WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Hacks Into Music 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:13.680 How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:18.400 I am your host, executive producer Jonathan Strickland. Yep, I'm 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.040 with how Stuff Parkson, I Heart Radio and a lot 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.600 of all things tech is. Time for another classic episode 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.840 of tech Stuff. This one originally aired on August twenty, 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:33.320 two thousand twelve, back in the good old days, I guess. Anyway, 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.720 this particular episode is called tech Stuff Hacks into Music, 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:41.960 and Chris and I go into some interesting discussions about 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.080 technology and music, and this was one of those cases 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:47.680 where it was really really handy to have Chris so on. 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:50.519 Chris is always a joy and I loved having a 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.559 podcast with him. But as you may or may not know, 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:59.400 he has performed as a professional musician many times, even 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:03.280 when on tour with big name music groups and stuff. 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:07.360 So that's pretty cool. Anyway, check out this classic episode. 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:12.039 We're going to talk about musical hacks today. So again 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:17.000 we're in our series of episodes about using technology to 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:21.440 do stuff what it was not meant to do, or 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:25.319 or to to to manipulate it, change it, to tweak 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:27.600 it in some way so it behaves in a new 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:31.080 and exciting way. We want to talk about that sort 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:34.440 of culture, that and the music culture and how those 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.640 two overlap, because it turns out that a lot of 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.960 people who have liked to hack physical as well as 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:45.360 virtual types of stuff are also really into the music. 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.280 That's true. Um, yeah, a lot of the we we've 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.560 kind of touched on this in the past, recorded in 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.400 an episode in early two thousand eleven about chip tunes. Yes, 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.720 chip tunes being music that you generate from those old 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:03.920 eight bit machines and earlier, but things like like the 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.000 cover War sixty four and stuff. You take the the 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.760 chips that were able to generate tones and you repurpose 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.120 them so that you program news sorts of music that 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.720 those devices were never necessarily meant to produce back in 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:20.360 the day. But it does produce that very, very distinctive 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.320 sound that we associate with the early days of computing 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:25.799 and video games. Yep, yep, it wasn't. It wasn't that 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.440 the episode where I embarrassed myself because I had prepped 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:33.680 by uh, listening to bags of potato chips. You can't 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.600 listen to just one, that's true. I didn't learn that much. 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.680 But no, a lot of the people. Um, we didn't 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.920 really get into the technology behind that as much, because 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:46.760 I mean we did talk about how they they use 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:51.400 UM video games in in that case as electronic instruments, 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:54.600 but we we didn't really talk as much about building 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.040 about what you need to do to make that happen. UM. 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.960 One of the people that that Jonathan sort of feel 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:07.560 pardon upon tuned me into UM hacked an at. Yes, 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:12.640 he made the guitari dred tricks. He's an Australian. Yeah, 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.240 he's a chip tune artist from Australia. And he took 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:20.600 an Atari twenty d Uh. He took some various electronics 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:24.799 meant to manipulate the waveform of a sound once it's 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:29.240 been produced. Uh, and then he creates some customized software 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:33.400 to be able to create music using the sty And 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:40.520 it's not it's not creating music completely improvisationally. There's some 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:45.760 stuff that has to be pre recorded and uh, you know, predetermined, 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.280 because he could not actually just produce any tone he 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.480 wanted at any time he wanted. Right now. He knows 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:57.040 how the these initial machines. And we've talked about this 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.080 too on a previous episode in which we were talking 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.440 about the gaming her to wear UM. Those those early 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:06.520 machines like the R had a library of sounds built 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.440 in the machine. It was on a chip, hardwired hardwired 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:13.960 into the chip. So um ceatrix is familiar with the hardware. 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.080 He knows what sounds are are available to him on 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.960 this machine, the range of tones and volumes, and then 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:25.120 different waveforms that the square wave UM and the different 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:27.599 the different sounds that he can make. And so what 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.800 he does is he uses a computer to write a 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:36.960 background track basically using assembly code UM, which is a 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:40.520 very low level programming language UM, and he's able to use. 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:42.440 He knows what their sounds are and he writes the 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.400 software and then he ends up burning a a ROM 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:48.600 to go into the cartridge slot on the at R. 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:50.800 So it's just like you were putting a video game. 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:52.800 So like let's say you want to play Pitfall and 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.400 you put that into the By the way, Pitfall was 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:58.360 an awesome game, so it was a river rate another 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:00.120 awesome game. But you put that into your ATR bas 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:01.719 you turn it on and then it goes well. In 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.120 this case, he was creating the equivalent of a music 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.880 cartridge that you put in there. And what would happen 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.479 is it would play this predetermined track, which he could 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:15.120 then manipulate with the other electronics that he had built. 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.960 And he built it on a platform that resembles this huge, 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.120 clunky guitar right now. If you if you're if you're 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:25.200 familiar with something like Garage Band or some of these 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:31.520 other UM basic music editing software programs, you're you're probably 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.840 familiar with the idea of them saying Okay, well, we've 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:39.600 included a hundred clips, and it'll be something really simple, 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:43.560 basic percussion track or maybe a baseline that you can 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:47.120 use as a baseline to write a piece of music over. 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:49.640 And so that's what he's including there. He'll write a 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:53.720 basic uh if you will, something something to build on, 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.160 and he'll turn on the Atari machine and it starts 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:02.080 playing that bass track on which he can improvise playing 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:07.600 additional notes UM he uses. There's a UM joystick attached 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.400 to this UM. It looks very much like the third 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.080 party joysticks that you used. Actually may very well be 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:15.280 I don't recognize that particular joystick, but it's got a 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:17.520 couple of buttons on it, and he can use that 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:21.120 to switch between tracks on the on the cartridge UM. 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.719 And it's also got some effects pedals. He uh he 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.400 actually used Um, I switched my notes here. Uh. He 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.760 all he has an equalizer pedal built in and these 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.000 are the the stump pedals, the foot pedals that that 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:36.040 a guitarist would use. Um that you see them switch 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.159 on the floor, right, So instead of stomping on it, 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:42.279 he's actually built these into the neck of the so 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.000 he's using his hand to change the pedals as opposed 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.400 to his foot. Yeah, there are three. There's an equalizer 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.839 pedal or e Q. There's a flanger and a digital 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.200 delay pedal which he uses with his hands. Uh, in 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:58.480 addition to having the joystick and the atar which is 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:02.640 at the where you would find the body of the guitar. Right. 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.640 So uh, I say we listen to a short segment 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.880 of of s Tricks playing his guitar. This is him 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.920 playing at a live performance in Japan, and we're just 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.160 gonna give you a short little snippet to kind of 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.760 let you understand what it sounds like. Uh. If your 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:24.040 ears are sensitive, I recommend lowering the volume of your 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:28.920 listening device. Now I'm vamping a little bit so that 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.720 you can do this because it is pretty loud. But 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.320 here is an example of his live performance in front 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:56.120 of a crowd in Japan. Yeah, that it's definitely some 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:58.680 of the comments on his YouTube page or a little harsh. 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.600 I agree that it's not necessarily everybody's style of music, 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.040 but I do think that it's very, very cool what 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.720 he's done there. It's kind of a mix between electronica 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:12.440 and industrial, so I mean it's got it's got a 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:14.840 real crunchy kind of sound to it. There are other 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.440 approaches to this musical hacking that are similar to that. 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:24.200 There's a great term called circuit bending, which really seems 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:26.640 to be prevalent in the UK more than in the 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:30.000 United States. But it's the idea of using low voltage 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:34.520 musical electronics UH that you would find in things ranging 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:39.000 from basic video games to even electronics that you would 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:42.760 find like in a children's toy like speaking spell and 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.120 UH and then you bend. Circuit bending means you you 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.200 are actually short circuiting the device and you're producing new 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.480 sounds that the device was never meant to create. A 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.160 lot of people who do circuit bending will go to 0:08:55.760 --> 0:09:01.400 um uh places that offer like rift stores where you'll 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.560 find a lot of old toys, and they'll go through 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.600 and find and you can get that stuff for cheap 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:10.080 at the thrift stores um or they'll go to yard 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.080 sales stuff like that, and a lot of cases they 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:16.520 will be uh, you know, not either either not functioning 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.200 quite right or you know, people will give it to 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.520 you for a couple of bucks and it's easy for 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.360 them to they'll they'll get several of them. In fact, 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:27.000 I've seen the speaking spell is one of the most 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:29.360 popular I think, or at least the ones I've seen 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:33.480 most frequently mentioned. And they will either you know, they'll 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.719 short circuits something or will short circuit a couple of 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.840 boards together. They rewire some stuff, so it actually involves 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.679 physically rewiring electronics. So there's often like a soldering iron 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.599 is one of the basic tools in the toolkit for 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:49.760 someone who wants to do this. It was kind of 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.400 a trend that was uh at least the whole circuit 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:56.320 binder trend is is attributed to a fellow named Paul 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:02.400 Norris who who found he actually used us speaking and spelling. 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:06.240 Apparently according to the information I read from circuit benders 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:11.080 dot co dot uk, uh, it was it was quote 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:14.000 a chance accident with an old speaking spell machine and 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:17.719 a soldering iron. Hey you've got a soldering iron on 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.319 my speaking spell? Hey you got speaking spell on my solder? 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:25.000 Say and uh, but yeah, there's there's this interesting music 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:28.079 that can be created from these electronics. And and in fact, 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:32.280 the Circuit Benders website has a few different tracks that 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:37.199 you can listen to. Um. So, again, these two different approaches. 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.640 It's trying to achieve that similar outcome using these electronics 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:44.240 that were uh they had sound incorporated in them from 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.160 the beginning. But in order to make music, you are 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:49.679 you're actually making it do something it wasn't intended to do. 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.360 And in fact, They Might Be Giants did a re 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:59.760 recording of their incredible cover uh Istanbul, which is in 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.200 to cover Uh. They Might Be Giants made that famous 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.760 back in their Flood album. That was a fantastic cover, 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:08.880 one of the most popular songs when they play live. 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:12.520 I've seen Thing Might Be Giants play live many many times. 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.719 I'm a huge fan. Well, they did a h they 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:17.760 covered it again. They did a new version of it 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:19.920 where it was more of an electronica version yea, and 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.600 they use a speaking spell in that in that version. 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.120 If you listen to it, you can hear the different noises, 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:31.080 um and uh, it's really creative, a fantastic version, and 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.680 I'm sure I'll linked to that. I've already linked to 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:37.160 the video once on the tech stuff Facebook page, but 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:39.760 I won't hesitate to do it again because I love 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.079 the band that much. Well, they're they're kind of funny 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.200 too in a way because if you know anything about 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:46.599 the band, they started out, as you know, just the 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.440 two of them, John and John, John and John, and 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.120 then they added some dance. Yes, they did a band 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.640 of dance, and then eventually one of the dance left 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.320 and Marty came on. But yeah, when they when they 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:00.000 first started, they were they used a lot of electron 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.959 instruments and loops and things, um, and then they, if 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:07.200 you will, sort of went unplugged. They started using more 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:10.560 guitars and and live drums rather than or acoustic drums 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.320 rather than digital electronic drums, right, you know stuff. And 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:14.719 that was sort of a shock for those of us 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.000 were you know, fans before they used to it when 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:18.960 it was just the two guys up on stage and 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.600 then suddenly there were three other guys up there. But 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.240 if you if you follow them, you've known uh for 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.320 the last few years they've started experimenting with little gadgets 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.600 and gizmos and stuff and throwing things in. It's a 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:35.400 lot of fun too. They did a cover of Chumbawemba's 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:38.400 tub Thumping they for the A V Club and that 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:42.160 that is phenomenal, what a wonderful, wonderful video. But they 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:45.640 used they used devices like that as well. You know, 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:50.560 they create some electronic music live in a in a 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:53.679 big group of people who were all shouting the lyrics 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:59.320 along and uh a joyous video. Absolutely love it. Um 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:03.920 we're where we uh moving on? UM actually sort of 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:07.680 a hybrid instrument sort of came to me UM when 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.679 I was looking at the guitar before, even when when 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.080 Jonathan showed me that, he actually showed me before we 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.560 had this idea for the podcast, just like, look at 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.240 this thing, and I was and I was sort of 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:21.920 fooling around with it, and I ran into UM. An 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:28.520 instrument created by a very well reasonably famous hacker, Jerry Ellsworth. UM. 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.040 She's very hacked uh popular in the hacking community, and 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:38.360 she's also part of Valve Software, which gaming community knows 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:43.319 very well. Um Uh Catrix has done stuff with other machines, 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:46.920 not just the Atari he's used UH, an Amiga and 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:49.840 game Boy, but he's also used the Commodore sixty four 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:53.960 and UH as an interesting tie in. UM Jerry Ellsworth 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:58.600 used a Commodore sixty four to make a a bass guitar, 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.880 but unline what Citrix did. She actually used the neck 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:07.600 and strings from the bass and uses the Commodore sixty 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:13.600 four to um interpret. The strings basically used as the 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.320 pickup for the bass. As most of you know, Chris 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:20.440 and I do our research separately, so this is all 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:24.160 new to me and my mind has just been blown. Yeah. Now, 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:26.800 now if you if you don't know anything about how 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.240 an electric guitar works and a bassis a you know, 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:33.840 electric bass is a bass guitar. Um. They they use 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:37.000 the strings of a guitar. But you know, if you've 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.800 ever been around one that's not plugged in, the sounds 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.960 it makes are pretty quiet. Um. You know, the the 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:45.200 mechanics of the strings are pretty much the same as 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:47.680 you'd see in an acoustic guitar. But what an electric 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.520 guitar uses along the body are those those little uh 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:54.320 sometimes they're silver, sometimes they're darker. You'll see those little 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.960 things that run exactly or not always exactly, but perpendicular 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.640 to the way the strings. Um. So they they are 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:04.640 on the body of the guitar. Sometimes they'll be one, 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:08.280 sometimes they'll be two or three. Um. Sometimes I've seen 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:10.960 I have friends who are musicians who hacked their own 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.920 guitars and will change out. These are called pickups, and 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:17.480 what these do is they basically interpret the sounds of 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:26.120 They turned the acoustic vibrations into electron electric symbols, signals, signals, 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:34.560 differently different symbols. Um, a little percussive memory there, right, So, yeah, 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:39.520 they turned them into electric signals which travel along the 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:43.880 cable and into really now, they could be plugged directly 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:47.239 into a computer, but traditionally they're plugged into an amplifier 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:51.640 and that's how you can manipulate the signals. Well. Jerry 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.360 Ellsworth has employed the use of a Commodore sixty four, 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:58.800 has done some hacking on the device itself to allow 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.280 her to to use the Commodo or sixty four as 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.800 a effectively as the pickup for this electric bass and um, 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.480 she that means she can use this to play you know. Basically, 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.440 any bass guitarist could pick this device up and play 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.160 a song on it. You know, in the traditional fashion 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:19.360 and have it turned out as uh an eight bit sound. 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.160 She can use um uh the device to play eight 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.120 bit sounds or or something a little bit closer to 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:29.400 the traditional electric bass sound. UM. Some of the keys 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:33.560 function um as a key tar. Um. You know which 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.080 is that uh, depending on how you look at it, 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:40.800 really cool or really cheesy, really cool, That's how I 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.280 see it. Uh. Where where was the body of the 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:47.280 device was a keyboard, but there is a neck where 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:49.480 you can manipulate the sounds. And this is what we're 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:54.160 talking about. There is a professionally engineered, manufactured device where 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.400 it is supposed to do all those things. Um. She 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:02.080 sort of made her own uh bass guitar um hacked 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.040 keytar device and it's just very very cool. There are 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:09.480 videos online you actually, uh it's probably too much to 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.480 do a clip of, but I would certainly encourage you 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:17.160 to check out the videos of her playing this instrument, because, UM, 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:19.680 there's really a lot that that she did to make 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:23.400 this work. Of course, then again, she's known for building 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:26.040 race car chassis when she was in her teens and twenties, 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:28.840 so you figure she's probably pretty good at this. So 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:33.280 I kind of hate her actually, it's more envy than hate. Yes, 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:37.680 I envy her her ingenuity and skill astely. Hey there, 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:40.440 it's Jonathan from two thousand nineteen here to tell you. 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:42.960 We're gonna get into some more discussion about music in 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.399 just a second, but first let's take a quick break. 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:57.200 There's actually a contest that or a competition that I 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.879 did not even know about until we started recording this. 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:04.760 And my ignorance is something I'm kicking myself over because 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:09.480 ignorance not so much bliss. In two thousand nine, uh, 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:14.119 there was the first government musical instrument competition. All right, 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:18.640 So this was a competition for designers to create musical 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.919 instruments using technology and interesting ways, and they would, uh, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.320 they would submit them to this competition, and the winner 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:29.000 of the competition would win a certain amount of money. 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.719 That first year, it was a ten thousand dollar uh, 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.520 ten thousand dollars for all of the different prizes. In 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:38.200 first place would take five thousand of that, so ten 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.879 thousand dollars. So two thousand nine was when they first 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:45.760 had it. And you know where it's located down the street, 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:52.040 down the freaking street over and Georgia Tech. So Georgia Tech, Atlanta, 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:55.040 we're in Atlanta. We we are in Buckhead in Atlanta, 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:56.960 which is so when we say down the street, it's 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:59.040 actually a little further than just down the Street's not 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:03.240 like a block or two away, but it's easily Yeah, 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:06.680 it's like it's like two train stops and we are 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.840 next to a train station. So anyway, it's really really 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.000 accessible from where we are, and we have never been. 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:17.320 We didn't even know it existed until today. And uh, 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.760 the fact that this exists is now something that tells 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:23.960 me I have to attend next year if I can, uh, 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.480 if I if I've got that that day free. So 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:29.200 I wanted to talk a little bit about some of 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:32.480 the devices that were submitted that first year. Yeah, absolutely, 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:34.200 And the nice thing is is that we can actually 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.680 play a little bit of the music that these devices generated. 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.760 Will have some clips as well. So the first one, 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.119 the one that actually won the prize in two thousand nine, 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.960 was the Silent Drum, which was from a an inventor 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:53.639 named Jamie Oliver, but not the Naked Chef, not that 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:56.840 Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver. I have to say though that 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:58.560 the name of the instrument sort of reminds me of 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.080 a title of a mystery science theater or three thousand video. 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:05.280 Oh yeah, silent drum. Silent It makes me think of 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.440 what all people who live with a drummer wishes the 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:13.359 drummer would own as a drummer. Yes, okay, so silent 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.679 drum is. Well. They in the on the side they 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:19.720 actually talk about it being a kind of like using 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.679 shadow puppetry to create music. This really cool thing. All right, 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:26.800 So you've got this this device where you've got uh 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:31.159 uh light that is projected from the bottom of the 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:33.040 device up to the top of the top has a 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:37.480 membrane across it that acts as that what would be 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.120 the drumhead, but you're not striking it like a drum. Instead, 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:43.760 you're pressing down on the membrane. You're creating a shadow. 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:47.679 There's also a camera that detects where that shadow is. 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:52.160 The cameraston signals to this processor that has specialized software 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.840 on it built by Oliver that interprets the shadow as 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:58.560 a command to create a certain kind of sound. So 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:02.720 depending on where in the membrane you touch, that's going 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:06.320 to determine the sound that comes out, and how deep 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:10.000 you go changes the quality of the sound, whether or 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:12.520 not it's going to be allowed one versus a quiet one, 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:15.960 and you can create this weird, weird soundscape this way, 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:18.720 and we can actually play a little bit of that. 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:23.399 So here is a short clip of Oliver demonstrating the 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:25.760 silent drum, and if you get a chance to look 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.159 at the YouTube video, I highly recommend it because he 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:33.280 adds a lot of theatricality to his performance. So here 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:54.800 we go. Now, that was what took home first prize 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:59.720 that year, and there were many other uh uh submissions 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:01.959 that you can look at, and I picked out a 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:04.720 couple of others to talk about some that we can 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:07.160 listen to, not all of them. We don't have video 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:09.240 or audio clips of all of them, but I can 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:11.480 play some of the stuff. One of them is called 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:14.960 the Guitar Bot, which took second place that year. I 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:19.720 was developed by Eric Singer and uh it forms guitar 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:24.440 parts for the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots. It's 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:30.560 a robotic guitarist and uh he actually used four separate 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:37.200 robots that each had a single string. Alright, so imagine 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:42.520 think about like the four guitar necks side by side, 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:45.200 but there's no there's only one string on each one. 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:48.800 And then instead of there being frets all the way 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:51.359 down the neck of the guitar, there's only one fret, 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:54.359 but the fret can move up and down the length 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:57.199 of the string, so it changes the pitch of the 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:01.160 note that that string produces because the fret self relocates 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:04.240 to make the string the right length to create the 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.359 pitch you want. And then at the base of each string, 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:11.040 there's a little circular drum that has on it four 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:15.120 picks mounted to the drum, so when the drum turns, 0:23:15.320 --> 0:23:19.560 the pick picks the the string, and you can turn 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:23.159 the wheel a very specific number of times to to 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:27.280 do the the equivalent of finger picking really or you 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:29.879 could turn it really quickly so that it's just playing 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:33.560 faster than any human being with the possible exception of 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:38.200 certain members of Van Halen, could ever accomplish. And so uh, 0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:41.159 it's it's really interesting to watch this work as well, 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:43.480 because you actually see the frets going up and down 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:48.200 those strings to generate the tunes that that you hear 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:52.000 from it. And here is a short sample of the 0:23:52.040 --> 0:24:19.840 guitar bot that actually sort of reminds me if you've 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:25.240 looked at it. Um Uh. The video company named Anna Music. 0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:28.120 Have you ever seen those UM They used to be 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:31.600 advertised on on TV a lot. Basically, they do UM 0:24:32.160 --> 0:24:36.520 three D videos of music and it's it's all MIDI type, 0:24:36.520 --> 0:24:39.159 you know, it's all C G I. But the UM 0:24:39.840 --> 0:24:42.840 the music is when you look at the video, it's 0:24:42.880 --> 0:24:47.760 created by these fantastic instruments, things that are are essentially 0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:52.000 robotic in character, and uh, you know they're playing these 0:24:52.040 --> 0:24:56.160 all sorts of otherworldly you know, they're playing themselves basically, 0:24:56.560 --> 0:24:59.800