Don’t get me wrong, I would NEVER go back to CDs or cassette tapes, or samplers, or reel to reel tape or all live foley sound. Still, at times, it seems that the amount of automated control has facilitated the removal of the “live” aspect of sound in theatre.

I’m not blaming the technology; it would be foolish to blame the technology. The technology, however, does allow us to create complex and impressive ideas that are, perhaps, inappropriate or, more likely, not able to be fleshed out in the production environment.

This issue is not restricted to theatre sound. Virtually any creative or artistic field that incorporates technology deals with some version of this. So, it is always exciting when I find someone who has found a unique, creative way to deal with this issue.

Shawn Rocco addresses this issue in photography by using a cellphone camera to take photos. Find out about Shawn and his work in this NY Times article, or on his blog Cellular Obscura.

Websites only

Nicolas Collins I first found out about Nicolas Collins when he was performing his “Trombone-Propelled Electronics” – a trombone that was modified to act as a very non-traditional controller of a reverb unit that was modified to act as a live sampler. He has since created installations and performances using all kinds of hacked electronics. He is the author of the book Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking
– the best book on Hardware Hacking and also an excellent introduction to electronic circuits and music.

Laetitia Sonami Is best known for her development of “The Lady’s Glove”. A glove that is wired up and connected to a computer. With the glove, Laetitia creates music by generating and manipulating sounds. Her performances are among the most powerful live electronic concerts I have seen.

Diego Stocco has a website that features videos of many of his instrumental creations. Not only do the instruments create incredible sounds, but the videos are fantastic. Some of these instruments include, “The Burning Piano”, “The Drying Rack”, and “Typosonic Machine”. Two very innovative music compositions he’s recorded are Music For A Stapler and Music From Sand. Diego is a producer for Spectrasonics where he has worked on several synths including Atmosphere, Stylus RMX and Omnisphere. In addition he creates sound and music for film, games, trailers and audio branding.

Blogs

Barry Threw is an electronic musician who also develops systems and tools for creating immersive and interactive media experiences. He works with “Recombinant Media Labs” an environment that surrounds the audience with projections, light and sound. Barry is also one of the developers of the “K-Bow”, a string instrument bow that wirelessly transmits performance information to control all kinds of sound – or virtually any other computer controlled app.

Zoe Keating is a cellist who performs with rock groups and plays solo with electronics. In her solo performances, she plays the cello while sampling it live to create loops which she plays with. It is an incredibly beautiful and engaging experience. You can hear some of her music on her MySpace page.

Peter Gregson is a cellist who performs contemporary music. He is “reinvigorating the classical genre by embracing contemporary culture and technologies”. Peter has worked with MIT’s Media Lab in the development of the “HyperBow” and is also working with the soundWIRE project at Stanford’s CCRMA. Peter is co-founder and creative director of Coffeeloop a production company that creates new musical experiences.

Not A Personal Website, But Close Enough

Audio Cookbook is a group blog for audio enthusiasts. It was founded by John Keston. It covers audio production from an avant-garde/experimental perspective. One of the most exciting topics is John Keston’s development of the Gestural Music Sequencer. You can see a short documentary on this interface here.

Sooper Looper – Is a live looping sampler.  Its features and operation were inspired by the Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro.  SooperLooper allows you to record audio and immediately begin playing it as a loop.  You can overdub on top of this loop, or record additional independent loops.  Some other features allow you to sync loops to tempo, control feedback, multiply and divide loop length, insert audio into an existing loop, substitute audio in a loop while listening to existing material and many others.  All features can be controlled via MIDI (requires a program such as Midi Patchbay described below).  Sooper Looper requires Jack – discussed below.  Available for Mac OS X and Linux.

UPDATE – I recently published a video tutorial on Getting Started with SooperLooper.

Pure Data (also called Pd) – is a graphical programming environment similar to Max. Pd was developed by Miller Puckette, and provides the main features of Max and IRCAM’s “Faster Than Sound” (FTS).  Pd integrates audio synthesis, signal processing, video processing, and 3-D graphics in a real-time software environment.  There is a tutorial with sample Pd patches that can be downloaded at http://www.pd-tutorial.com.  Pure Data is available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux

Jack is a router for audio data. It routes audio between an audio interface and applications. Jack allows audio from any number of applications to be sent to the audio interface.  It also allows applications to send and receive audio among one another.  Be sure to read the excellent documentation before installing and using Jack.  The documentation will help you avoid potential problems.  Available for Mac OS X and Linux.

MIDI Patchbay – is like Jack for MIDI data. MIDI Patchbay routes midi data to and from a MIDI interface and software applications. In addition it allows filtering of MIDI data by note or channel, remapping of channel data, and transposition of note data. For Mac OS X.

These have been great programs to use alone or with other commercially available applications.  These applications provide exciting and powerful possibilites not generally available – and when these programs are used together, their power is expanded dramatically.

If you would like to find out about additional free software for music and sound check out Free Software For Music Creation and Experimental Computer Music and Electronic Music Creation.

However, I just became aware of Bug Labs’ device. This is a technology that moves in a totally new direction. Instead of buying what is essentially a technology appliance (like the iPod or any other mp3 player out there), you purchase hardware modules that snap together to make whatever device you can imagine.

This might not be for everyone, and it will not have the sleek appearance of an iPhone, but for those who like creating their own vision…there might not be anything cooler!

Bug Labs: http://buglabs.net/