines and earlier, but things like like the 23 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: cover War sixty four and stuff. You take the the 24 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: chips that were able to generate tones and you repurpose 25 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: them so that you program news sorts of music that 26 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: those devices were never necessarily meant to produce back in 27 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: the day. But it does produce that very very distinctive 28 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,759 Speaker 1: sound that we associate with the early days of computing 29 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: and video games. Yep, yep, it wasn't that. It wasn't 30 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: that the episode where I embarrassed myself because I had 31 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: prepped by uh, listening to bags of potato chips. You 32 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: can't listen to just one, That's true. I didn't learn 33 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: that much. But no, a lot of the people, UM 34 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 1: we didn't really get into the technology behind that as much, 35 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,839 Speaker 1: because I mean, we did talk about how they they 36 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: use UM video games in that case as electronic instruments, 37 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: but we we didn't really talk as much about building 38 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: about what you need to do to make that happen. UM. 39 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: One of the people that that Jonathan sort of if 40 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: you'l pardon the pon, tuned me into UM hacked an 41 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: Atari undred. Yes, he made the Guitari tred Trix he's 42 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: an Australian fellow. Yeah, he's a chip tune artist from Australia. 43 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: And he took an Atari twenty hundred. Uh. He took 44 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: some various electronics meant to manipulate the waveform of a 45 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: sound once it's been produced. Uh. And then he creates 46 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: some customized software to be able to create music using 47 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: the Star. And it's not it's not creating music come 48 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:06,079 Speaker 1: completely improvisationally. There's some stuff that has to be prerecorded 49 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 1: and uh, you know, predetermined, because he could not actually 50 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: just produce any tone he wanted at any time he 51 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: wanted right now. He knows how the these initial machines 52 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: and we've talked about this too on a previous episode 53 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,959 Speaker 1: in which we were talking about the gaming hardware. UM 54 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: those those early machines like the R had a library 55 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: of sounds built in the machine. It was on a chip, 56 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: hardwired hardwired into the chip. So um Ceatrix is familiar 57 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: with the hardware. He knows what sounds are are available 58 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: to him on this machine, the range of tones and volumes, 59 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: and the different wave forms that the square wave UM 60 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: and the different the different sounds that he can make. 61 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: And so what he does is he uses a computer 62 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: to write a background track basically using assembly code UM, 63 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: which is a very low level programming language UM, and 64 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: he's able to use He knows what their sounds are, 65 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: and he writes the software and then he ends up 66 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: burning a a rom to go into the cartridge slot 67 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: on the Atari. So it's just like you were putting 68 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: a video game. So like, let's say you want to 69 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: play Pitfall and you put that into the By the way, 70 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: Pitfall was an awesome game. It was a river Rate, 71 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: another awesome game. But you put that into your you 72 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 1: turn it on, and then it goes well. In this case, 73 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:28,359 Speaker 1: he was creating the equivalent of a music cartridge that 74 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,599 Speaker 1: you put in there, and what would happen is it 75 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 1: would play this predetermined track, which he could then manipulate 76 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 1: with the other electronics that he had built. And he 77 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:42,280 Speaker 1: built it on a platform that resembles this huge, clunky guitar. 78 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: Right now, if if you're if you're familiar with something 79 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:49,479 Speaker 1: like Garage Band or some of these other UM basic 80 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: music editing software programs, you're you're probably familiar with the 81 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:59,039 Speaker 1: idea of them saying okay, well, we've included a hundred 82 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: clips and it'll be something really simple, basic percussion track 83 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,039 Speaker 1: or maybe a baseline that you can use as a 84 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,039 Speaker 1: baseline to write a piece of music over. And so 85 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: that's what he's including there. He'll write a basic uh 86 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,039 Speaker 1: if you will, something something to build on, and he'll 87 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,679 Speaker 1: turn on the Atari machine and it starts playing that 88 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:25,799 Speaker 1: bass track on which he can improvise playing additional notes 89 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 1: UM he uses. There's a UM joystick attached to this. UM. 90 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: It looks very much like the third party joysticks that 91 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: you used. Actually may very well be. I don't recognize 92 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: that particular joystick, but it's got a couple of buttons 93 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 1: on it and he can use that to switch between 94 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,160 Speaker 1: tracks on the on the cartridge UM. And it's also 95 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:48,040 Speaker 1: got some effects pedals. He uh, he actually used UM, 96 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: I switched my notes here. Uh. He all he has 97 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 1: an equalizer pedal built in. And these are the the 98 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: stomp pedals to foot pedals that that a guitarist would use. 99 00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 1: UM that you see them switch on the floor right, 100 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:01,480 Speaker 1: So instead of stomping on it, he's actually built these 101 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: into the neck of the so he's using his hand 102 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 1: to change the pedals as opposed to his foot. Yeah, 103 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 1: there are three there's an equalizer pedal or e Q. 104 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: There's a flanger and a digital delay pedal which he 105 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: uses with his hands. Uh, in addition to having the 106 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: joystick and the attar, which is at the where you 107 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,040 Speaker 1: would find the body of the guitar. Right. So, uh, 108 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: I say we listen to a short segment of of 109 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: Sea Tricks playing his guitar twenty This is him playing 110 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 1: at a live performance in Japan, and we're just gonna 111 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: give you a short little snippet to kind of let 112 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: you understand what it sounds like. Uh, if your ears 113 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: are sensitive, I recommend lowering the volume of your listening device. 114 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: Now I'm vamping a little bit so that you can 115 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:54,600 Speaker 1: do this because it is pretty loud. But here is 116 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 1: an example of his live performance in front of a 117 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: crowd in Japan. Yeah, that it's definitely some of the 118 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 1: comments on his YouTube page or a little harsh. I 119 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: agree that that's not necessarily everybody's style of music, but 120 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: I do think that it's very very cool what he's 121 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: done there. It's kind of a mix between electronica and industrial, so, 122 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: I mean, it's got it's got a real crunchy kind 123 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: of sound to it. There are other approaches to this 124 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: musical hacking that are similar to that. There's a great 125 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: term called circuit bending, which really seems to be prevalent 126 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: in the UK more than in the United States. But 127 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: it's the idea of using low voltage musical electronics uh 128 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: that you would find in things ranging from basic video 129 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 1: games to even electronics that you would find like in 130 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: a children's toy like speaking Spell. Yeah and uh, and 131 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: then you bend. Circuit bending means you are actually short 132 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: circuiting the device and you're producing new sounds that the 133 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: device was never meant to create. Yeah. A lot of 134 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: people who do circuit bending will go to um uh 135 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: places that offer like thrift stores where you'll find a 136 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: lot of old toys and they'll go through and find 137 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: and you can get that stuff for cheap at the 138 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:33,199 Speaker 1: thrift stores. Um Or they'll go to yard sales stuff 139 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: like that, and a lot of cases there will be uh, 140 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:40,560 Speaker 1: you know, not either either not functioning quite right or 141 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: you know, people will give it to you for a 142 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 1: couple of bucks and it's easy for them to they'll 143 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 1: they'll get several of them. In fact, I've seen the 144 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: Speaking Spell is one of the most popular I think, 145 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:52,959 Speaker 1: or at least the ones I've seen most frequently mentioned, 146 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: and they will either you know, they will short circuits 147 00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,720 Speaker 1: something or will short circuit a couple of boards to 148 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: get you know, they rewire some So it actually involves 149 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: physically rewiring electronics. So there's often like a soldering iron 150 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,079 Speaker 1: is one of the basic tools in the toolkit for 151 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: someone who wants to do this. It was kind of 152 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 1: a trend that was um at least the whole circuit 153 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: bender trend is is attributed to a fellow named Paul 154 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: Norris who who found uh he actually used us speaking 155 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: and spelling apparently according to the information I read from 156 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: circuit benders dot co dot uk, uh it was it 157 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 1: was quote a chance accident with an old speaking spell 158 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: machine and a soldering iron. Hey you've got a soldering 159 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: iron on my speaking spell you got speaking spell on 160 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 1: my solder? Say and uh, but yeah, there's there's this 161 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: interesting music that can be created from these electronics. And 162 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,439 Speaker 1: and in fact, the circuit benders website has a few 163 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: different tracks that you can listen to. UM. So again, 164 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 1: these two different approaches, it's trying to achieve that similar 165 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,439 Speaker 1: outcome using these electronics that were uh they had sound 166 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: incorporated in them from the beginning. But in order to 167 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: make music you are you're actually making it do something 168 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: it wasn't intended to do. And in fact, They Might 169 00:10:13,679 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 1: Be Giants did a rerecording of their incredible cover uh 170 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: is Sten Bull, which is in fact a cover. Uh. 171 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: They Might Be Giants made that famous back in their 172 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 1: Flood album. That was a fantastic cover, one of the 173 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:32,320 Speaker 1: most popular songs when they play live. I've seen They 174 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: Might Be Giants play live many many times. I'm a 175 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,920 Speaker 1: huge fan. Well, they did are. They covered it again. 176 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: They did a new version of it where it was 177 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 1: more of an electronica version and they use a speaking 178 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:46,840 Speaker 1: spell in that. In that version, if you listen to it, 179 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:51,000 Speaker 1: you can hear the different noises um and uh. It's 180 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:55,839 Speaker 1: really creative, a fantastic version, and I'm sure I'll linked 181 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: to that. I've already linked to the video once on 182 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,320 Speaker 1: the tech Stuff Facebook page, but I won't hesitate to 183 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:03,440 Speaker 1: do it again because I love the band that much. Well, 184 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:05,440 Speaker 1: they're They're kind of funny too in a way, because 185 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 1: if you know anything about the band, they started out 186 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: as you know, just the two of them, John and 187 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: John John and John um and then they added some dance. Yes, 188 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:15,719 Speaker 1: they did a whole band of dance yea. And then 189 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: eventually one of the dance left and Marty came on. 190 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:20,720 Speaker 1: But yeah, when they when they first started, they were 191 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: they used a lot of electronic instruments and loops and things, um, 192 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: and then they, if you will, sort of went unplugged. 193 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 1: They started using more guitars and and live drums rather 194 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:34,800 Speaker 1: than or acoustic drums rather than digital electronic drums, right, 195 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:36,560 Speaker 1: you know stuff, And that was sort of a shock 196 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:38,880 Speaker 1: for those of us were you know, fans before they 197 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 1: used to it when it was just the two guys 198 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:42,800 Speaker 1: up on stage and then suddenly there were three other 199 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,319 Speaker 1: guys up there. But if you if you follow them, 200 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 1: you've known uh for the last few years, they've started 201 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,560 Speaker 1: experimenting with little gadgets and gizmos and stuff and throwing 202 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,319 Speaker 1: things in. Uh. It's a lot of fun too. They 203 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: did a cover of Chumba Onemba's tub Thumping. Yes they 204 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: were the A V. Love and that that is phenomenal, 205 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:05,400 Speaker 1: what a wonderful, wonderful video. But they used they used 206 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: devices like that as well. You know, they create some 207 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: electronic music live in a in a big group of 208 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:17,840 Speaker 1: people who are all shouting the lyrics along and UH 209 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:23,680 Speaker 1: a joyous video. Absolutely love it. UM where we uh 210 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 1: we can move on, moving on. UM actually sort of 211 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:30,080 Speaker 1: a hybrid instrument sort of came to me UM when 212 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 1: I was looking at the guitar before even when when 213 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:35,560 Speaker 1: Jonathan showed me that he actually showed me before we 214 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,000 Speaker 1: had this idea for the podcast, just like, look at 215 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:41,680 Speaker 1: this thing, and I was and I was sort of 216 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:44,360 Speaker 1: fooling around with it, and I ran into UM. An 217 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:50,840 Speaker 1: instrument created by a very well reasonably famous hacker, Jerry Ellsworth. UM. 218 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: She's very hacked UH popular and the hacking community, and 219 00:12:55,320 --> 00:13:00,800 Speaker 1: she's also part of Valve Software, which gaming community knows 220 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: very well. Um UH. Satrix has done stuff with other machines, 221 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 1: not just the Atari. He's used UH, an Amiga, and 222 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:12,320 Speaker 1: game Boy, but he's also used the Commodore sixty four 223 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 1: and UH as an interesting tie in UM. Jerry Ellsworth 224 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: used a Commodore sixty four to make a a bass guitar, 225 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:25,319 Speaker 1: but unlike what Seatrix did, she actually used the neck 226 00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:30,079 Speaker 1: and strings from the bass and uses the Commodore sixty 227 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: four to UM interpret the strings basically used as the 228 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: pickup for the bass. As most of you know, Chris 229 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:42,880 Speaker 1: and I do our research separately, so this is all 230 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:47,000 Speaker 1: new to me and my mind has just been blown. Yeah. Now, now, 231 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:49,400 Speaker 1: if you if you don't know anything about how an 232 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 1: electric guitar works and a bassis a you know, electric 233 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:56,840 Speaker 1: bass is a bass guitar. Um. They they use the 234 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,600 Speaker 1: strings of a guitar. But you know, if you've ever 235 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: been around on one that's not plugged in, the sounds 236 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: it makes are pretty quiet. Um. You know, the the 237 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: mechanics of the strings are pretty much the same as 238 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: you'd see in an acoustic guitar. But when an electric 239 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:13,000 Speaker 1: guitar uses along the body are those those little uh 240 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: Sometimes they're silver, sometimes they're darker. Uh. You'll see those 241 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: little uh things that run exactly or not always exactly, 242 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: but perpendicular to the way the strings move. Um. So 243 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: they are on the body of the guitar. Sometimes they'll 244 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 1: be one, sometimes they'll be two or three. Um. Sometimes 245 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:33,000 Speaker 1: I've seen I have friends who are musicians who hack 246 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: their own guitars and will change out These are called pickups, 247 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 1: And what these do is they basically interpret the sounds 248 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: of they turn the the acoustic vibrations into electronic electric symbols, signals, 249 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: signals differently different, Um, a little percussive memory there, right, 250 00:14:55,840 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 1: Uh so yeah, they turned them into electric signals which 251 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: travel along the cable and into really now, they could 252 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: be plugged directly into a computer, but traditionally they're plugged 253 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: into an amplifier and that's how you can manipulate the signals. Well. 254 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: Jerry Ellsworth has employed the use of a Commodore sixty 255 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 1: four has done some hacking on the device itself to 256 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 1: allow her to to use the Commodore sixty four as 257 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: a effectively as the pickup for this electric bass and um, 258 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,880 Speaker 1: she that means she can use this to play you know. Basically, 259 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 1: any bass guitarist could pick this device up and play 260 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: a song on it, you know, in the traditional fashion 261 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 1: and have it turn out as uh an eight bit sound. 262 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: She can use um the device to play eight bit 263 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: sounds or or something a little bit closer to the 264 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:52,360 Speaker 1: traditional electric bassed sound. Um. Some of the keys function 265 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: um as a key tar. Um you know which is that? Uh, 266 00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: depending on how you look at it, really cool or 267 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: really cheese e ugly cool, That's how I see it, Uh, 268 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: where it was the body of the device was a keyboard, 269 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,000 Speaker 1: but there is a neck where you can manipulate the sounds. 270 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: And this is what we're talking about. There is a 271 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:17,520 Speaker 1: professionally engineered, manufactured device where it is supposed to do 272 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 1: all those things. Um, she sort of made her own 273 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: uh bass guitar, um hacked keytar device and it's just 274 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: very very cool. There are videos online you actually, uh, 275 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: it's probably too much to do a clip of, but 276 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:36,840 Speaker 1: I would certainly encourage you to check out the videos 277 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 1: of her playing this instrument, because, um, there's really a 278 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 1: lot that that she did to make this work. Course, 279 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:47,040 Speaker 1: then again, she's known for building race car chassis when 280 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:49,840 Speaker 1: she was in her teens and twenties, so you figure 281 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 1: she's probably pretty good at this. So I kind of 282 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: hate her. Actually it's more envy than hate. Yes, I 283 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 1: I envy her her ingenuity and skill. Oh absolutely, uh. 284 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 1: And I wanted to talk a bit about there's actually 285 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,680 Speaker 1: a contest that I or a competition that I did 286 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,520 Speaker 1: not even know about until we started recording this. And 287 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: my ignorance is something I'm kicking myself over because ignorance 288 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 1: not so much bliss. In two thousand nine, Uh, there 289 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,439 Speaker 1: was the first Gunman Musical Instrument Competition, all right, So 290 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:27,400 Speaker 1: this was a competition for designers to create musical instruments 291 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:31,439 Speaker 1: using technology and interesting ways, and they would, uh, they 292 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:34,639 Speaker 1: would submit them to this competition and the winner of 293 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: the competition would win a certain amount of money. That 294 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 1: first year, it was a ten thousand dollar ten thousand 295 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: dollars for all of the different prizes. In first place 296 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 1: would take five thousand of that. So so two thousand 297 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,720 Speaker 1: nine was when they first had it. And you know 298 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:56,440 Speaker 1: where it's located down the street, down the freaking street 299 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:01,120 Speaker 1: over and Georgia Tech. So Georgia Tech. We're in Atlanta. 300 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: We we are in Buckhead in Atlanta, which is so 301 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 1: when we say down the street, it's actually a little 302 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:07,440 Speaker 1: further than just down the street. It's not like a 303 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:11,959 Speaker 1: block or two away, but it's easily Yeah, it's like 304 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:15,399 Speaker 1: it's like two train stops and we are next to 305 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: a train station. So anyway, it's really really accessible from 306 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:22,600 Speaker 1: where we are and we have never been. We didn't 307 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:26,119 Speaker 1: even know it existed until today. And uh, the fact 308 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: that this exists is now something that tells me I 309 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:32,400 Speaker 1: have to attend next year if I can uh if 310 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:35,919 Speaker 1: I if I've got that that day free So I 311 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:37,720 Speaker 1: wanted to talk a little bit about some of the 312 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: devices that were submitted that first year. Yeah. Absolutely, And 313 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 1: the nice thing is is that we can actually play 314 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,920 Speaker 1: a little bit of the music that these devices generated. 315 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:49,000 Speaker 1: Will have some clips as well. So the first one, 316 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: the one that actually won the prize in two thousand nine, 317 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:57,200 Speaker 1: was the Silent Drum, which was from a an inventor 318 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:01,840 Speaker 1: named Jamie Oliver, but not the Naked Chef, not that 319 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,040 Speaker 1: Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver. I have to say though, that 320 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: the name of the instrument sort of reminds me of 321 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 1: the title of a Mystery Science Theater three thousand video. Yeah, 322 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,080 Speaker 1: silent drum. Silent. It makes me think of what all 323 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: people who live with a drummer wishes the drummer would 324 00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:23,640 Speaker 1: own as a drummer. Yes, okay, so silent drum is. Well, 325 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: they in the on the site they actually talk about 326 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,199 Speaker 1: it being a kind of like using shadow puppetry to 327 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,400 Speaker 1: create music. This really cool thing. Alright, So you've got 328 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 1: this this device where you've got uh uh light that 329 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 1: is projected from the bottom of the device up to 330 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,360 Speaker 1: the top. The top has a membrane across it that 331 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 1: acts as that what would be the drumhead, but you're 332 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 1: not striking it like a drum. Instead, you're pressing down 333 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:52,880 Speaker 1: on the membrane. You're creating a shadow. There's also a 334 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,960 Speaker 1: camera that detects where that shadow is. The cameras and 335 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 1: signals to this processor that has specialized offtware on it, 336 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: built by Oliver that interprets the shadow as a command 337 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,439 Speaker 1: to create a certain kind of sound. So depending on 338 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: where in the membrane you touch, that's going to determine 339 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: the sound that comes out, and how deep you go 340 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 1: changes the quality of the sound, whether or not it's 341 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,080 Speaker 1: going to be allowed one versus a quiet one. And 342 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: you can create this weird, weird soundscape this way. And 343 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 1: we can actually play a little bit of that. So 344 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:32,440 Speaker 1: here is a short clip of Oliver demonstrating the silent drum, 345 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:34,199 Speaker 1: and if you get a chance to look at the 346 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 1: YouTube video, I highly recommend it because he adds a 347 00:20:36,960 --> 00:21:00,479 Speaker 1: lot of theatricality to his performance. So here we go. Now, 348 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: that was what took home first prize that year, and 349 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:08,680 Speaker 1: there were many other uh uh submissions that you can 350 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 1: look at, and I picked out a couple of others 351 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,399 Speaker 1: to talk about. Uh, some that we can listen to, 352 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:16,359 Speaker 1: not all of them. We don't have video our audio 353 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:17,879 Speaker 1: clips of all of them, but I can play some 354 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 1: of the stuff. One of them is called the Guitar Bot, 355 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: which took second place that year. I was developed by 356 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:29,120 Speaker 1: Eric Singer and UH. It proms guitar parts for the 357 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,919 Speaker 1: League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots. It's a robotic guitarist 358 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: and uh he actually used four separate robots that each 359 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: had a single string. Alright, so imagine think about like 360 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:51,679 Speaker 1: the four guitar next side by side, but there's no 361 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: there's only one string on each one. And then instead 362 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:57,960 Speaker 1: of there being frets all the way down the neck 363 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: of the guitar, there's only one frent. But the fret 364 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 1: can move up and down the length of the string, 365 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 1: so it changes the pitch of the note that that 366 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:10,720 Speaker 1: string produces because the fret itself relocates to make the 367 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,160 Speaker 1: string the right length to create the pitch you want. 368 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: And then at the base of each string, there's a 369 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:21,160 Speaker 1: little circular drum that has on it four picks mounted 370 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:23,920 Speaker 1: to the drum. So when the drum turns, the pick 371 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: picks the the string and you can turn the wheel 372 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:32,639 Speaker 1: a very specific number of times to to do the 373 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,159 Speaker 1: equivalent of finger picking really or you could turn it 374 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: really quickly so that it's just playing faster than any 375 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,399 Speaker 1: human being, with the possible exception of certain members of 376 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,920 Speaker 1: Van Halen, could ever accomplish. And so, uh, it's it's 377 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:49,720 Speaker 1: really interesting to watch this work as well, because you 378 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:52,920 Speaker 1: actually see the frets going up and down those strings 379 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: to generate the tunes that that you hear from it. 380 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 1: And here is a short sample of the guitar bot 381 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,640 Speaker 1: that actually sort of reminds me if you've looked at it. Um. 382 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:34,200 Speaker 1: Uh the video company named Anna Music. Have you ever 383 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 1: seen those um They used to be advertised on on 384 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:41,400 Speaker 1: TV a lot. Basically they do UM three D videos 385 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:44,919 Speaker 1: of music and it's it's all MIDI type, you know, 386 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,720 Speaker 1: it's all C G I. But the UM the music 387 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: is when you look at the video, it's created by 388 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 1: these fantastic instruments, things that are are essentially robotic in character, 389 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,920 Speaker 1: and uh, you know they're playing these all sorts of 390 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:05,639 Speaker 1: otherworldly you know, they're playing themselves basically, And watching that 391 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,119 Speaker 1: just reminded me of one of the instruments. Uh. In 392 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 1: there are actually probably several of the instruments, so which 393 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:15,159 Speaker 1: is kind of cool. Yeah, there, there's so many that 394 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: were submitted that year that I thought were really interesting 395 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:22,520 Speaker 1: to the submitted to the competition. Another one was well. 396 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:26,720 Speaker 1: Third place went to David Wessel, who was a Berkeley 397 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: University professor, so a guy who knows what he's doing. 398 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: And he had an instrument that he introduced called the slabs. 399 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: So you know a lot of laptops have those have 400 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:42,840 Speaker 1: touch pads. He did what he did was he took 401 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,879 Speaker 1: a bunch of those touchpads, more than thirties I recall, 402 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,880 Speaker 1: and made an array of touch pads, and each touch 403 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: pad was capable of producing certain tones based upon where 404 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,640 Speaker 1: your finger was on that on that touch pad and 405 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 1: how much pressure you were putting on the touch pad. Interesting, 406 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: and all of the information was fed through a device 407 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:09,639 Speaker 1: that was running the max Slash MSP audio program, and 408 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:14,399 Speaker 1: he would be able to create music by moving his 409 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:19,080 Speaker 1: fingers along these different touchpads and could create a pretty 410 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: um sophisticated range of sounds. I mean, there were essentially 411 00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:28,120 Speaker 1: nine channels for this device, so lots of lots of options. 412 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: And uh and here's a little sample of the professor 413 00:25:32,760 --> 00:26:08,640 Speaker 1: playing along on slabs. M m m mmmmm. Now that's 414 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,040 Speaker 1: pretty cool if you want something, if you want something 415 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:15,639 Speaker 1: that sounds a little more primitive. Here's another this this 416 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:19,440 Speaker 1: will be our final little sound clip, but here's one 417 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:21,920 Speaker 1: that I wanted to talk about. A guy named Neil 418 00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:30,960 Speaker 1: Feathers created an instrument called vibra wheels. Yeah, so he 419 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:34,919 Speaker 1: he creates the sound by rotating these discs that have 420 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,640 Speaker 1: within it some vibrating pellets. So the vibrating pellets are 421 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,200 Speaker 1: making this certain noise, and then by rotating it, you're 422 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: creating this kind of Doppler effect. And by rotating a 423 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: different speeds you can actually alter the pitch. Uh. And 424 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: then there are batteries that are supplying the power and 425 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 1: to create the music, you run it at different speeds uh, 426 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:58,399 Speaker 1: and it Uh they're going past guitar pickups, like you 427 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: were saying, that's what that's why end up interpreting these 428 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: vibrations and turning it into electric signals, which then can 429 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 1: go to an amplifier, which then can send an amplified 430 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:12,920 Speaker 1: signal to speakers and then they get to hear them. 431 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,160 Speaker 1: And I can talk all about the physical abilities of sound, 432 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 1: but we've done that in previous podcast. We're not gonna 433 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: cover it, but anyway, so moving this around and around, 434 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:22,639 Speaker 1: you can make them go in and out of phase. 435 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,679 Speaker 1: These different rotating disks that have these vibrating pellets and 436 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:30,000 Speaker 1: batteries on them. Um, that's what creates the sound. And uh, 437 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: they say that the the the inspiration for this instrument 438 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: came from a motorcycle engine and I think you're gonna 439 00:27:39,720 --> 00:28:13,439 Speaker 1: understand what they meant when you hear and on lead motorcycle. 440 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:19,199 Speaker 1: It's could you imagine? Um? Yeah. So actually, so that 441 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:23,320 Speaker 1: was a finalist for that first competition over at Georgia Tech, 442 00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: which has gone on every year since including there was 443 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:30,879 Speaker 1: one in as well, So hopefully in because we're recording 444 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: this in twelve, hopefully I'll be able to attend that 445 00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,639 Speaker 1: one and see these things in person, because I'm finding 446 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:39,040 Speaker 1: it really fascinating. There was another one that I don't 447 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:42,280 Speaker 1: have a sound clip for, but the idea was just 448 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 1: so wild to me. Uh. Katherine stone Rich she created 449 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 1: this device that used lasers, so you know I was 450 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: gonna love it anyway, right, But they used lasers that 451 00:28:56,440 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 1: would detect the texture of very is fabrics. So we're 452 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,880 Speaker 1: talking about the thread count or the thickness of that fabric, 453 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,360 Speaker 1: or even wherever the seams are in that fabric, and 454 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 1: through the various changes in that detect it would send 455 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,360 Speaker 1: signals that would create music. So you would actually feed 456 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: fabric through this machine and the output would be music. 457 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: You could compose a symphony, essentially an electronic symphony, by 458 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 1: weaving fabric and changing the pattern of the weave. That's unbelievable. Okay, 459 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,720 Speaker 1: So I think we're gonna end this podcast right here. 460 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 1: One good pun just destroys the whole thing. Yeah, it 461 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:46,040 Speaker 1: just comes apart at the seams. I'm hurting and I 462 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 1: need to seek medical attention. So oh man, all right, 463 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,160 Speaker 1: I'm gonna sew this up right now and we're going 464 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: to finish this podcast. I think Jonathan's going to spindle me. 465 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:02,440 Speaker 1: There's that didn't even make sense. I'm gonna, you know, 466 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 1: like the kind that goes on. Then you know what, 467 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,800 Speaker 1: after this, I'm gonna tell you a yarn that has 468 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:11,240 Speaker 1: been in the back of my mind for ages. Sorry 469 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: I didn't that's a totally different thread. Sorry guys. Um, 470 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: I don't mean to needle Chris in this way. See 471 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,160 Speaker 1: two can play at that game. Mr Palette, Okay, so 472 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 1: we're wrapping this out. Honestly, UM, the realm of music 473 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 1: and hacking is a rich one where there are incredible 474 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,240 Speaker 1: examples of ingenuity and musicality out there, some of which 475 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:38,680 Speaker 1: are higher on the ingenuity part and less on the musicality, 476 00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,959 Speaker 1: but there's some there's some incredible examples of people really 477 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,880 Speaker 1: putting their minds to new ways to create music. And 478 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:52,040 Speaker 1: it's it blows my mind, uh as someone who appreciates music, 479 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 1: but it is still very much a novice as far 480 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:57,800 Speaker 1: as making music, I find it amazing. Well, it's one 481 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 1: thing to uh to have something like pro tools to 482 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 1: record uh analog instruments or uh something like Sibelius to 483 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: write scores on your on your computer. But UM, it's 484 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:14,960 Speaker 1: kind of interesting to see how people are taking other 485 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:18,440 Speaker 1: things and making music out of it. I'm you know, 486 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: I'm thinking along the lines of people like uh Ben 487 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:27,920 Speaker 1: burt over At introduct industrial light and magic, uh making 488 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,239 Speaker 1: sound effects out of found objects and things like that. 489 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:36,720 Speaker 1: It's just uh neat to see people making things make 490 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:41,360 Speaker 1: music you wouldn't ordinarily see. UM. So certainly not to 491 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 1: denigrate the actual musical instruments, UM, and amazing software and 492 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:49,520 Speaker 1: hardware packages at these, but this is just kind of 493 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: fun because it's going, Hey, I wonder what kind of 494 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,120 Speaker 1: sound that thing will make if I hit it? Yeah, which, uh, 495 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,040 Speaker 1: take me right back to my days in kindergarten. Yep. 496 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 1: So there wasn't something. It was on one anyway, and 497 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 1: we all learned those lessons. He asked. Let's wrap this up, guys. 498 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: If you have any suggestions or future episodes of text stuff, 499 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 1: I recommend you get in touch with us and let 500 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:12,120 Speaker 1: us know, because if you just shut them out the window, 501 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,400 Speaker 1: we may not hear you so soon. This an email. 502 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:17,360 Speaker 1: Are adjus is tech stuff at Discovery dot com or 503 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:19,880 Speaker 1: let us know on Facebook or Twitter. Our handle at 504 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:23,160 Speaker 1: both those locations is tech Stuff H. S. W and Chris, 505 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,560 Speaker 1: and I will tell to you again really soon. For 506 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,200 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, visit house 507 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:35,800 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. 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