A Singing Comet - Rosetta's 'Philae' Makes Historic First Landing on a Comet

"Rosetta’s Plasma Consortium (RPC) has uncovered a mysterious ‘song’ that Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is singing into space. The comet seems to be emitting a ‘song’ in the form of oscillations in the magnetic field in the comet’s environment. It is being sung at 40-50 millihertz, far below human hearing, which typically picks up sound between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. To make the music audible to the human ear, the frequencies have been increased in this recording. Thumbnail image credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0"

Top: earlier image of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko prior to today's landing.

Below: Philae's descent.

polyphonic overtone singing - Anna-Maria Hefele

Published on Sep 30, 2014 Anna-Maria Hefele

by Anna-Maria Hefele | http://www.am-oberton.de
Video: Jo Zapf | http://www.invisual.de

Vocal resonant synthesis. Update: I was trying to remember what this reminded me of - Tuvan throat singing.

RITUS


Rosary Sonata 1

The Weather Warlock - Weather Controlled Analog Synthesizer

You might remember Quintron's Singing House. It was an analog "drone synth" from New Orleans experimentalists Quintron and Miss Pussycat. The instrument was unique in that it was capable of being completely modulated by the weather. It is now called The Weather Warlock and currently streams at WEATHER FOR THE BLIND, a new website dedicated to the instrument.

Weather Warlock is also the name given to a heavy drone ritual (click through for details) which "only happens at sunrise or sunset involving zero to nine members performing sets which may last from 30 minutes to one year long."  I'm guessing the never ending Weather Warlock instrument is the one band member that continues to play endlessly all year long.

The following are some details pulled from WEATHER FOR THE BLIND for the archives:

"Since 2011 Quintronics – the company which brought you the Drum Buddy – has been actively developing a low voltage weather controlled drone synthesizer. Base station number 1, called WEATHER WARLOCK was finally finished in the Spring of 2014 at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in Captiva, Florida.

www.weatherfortheblind.org will stream sounds from this musical weather station most every day and night as a free public service. This giant analog synth and it’s weather sensors will live primarily in New Orleans Louisiana at the Spellcaster Lodge. The entire apparatus will occasionally travel as part of a live band, also called WEATHER WARLOCK or as a part of QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT.

A weather controlled synthesizer had long been on the books for Quintronics but it took a fairly serious health crisis and a forced “vacation” from touring to steer these sounds towards consonant drone…E major to be exact. Mental and cellular relaxation became a part of the invention process.

This site is called “weather for the blind” in reference to a circadian rhythm sleep disorder suffered by many sight impaired persons. Our hope is that this instrument could be of some help to those experiencing any type of sleep disorder or to anyone suffering from stress or health issues which might benefit from a direct musical connection to nature. Windowless office buildings and crappy hotels may want to tune in as well.
Another future mission for this endeavor is that more base stations be built around the world so that listeners may experience musical interpretations of a variety of different climates and time zones – from Iceland to the Amazon. Please contact rhinestonerecords@hotmail.com if your museum, school, or private institution would be interested in commissioning a custom base station.

Occasionally weatherfortheblind.org will broadcast other sounds, stories, and special events. We will also invite guests manipulators to come and jam on the base station knobs and communicate with the weather gods for our listening pleasure. Thanks for visiting and please enjoy.

This project would not have been possible without the assistance of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New Orleans Airlift, Tulane University, artist / engineer Mars Brown, Rami (Ballzack) Sharkey, and the ever brilliant advice of Miss Pussycat."

Cliff Martinez Playing the Crystal Baschet

Published on May 30, 2012 zunkfloop

via wikipedia

"The 'Cristal Baschet' is a novel acoustical music instrument of a type of friction idiophones. Vibration as an element is used to produce musical tones by means of friction. These vibrating elements are metal rods embedded onto a heavy plate. The pitch of the sound tone is determined by the rod's length and weight position at the equilibrium point. The vibration is caused when an attached glass rod is gently stroked with wet fingers...

The Cristal Baschet was developed around the same time as musique concrète (Avant-Garde musical style introduced by Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry), Electro-Acoustic music and early Moog synthesizers. The Cristal Baschet produces music similar in style with these other musical forms, but it's completely acoustic without the involvement of an electric amplifying-device."

Drop Science - Matthew Dear + The Sounds Of GE

Published on Aug 26, 2014 General Electric

Track made using samples of GE's machines.  Above is the "making of" promotional video.  Further below is the track.  There's some synth spotting in the video including a Minimoog Voyager, Elektron boxes & more.  I'm guessing the track features extensive processing along with the synths and isn't composed of GE machine samples only.  It is still interesting and worth noting that sounds in nature and via physical/mechanical means can compliment music as well as those via purely synthetic means.

"Every machine has its own acoustic signature - a precise frequency that indicates whether that machine is operating at peak performance. GE engineers monitor and record these sounds to perform real-time diagnostics on airplane engines, locomotives, power turbines, and medical equipment. Musician Matthew Dear and GE Acoustic Engineer Andrew Gorton teamed up to collect and compose thousands of audio emissions from the world’s most powerful machines. The result is an original track of music titled 'Drop Science.'

Follow Matthew Dear:
www.soundcloud.com/matthewdear
www.facebook.com/matthewdear
www.twitter.com/matthewdear

GE works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works."

Reverb 2014 - Klavikon Live [Electronic Music Without Synths or Tape]

Reverb 2014 - Klavikon Live by roundhouselondon

"Leon Michener opens the evening with Klavikon, which re-imagines electronic music without the use of conventional processes using an amplified piano and found objects... every sound generated by acoustic piano, all live no backing tracks etc."

Nature - Oscillator

Published on Aug 13, 2014 Alexander Zolotov

"The world around us is an endless source of visual information, the flow of the fractal code of life. Nature - Oscillator is one of the attempts to translate this code to sound, using spectral synthesis algorithm of the Virtual ANS engine (software simulator of the unique Russian synthesizer ANS). The program continuously reads the image from the camera and interprets it as the spectrum of the sound.
http://warmplace.ru/soft/nosc"

iTunes: Nature - Oscillator - Alexander Zolotov

NASA Space Sounds

Uploaded on Feb 10, 2010 ritekid

"NASA Space Sounds - Information about the recordings and sample sounds of the planets, moons and rings of planets in our Solar System. [Note: both Song of Earth and Voice of Earth are man made compositions of the original Earth recordings.] For live 24hr sound from space, see: http://www.radio-astronomy.net/"

Electra2 - Field Recording Ambient Frog Pad

Published on Jul 11, 2014 Tone2 Audiosoftware

"How to create an ambient pad from a field recording of frogs.

A sound design walkthrough done by Mark Mosher (http://www.modulatethis.com/ )to show off some of Electra2's new features."

Duet No. 2 With The Singing Ringing Tree

via John Keston on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge via Audio Cookbook

"Bass Station II, Minifooger Delay, and gorgeous wind-activated sculpture recorded live in Northern England... The piece is only SRT for the first 30 seconds and then the BSII/Minifooger fades in. At the end the SRT fades out by 3:42."

"This was the second take on day one of my "Duets" recording project with the Singing Ringing Tree (SRT), a wind activated musical panopticon in Northern England. The sculpture was designed by architects Tonkin Liu and completed in December 2006. I played accompaniment for the SRT binaural recording simultaneously using a Novation Bass Station II connected to a USB battery. I also ran the BSII through a Moog Minifooger Delay.

NOTE: This is a binaural recording combined with a monophonic synthesizer track. Although it sounds great through speakers, circumaural headphones must be used to experience the binaural effect."

Update: the bird sounds are birds. A bit of a trinity piece: nature, nature through human art, & synthesis through human design. All nature in the end.

New Hardware Allows Plants to Play Synthesizers at SXSW Interactive

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/datagarden/midi-sprout-biodata-sonification-device

"Data Garden announces MIDI Sprout at SXSW Interactive

Austin, TX - March 6, 2014 - Data Garden, known for it’s art installations of plants playing electronic music, announced the debut of it’s revolutionary instrument called MIDI Sprout.

MIDI Sprout condenses plant sonification technology into a handheld device, allowing people to turn their own house plants into music.

A Kickstarter will be launched today as part of a three day performative installation at South By South West Interactive. The installation will be on view at showcases by Ableton and Moog, sharing bills with the likes of Deadalus and Gary Numan.

“People have been asking us countless questions about how we make music with plants,” said Joe Patitucci, Director and Founder of Data Garden. “We can’t wait for them to bring the MIDI Sprout into their home and do it themselves!”

MIDI Sprout is now available for pre-order through the Kickstarter page. Different levels of rewards come with other groundbreaking musical hardware from Data Garden’s friends at Sub Pac and Critter and Guitari. These packages give backers everything they need to create immersive biofeedback art in their own homes.

'We see this as the beginning of the global DIY biofeedback movement,” explains Patitucci. “Biofeedback art is an amazing aesthetic and therapeutic tool. This is the first time the technology is available to the public free from the influence of institutions.'"

Sonicwalk Altkönig / Konzert im Freien mit dem Duo Waldlust 16.2.2014

Sonicwalk Altkönig / Konzert im Freien mit dem Duo Waldlust 16.2.2014 from trabouliste on Vimeo.

An electronic concert with mobile devices in the Taunus mountains. The source of all audio came from the walk. The video description in German is below followed by a translation in Googlish. It appears to have been an event and in many ways an interactive art installation in nature.

via trabouliste: "Tobias used the OP-1 and the Kaoss Pad Mini 2 and in addition one recorder for sample streaming to the former mentioned devices. Lasse performed with Ableton live and used also only samples from the soundwalk. Both sources were equal."

Video Description (German):

"Das Duo Waldlust (Tobias Schmitt und Lasse-Marc Riek) lädt zu einem auditiven Spaziergang auf den Altkönig ein und wird die Wanderung mit einem Konzert im Freien abschliessen!

11Uhr

Endhaltestelle U3 Hohemark Taunus - Ein akustischer Aufgang zum Altkönig

Die TeilnehmerInnen erhalten die Möglichkeit während der ca. 4km langen Wanderung jeweils 1minütige Aufnahmen via portablen Digital-Rekordern zu tätigen, welche dann von dem Duo live im Anschluss an die Wanderung in einem Konzert weiterverarbeitet werden.

Die Rekorder werden innerhalb der Gruppe während des Aufstiegs weitergereicht und liefern einen Grossteil an akustischem Material für die Live-Performance an der Weissen Mauer!

Bitte warme, leichte und regenfeste Kleidung sowie festes Schuhzeug tragen!

Das Projekt Waldlust arbeitet seit dem Jahre 2003 an unterschiedlichen, improvisatorischen Aufführungskonzepten und war seither in Museen, Galerien und Off-Spaces in Europa zu hören."

-----

Video Description (Googlish):

"The duo forest Lust (Tobias Schmitt and Lasse-Marc Riek) invites you for a walk on the auditory Altkönig and the migration finish with an outdoor concert!

11am

U3 terminus Hohemark Taunus - An acoustic stairway to Altkönig

The participants will have the opportunity during the 4km long walk to make each 1minütige recordings via portable digital recorders, which are then further processed by the duo live following the hike in a concert.

The recorders will be passed on within the group during the ascent and provide a large part of acoustic material for the live performance at the white wall!

Please warm, wear light and rainproof clothing and stout footwear!

The forest lust project since 2003 working on different, improvisational performance concepts and has since been heard in museums, galleries and off-spaces in Europe."

Serge Modular Synthesizer #1 Used by Greenpeace to Save Whales

via Doug Lynner on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge:

"Here is an odd, and significant, bit of synth spotting.

In the new book, Once Upon a Greenpeace, which is an insider's memoir of the first Greenpeace expedition to target saving whales, Serge Modular Synthesizer #1 makes a prominent appearance.

Here is the excerpt from the book where it is setup. You can guess what "equipment" is being referred to! This is from the Amazon Look Inside feature and no Serge photo was available there so here is a link to the March/April 1977 article (and picture) about it in Synapse Magazine too.

http://www.cyndustries.com/synapse/synapse.cfm?pc=43&folder=march1977&pic=17

The book and the synth history are available on Amazon

Beardyman: The polyphonic me

Synthetic sounds come in around 5:35.

"Frustrated by not being able to sing two notes at the same time, musical inventor Beardyman built a machine to allow him to create loops and layers from just the sounds he makes with his voice. Given that he can effortlessly conjure the sound of everything from crying babies to buzzing flies, not to mention mimic pretty much any musical instrument imaginable, that's a lot of different sounds. Sit back and let the wall of sound of this dazzling performance wash over you.

Beardyman, “ruler of beats and destroyer of dance floors,” has developed a real-time music-production system that places live looping at the center of a new musical paradigm. Full bio"

This one in via Grant.

Windsor Hum Instrument for Ableton Live

Published on Aug 9, 2013 AfroDjMac·146 videos

"The Windsor Hum is a mysterious and creepy low frequency sound heard in the Canadian city of Windsor, outside of Detroit. No one knows what is making the sound but it can be heard clear as the day is long! I sampled it and made an Ableton Live Instrument Rack with it, download it for free!

free download: http://bit.ly/freesynth87

Visit my site for more stuff like this, including Live Instrument downloads, tutorials and music! http://www.afrodjmac.com

AfroDJMac
http://www.facebook.com/afrodjmac
http://www.twitter.com/afrodjmac
http://www.afrodjmac.tumblr.com"

Keisari Haile Selassie

Published on Mar 9, 2013 Peik Erhola·11 videos

"Various sound sources in this one. Got field recordings of trains and cars and some samples from a religious tape running on the 4-track cassette. Drums from the MPC and Vermona DRM-1. The sub-bass is a 606 kick pitched down and compressed on the MPC. Got some bird sounds I recorded in the forest looping on the MPC too. Juno-106 doing the chords of course. The monotribe is filtering some noise from the 4-track for a nice pumping effect. Recorded to cassette on a Nakamichi LX-5."

via Peik Erhola on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Bird singing dubstep!

Published on Jan 13, 2013 Rainykauke·24 videos

"Just my bird Harvey dropping some fat beats.
Sorry about the poor cropping filmed this on a phone.

EDIT: Just for all concerned we have never played dubstep to him i just beat boxed around the house and he picked it up. There was no initial intention of teaching him this."

Gieskes Laserloper Eurorack Module with Built in Sand Timer

Published on Jan 9, 2013

http://gieskes.nl/undefined/eurorack/?f=laserloper

"The laser beam seems to get bent by the falling sand (if it is sand) and shine onto the LDR generating a random noise signal."

BeetBox

BeetBox from Scott Garner on Vimeo.

"BeetBox is a simple instrument that allows users to play drum beats by touching actual beets. It is powered by a Raspberry Pi with a capacitive sensing board and an audio amplifier in a hand-made wooden enclosure.

Learn more at scott.j38.net/interactive/beetbox."

via Dave

Red Hot Nickel Ball In Water (Nice Reaction)

Published on Nov 25, 2012 carsandwater·64 videos

Synthetic sounds of nature. See the nature label below for more.

"Pretty neat reaction this glowing nickel ball has when put in water. The water was as hot as I like my coffee after this............Come see my other videos here!.............. http://www.youtube.com/user/carsandwater?feature=mhee"