My Springything has become a staple instrument wherever I go and whatever event it is I am at. The range and variety of noises and textures I’ve figured out how to conjure from this instrument always amaze me considering how simple an instrument it actually is. It works using one of the most basic…
#MTFSparks at Wallifornia Music Tech
I was honoured and delighted to be asked my Music Tech Fest to lead their most recent #MTFSparks workshop as part of the Wallifornia Music Tech festival. Every MTF event is incredible and I always come away from them with new ideas, new friends and a replenished sense of enthusiasm and motivation. For this workshop,…
The Proximity Mixer
This installation uses hidden audio signals that travel along lengths of wire, by placing the pickups close to the wire you can reveal and mix the audio in your own way. I first showed a prototype of this at a Drake Music hackathon, and then showcased it at the Tate Moderns first ever Tate Lates…
Hummingbird Evolution
My Hummingbird instrument, the one controlled by Twitter, has recently had a new breath of life blown into it with the use of the incredible DADA machines Automat. This newest version can control physical beat machines via the tweets you send me! I did a Live Stream test of it where people could tweet me…
How to make a basic dulcimer from one piece of wood!
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to make a quick, acoustic dulcimer from a single piece of wood… Start with a nice chunky bit of timber: Trim a piece off the end: Trim a thin piece off the top, the thinner the better as this will be your soundboard: This was much thicker than it…
DADA Machines
I am one of the very very lucky few to get their hands on a DADA Machines Automat Kit already. I’ve known about this product since I met Johannes in Slovenia for MTF and have wanted one ever since then! He launched a very successful kickstarter a few weeks ago and achieved his goal within…
Updates! Workshop! Hackoustic!
I have been very very busy lately with a bunch of different projects. Most notably with Hackoustic, a group/collective/events series I have been running with Tim Yates and friends. We have 2 exciting events coming up including one that I will be running a workshop in: Hackoustic All Day Workshop Our second event I will…
Newest Dronemachine
My newest commission for Belgian musician Quentin Stinglhamber. It uses the coil of an electric fan as it’s pickup, with an additional piezo pickup at the far end. Two knobs control the levels between the 2 pickups and one for volume. The strings are excited by a small piece of string attached to a motor…
The Schlechte-Bond machine
The latest commission is for composer Chris Schlechte-Bond. It uses electrical interference of various DC motors to create noises and textures in the central pickup. 2 inputs are connected to some pulse width modulation boards to control the speeds of the motors and gives different pitches and textures. The other 4 inputs share a 9v…
#MTFSparks in Genova
I’ve just got back from an amazing few days in Genova, Italy, where I was part of a team of incredible people running workshops for a group of kids as part of Orientamenti. This was the first, of hopefully many, MTFSatellite events. So a massive thanks to Music Tech Fest for inviting me along The…
Back to the Tate Modern!
After a successful Hackoustic Festival and following on from our last aperance at the Tate Modern, Tim Yates and I have been invited to take part in the first ever Late Tates! We’ve invited along a bunch of friends too and will be showing off a whole bunch of amazing projects. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/late/uniqlo-tate-lates Friday, October 28th…
Hackoustic Festival
So the dust has settled on the first Hackoustic Festival and its time to reflect on what a fantastic day it was. I will start with a preface about Hackoustic, it’s an open group of people who meet at the london hackspace to talk and tinker and play with sounds and music. Tim Yates often…
