Getty images moodstream: A visual “brainstorming tool” specifically designed to take people in inspiring, unexpected directions. Visitors can create a series of “moodboards” that consist of a customized soundtrack & the rapid sequence of Getty images & videos, based on sliders describing tagged asset attributes, such as happy vs. sad, warm vs. cool, or nostalgic vs. contemporary.

[Thanks to information aesthetics]

Echolocation:: a site specific Installation 2008 by Arnaud Jacobs :: Commissioned by Singuhr Hörgallerie, Berlin :: Electronic devices, subwoofers, rotating speakers, laptop, mixer :: Großer Wasserspeicher, Berlin :: As part of Tuned City Festival, 23 may to 13 july 2008.

The installation is in a former water reservoir located in Prenzlauerberg. The reservoir is very large and the acoustic fingerprint is unique. The architectural properties are very simply laid out, it consists of five concentric passages in the form of rings. The space is very complex to grasp. This is mainly because of an utilitarian architecture, which is based on function (holding water in the early days) rather than anthropomorphic proportions. All these elements have an unusual impact on perception and is at first disorientating. Continue reading

Exploring Sonic Interaction with Artefacts in Everyday Contexts — a hands-on workshop on June 23, 2008 at IRCAM (Paris, France):: Part of the 14th International Conference on Auditory Display :: June 24-27, 2008 :: Organizers: Karmen Franinovic, Lalya Gaye, Frauke Behrendt :: Workshop : website :: Deadline: June 6, 2008.

This workshop introduces participants to the use of creative interaction design methods when exploring the design of sonic interactions with computational artefacts. Specifically, focus will be on physical interactions that rely on continuous sonic feedback. Participants will generate future scenarios and concepts for such interactions, and everyday sounding objects in context will be taken as a starting point. By taking part in the workshop activities, participants will get an embodied understanding of the challenges of designing for meaningful and engaging physical interaction with computational sonic artefacts. Methods employed in the workshop will thus be good complements to the cognition or technology-based approaches to designing sounding objects that are mainstream within the ICAD community. Continue reading

The Echo Nest Analyze API is a tool that can enrich your software’s understanding of musical recordings. It uses a perceptual model of human listening to generate detailed descriptions of a song’s structure and musical content. Given any musical sound file, the analysis engine outputs global musical track information such as tempo, dominant pitches and timbre, key, time signature, energy, etc. It also segments the sound file into large sections (such as verse, chorus, bridge), beats, and smaller time slices. Each segment is described in terms of pitch, timbre, and loudness content. The engine then segments a musical track into small time slices, each representing a perceived “sound” (a note of a piano, a syllable of a vocal line, etc.). Each segment is then described in pitch, timbre and loudness. This information can power performances, visualizations, and games with the ability to respond to a wide range of nuances in the music they use. Continue reading

The Pâte à Son by LeCielEstBleu is a sound toy and compositional tool conceived to encourage musical experimentation.

Go to the site. Drag instruments, switches, and transporter pipes from the conveyor belt to the checkerboard to make music. Rotate the pieces. Choose a melody. Change pitch, tempo and volume to fine-tune the composition.

Original concept and production by LeCielEstBleu on an initiative of the Cité de la Musique. FluxTunes, the new version of Pâte à Son, all grown-up, will be available soon. Continue reading

Riffworld.com is Somona Wire Works’ entry into the music collaboration and social networking space. here’s what they write about it:

Using the RiffWorks desktop recording application, up to four musicians can connect and collaborate on a song simultaneously. As a layer records, it instantly streams to other players’ running RiffWorks. As the Riff loops, other players can add more. All contributions are saved on RiffWorld.com and can be opened later for further collaboration.
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BubbleBeats to launch February 6, 2008 at 7 pm :: Location One in Soho, 26 Greene Street (between Canal and Grand), New York City :: Free/open to the public.

The musician Beck said in a recent interview that it would be cool if people could take his songs and “play them like a videogame.” Jason Van Anden’s newest project, BubbleBeats.com makes his dream a reality, and then some. Based on technology he originally invented to enable robots to interact improvisationally, anyone can visit and combine colorful bubbles filled with music (or other sounds) to create new living compositions. Jason and musician Nat Hawks will be presenting the beta version of BubbleBeats to the early adopters at Dorkbot NYC. Visit dorkbot.org for more info.

The Digital Artists Handbook [see Working with Sound] is an up to date, reliable and accessible source of information that introduces you to different tools, resources and ways of working related to digital art.

The goal of the Handbook is to be a signpost, a source of practical information and content that bridges the gap between new users and the platforms and resources that are available, but not always very accessible. The Handbook will be slowly filled with articles written by invited artists and specialists, talking about their tools and ways of working. Some articles are introductions to tools, others are descriptions of methodologies, concepts and technologies. Continue reading

xxxxx-workshops: [in]tolerance :: 29 January - 2 February 2008 :: Club Transmediale ::Ballhaus Naunynstrasse, Berlin.

xxxxx-workshops: [in]tolerance presents a series of constructivist workshops specially programmed for the ClubTransmediale 2008 festival, emphasising making and connection within the field of the existent. Workshops are led by international, field-expert practitioners, extending over realms of environmental code, noise, signal transmission, reception, and electromysticism. The workshops will utilise household materials and chemistry, readily-available electronics components, free software and the GNU toolbase. Continue reading

Leonardo Music Journal, Vol. 17 (2007) - With an introduction by Nic Collins: My Favorite Things: The Joy of the Gizmo — is now available. With contributions by Bert Bongers, Eric Leonardson, David Toop, Peter Blasser, Phil Archer, Andy Keep, John Wynne, Richard Garrett, James Saunders, Richard Lerman, Brett Ian Balogh, César Dávila-Irizarry, Vic Rawlings, James Fei, John Bowers and Vanessa Yaremchuk, Guillermo Galindo, Jane Henry, Neil Feather, Robert Poss, Jeremy Hight, Kyle Lapidus and Tali Hinkis, hans w. koch, Kazuhiro Jo, Laura Emelianoff, Marc Berghaus, Bruce Cana Fox, Michael Duffey, Charles Stankievech, Juraj Kojs, Stefania Serafin and Chris Chafe. Plus new reviews from the Leonardo Reviews panel. Continue reading