Podcast 257: Eric Singer

Published on Dec 16, 2018 20Objects

You can find some of Eric Singer's work featured in the archives here. Be sure to see Part 2 in 20Objects interview with Eric Singer below.

"I'm pretty sure you know Eric Singer's work. Some of his most well-known work includes Pat Metheny's 'The Orchestrion Project', but he's been doing robotic musical instruments for a long time. I remember the first time I saw a video of Eric work - it was the reveal for the Guitarbot, and it was jaw-dropping at the time.

Eric was a maker before there was such a thing, and was doing cool robots when robots weren't part of artistic practice. He was learning machining, embedded coding and electronic design when those phrases were more industrial 'work' than creative 'play'. And he ended up paving the way for all of us.

You can check out his current work at his http://www.singerbots.com/ site.

In this interview, we start the discussion with him about his background, some of his work with Pat (and others), and the process of coming up-to-speed on gear he had never considered part of the 'practice'. We ran out of time long before we ran out of topics, but we'll continue the chat next week.

Enjoy!"

Podcast 258: Eric Singer (Part 2)

Published on Dec 23, 2018 20Objects

"In last week's episode, we just scratched the surface of Eric's role in creating the maker's world we now occupy. So I called him back and we immediately did a second interview to fill in some of the gaps: what were the early days like, how did he actually get the stuff built, why the move to Pittsburgh. This continues the fascinating journey of Eric Singer, and helps us to further appreciate the way he helped shape the electronic music future.

I think it is especially important to consider what was happening during the early 2000's, when computer technology was moving forward so rapidly, and the financial marketplace was in post-internet-boom chaos. Eric kept cranking out the work, teaching dozens of people how to manage their art through the process of hardware and software production, and eventually leading to something as overwhelming as the Orchestrion Project.

Again, if you haven't yet checked out Eric's work, you should: http://www.singerbots.com/

Enjoy!"