Therenect – Kinect Theremin from Martin Kaltenbrunner on Vimeo.

Who says technology has to move fast and die young? Leon Theremin may have been a full century ahead of his time, before computers, before transistors, before jet engines or atomic power or rockets.

ReacTable creator Martin Kaltenbrunner has a virtual Theremin prototype built with Microsoft’s depth-sensing, 3D Kinect camera. And what he really needs is some players of the real Theremin to help develop it. Martin writes CDM:

I just finished my first musical instrument based on the Kinect controller. The Therenect is a virtual Theremin, which defines two virtual antenna points that allow controlling the pitch and volume of a simple oscillator. The distance to these points can be controlled by freely moving the hand in three dimensions or by reshaping the hand, which allows gestures that are quite similar to playing an actual Theremin.

At the moment I am getting in contact with some trained Theremin players in order to tune the application to fully simulate the behavior of an actual Theremin. We will then publish some additional videos with a more musical experience … The software has been developed using the Open Frameworks and OpenKinect libraries and will be released under an open source license when it is more mature.

On our sister site Create Digital Motion, we’ve also noted that Martin’s new library allows OSC communication anywhere, so if a virtual Theremin isn’t inspiring your Kinect dreams, you can make something else.

Kinect with Anything: TUIO Gestures from Kinect

Kinect may be popular at the moment, but lest you feel rushed, just remember – a hundred years later, people still play the Theremin. So maybe if your idea is worthwhile, you’ve got some time. (Erm, not to enable any more procrastination.)

Well, it’s official – the fact that you can beatbox with Google Translate has gone completely viral. I’ve even heard it crossing over into mainstream media (like the BBC mainstream). This also says to me that the Web could be fertile ground for creating musical toys that distract people from work. (Hmmm… okay, that may not be the best argument for getting your employer to upgrade their rusty old “vintage” MSIE to a new, HTML5-savvy browser.)

The best evolution of this yet: YouTuber chulini sets the Translate German beatboxing to a mash-up of Internet memes, hip-hop infused. It takes a nation of millions to make us a meme. (Apologies, Public Enemy.) See top.

Here’s what I want to know: has anyone been able to determine who originally came up with the textual incantation for this pattern? And if you could have a Google Translate beatboxer-rapper, what would you want it to do?

Oh, and at the next concert, will someone ask us to stick a fish in our ear? Douglas Adams would surely have loved this.

A man named Don Waugh, friend of a CDM reader, is facing some serious challenges. He’s just lost his wife, and faces severe, possibly life-threatening health problems. There’s a campaign underway to get him a liver transplant. But Don doesn’t only want to fight for his health: he wants to make music, too. While significantly hearing impaired (or even arguably mostly deaf), he wants to make some of the industrial music he loves.

Chris G aka Metrosonus, Don’s friend, tells CDM he’s working on getting a gear drive together. What’s going unused in your closet could well prove something really meaningful to Don. I expect we might be able to wrangle some of the expertise here, not just the material stuff, to help get Don producing. Since I don’t know Mr. Waugh, I’ll simply post the details from Chris on the Harmony Central forum below and let you ask questions to him. But it sounds like a great idea – and, more generally, it’d be great to get unused and otherwise wasted gear and experience to people who need it everywhere.

Incidentally, about that liver transplant – check out the National Transplant Assistance Fund.

From the Harmony Central forum:

This is my friend Don.

http://www.brandnewliver.com/

He is deaf along with having an autoimmune disorder (whose wife just died of it this year) who is also facing a liver transplant and is also living off of social security. He’s the strong and silent type, to the point where he’s a pain in the ass because he won’t let anyone help him.

Anyway, he loves industrial music and has always wanted to toy around with writing some. He pitched the idea about buying ableton live on his livejournal.com account today and I thought you know, someone out there has to have a live lite they never registered that came with one of their controllers or something.

I know he has a computer so here’s what im asking.. if you guys have any gear laying around that you don’t use, please consider giving it to this guy a christmas gift. it doesn’t have to be anything great either..

That old 25 key controller you won’t bother to sell because you won’t get much for it.

A lame behringer audio interface that came with a something something..

Softsynths that you no longer use.

Headphones

Especially live lite if you have it.

It would go to a good cause. Seriously. Please consider it.

I would love to kick down this guys door with a pile of gear.

If you have anything you’d like to donate, please post here or contact me via PM.

thanks

** edit.

I just wanted to add since it’s been asked, how he can like music if he’s deaf. Deaf people usually aren’t 100% deaf. I guess, politically speaking, that makes him hearing impaired. He has hearing aids and I’ve been able to carry on normal conversations with him face to face. It’s also true, generally speaking, that hearing impaired people tend to like dance and music with heavy bass to it because they can hear as well as feel the vibrations. This is especially true in his case and why I have such a personal interest in this.

Thanks, Chris.

What’s truly wish-worthy? Is it a manuscript paper notebook? An iPhone app? A glitched-out hardware effect? A DAW? A sample library? A CD or book?

Before we put together some of our own suggestions for this year’s gift guide, we want to hear from you. You can add to your own wish list. You can add something you’ve gotten yourself you think someone else – or even a beginner – might want themselves. If you make something you want people to know about, be you a large vendor or garage maker, you can pitch us here, too.

There’s only one requirement: this year I’m absolutely looking for practicality. Sure, someone leaving a restore Buchla 100 Series modular with a bow on it would be nice, but there are too many terrific affordable choices to fail to focus on those. Be aware I’ll be skimming lots of answers, too, so get your elevator pitch right or find a snappy few words as a headline if you want our attention.

Enter the Google Doc directly, or fill it out here; form below.

Welcome To The Revolution

Personal Computer Imagined for 2015 circa. 1950s

It’s coming. And in many ways it’s already here. Mobile phones, mobile computers, iPad, iPhone, Macbook Air. Everything is going streamlined and it’s all coming to your recording studio. The future of recording and musical production is mobility for spontaneous and direct integration of creativity to actuality.  I’ve seen the future and it’s bright indeed. Through this blog post, we’re going to take a look at the very cutting edge in mobile audio production and go even further into the

Reality of Personal Computing 2010.

(supposed) outer realm of possibility.

Brought To You By: Cloud Computing!

This new wave of musical mobility is brought to you by one of your local buzzwords. Cloud Computing.  Cloud computing, for those of you who haven’t heard yet, basically means mobile remote desktops. Software and storage will be handled through online servers and less through personal devices. What does this have to do with mobile audio production you say? Plenty. It’s my proposal that this new wave of technology is the fuel that is going to fire the recording overhaul that’s coming. The groundwork was laid with more accessible personal recording and now its being taken to the next natural place,complete mobility. Cloud computing takes the processing strain off of our devices of choice and allows us to do more with less.

Towards Infinity…

Right now, there is a plethora of programs are being, and have already been released, that allow the user to take audio production on the road without trailers full of equipment. Programs like iRig, Studio Track, iElectribe, Groovemaker, and a host of others have been developed specifically for mobile use yet retain the power of many studio applications. One particular product from Propellerhead called Rebirth, has been recently added to the iPad in a new form from its iPhone counterpart. On their website they state,

“ReBirth is back! Propellerhead Software’s legendary Techno Micro Composer has been resurrected and customized for the iPad. ReBirth faithfully emulates dance music’s three backbone devices: The Roland TB-303 Bass synth and the Roland TR-808 and 909 drum machines. Combine these with FX units, fully featured pattern sequencers and a gorgeous-looking interface and you’re ready to make killer tracks on your iPad. Share your music with friends on Facebook, Twitter and more using the built-in sharing features.”

You can see where this is going. Companies are thinking mobile and sharing. It’s a small step but the strides are getting longer and are picking up pace.

Below is a video demonstrating Rebirth.

The Next video below is a promotion for the new iRig system for iPad. This is the new cutting edge in mobility for guitar players. Check it out!

Programmers over at Apple have also been hard at work developing ways for the

Wireless Midi Control For Your DAW

iPad to talk to your recording computer. Now, they have set up the iPad to act as a midi controller for Logic. It acts as a touchscreen interface that can be changed for different uses making it extremely flexible as a controlling device.

Products like these are merely demonstrating the untapped potential of devices like the iPad and are hinting at what might be possible in the near future.

…And Beyond

So what does this mean for us? I think we will find this explosion in mobility to be a future game-changer. Think about it. Limitless freedom to explore your creativity wherever you are… and with whoever, wherever they are. Mobile audio production means maximum collaboration as well. Tying into cloud computing, it may be possible in the future to have you guitarist in London, your drummer in New York, and your bassist in Los Angeles while you are doing the keys in Chicago, in the airport waiting for your flight.

I also think we will start to see live music production effected by these new devices and apps. Some have already started to adopt the new kids on the block. Lonnie Lazar, blogger at Cult of Mac, discusses a NY dj’s use of the iPad and writes,

“NY-based DJ Rana Sobhany is fully committed to Apple’s mobile hardware — iPads and iPhones — as thetechnology that will be used to create the next generation of mobile music production. Her website Destroy the Silence chronicles her iPad Music Experiment and is filled with audio and video clips showing how the author and former instrumental musician is warping the boundaries of nightclub and dance floor music production.”

Here is a working musician embracing mobility and new production concepts. I think we can expect plenty more as it becomes a more and more accepted practice in the music world.

Next, I think we will also see new kinds of companies developing that will feature more software and storage licensing then outright purchasing. Websites like box.net already offer storage capabilities so you can access your data from anywhere but take that a step beyond. A recording studio that features remote access of recording software and plugins with master data storage on site. That way, you can access and mix or master a project while adding bits and pieces along the way from wherever you are. No more purchasing expensive studio time and having to block out your schedule. Record on your own time, at your leisure.

Just Audio?

Nope. Not by a longshot. You could expand all the above concepts to include all forms of production from audio, to video, graphics. Software libraries could spring up and offer tiered access plans that a user could purchase to fit their needs. Be it on a program by program basis or in more bulk bundling. This would create win win scenarios for both parties. Sustainable income for the company and products at prices that individuals could afford.

Leaving it Open

Sometimes it seems unbelievable that we are where we are today but believe it because it’s happened. The future is now and we have to be ready for it. As the innovators and shakers of tomorrow we need to be thinking about what that day will look like and figure out how to get their first. The future. It’s our unique gift. One that those before us could only dream of but we get to see it. I’m hoping that the next couple of blogs will aid in pushing the envelope further in your mind as they do in mine. Where is this all going? What could be after whatever comes next? Let’s make it happen.

-CF

And for your further learning pleasure…

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