Brian Eno has a music generation app for the iPhone called Bloom, which basically allows you to listen to or create some ambient style music if you’re so inclined.
A similar program is Electroplankton, by Toshio Iwai, which I gleaned off the previous viddy’s comments. This one is for the Nintendo DS and introduces a more varied interface with interesting sandbox style results.
For the first time in 7 months or so, I woke up late. Real late. Which is bad if you’re the breakfast chef. Which I am. So it was bad. Stuff is supposed to go out at 7am. I woke up and took a cursory glance at the window, slightly beaming with the morning light. Strange, since I’m accustomed to the darkness that is 4am. I throw myself up and check the phone. 6.50.
7. I’m entering a cab and telling the driver in a mangled voice that I’m heading to Manly on the double. I keep trying to ring work but no luck.
7.15. I get a missed call from my head chef.
7.25. I manage to get through to work and let them know what’s up.
7.30 I call the head chef back and receive a free aural cleaning.
7.35 Breakfast is already out, thanks to my “apprentice”. Thank god. No one got their food late. I’m still in the shit.
This lengthy, blow by blow rant is purely to tell you not to rely too much on technology or at least on a single source. What happened was my phone didn’t ring more or less. Bless the cab driver, who kept me feeling cool thanks to a conversation that ranged from Singapore (he picked up from my accent) to Thai food, Kings of Leon, soccer and the gem that I should get 2 alarms. Just in case.
So I did. The best that I could at least and I’ve just tested it out. Its not a physical one although I plan to kop one of those with the annoying bells. This one is the iTunes Alarm Clock. Still relying on tech that failed me perhaps but I also got a couple people to ring me just in case.
Hopefully, I should be waking up to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Hysteric off their latest LP, It’s Blitz at the right time tomorrow.
Also, don’t stay up late making blog posts or doing random shit like flipping through cookbooks. You get tired like that. Oh crap. I think I just did it again.
Financial crisis or no. I had to have a new computer. I just had to. For whatever vanity or need to distract myself from the drudgery, I simply had to. So I went and ordered a whole new set up just because I felt like it.
From left to right.
- Refurbished 160Gb black iPod Classic
- Etymotic Research ER6i
- Refurbished 15.4″ Macbook Pro
- Neil Poulton X LaCie external hard disk drive
- Apple Mighty Mouse
Recently, circumstances (read: work) have led me to wake up at the unearthly hour of 4am and travel for an hour or so on a bus that is filled with an odd mix of post party poseurs, louts, hobos and non-english speaking foreign workers. The common thing between the lot, including the bus itself, is that they’re all fucking noisy. The ride is always bumpy and the chatter typically higher in the decibel and frequency.
Bottom line was that I was suffering through lack of sleep, physical tiredness and irritation. My solution of sorts was to withdraw unto myself all the more, by purchasing a pair of in ear headphones. Previously, I’d been using the fancy schmancy B&O A8 I got as a pressie one X’mas. Now I’ve swopped those lovely, albeit none too lovely sounding, objets d’art for a pair of cans that cost a tenth of the price and come nothing close to the Grados that I would love to have.
I present to you ladies and gents, the JVC Marshmallows. These are like the best pair of cheap in ear headphones. The operating word being cheap, of course. I followed advice from the Head-Fi forums and modded/kramered them. The result now is that I can still hear the odd bit of chatter but thank god its muted. I can still hear the drone of the bus but its no longer an overwhelming torrent of sound. My eardrums are also thanking me for allowing the volume to be turned down considerably yet still hear everything clearly. Another side effect, strangely enough, is that I actually think the sound quality on these post mod, is better than the B&Os. Now I know the Bangers weren’t great to begin with but these JVCs cost me $30 off the bay. Which is amazing.
That said, I still love the B&Os. They’re probably the most elegant earphone design I’ve ever come across and they’re incredibly lightweight but well built and extremely comfortable. Pity about the tinny sound. Also, the Marshmallows aren’t that great either. I’ve heard way better. Both sets are decent, if non ideal.
Using the Marshmallows is weird. They’re the first pair of in-ears I’m using, so I’m still getting used to pinching the memory foam before placing it into my ear, then waiting as it expands to fill up the space. I feel like I’m underwater, I can hear myself breathe through the bones conducting and I can hear the cables as they sway, although this is not that big an issue when the music plays.
Thank the Marshmallow Man for inventing memory foam to save my sanity.
Late pass alert!!!
Previously, when I went on a trip to Melbourne for Big Day Out, I managed to catch Bjork who eclipsed expectations. During her concert, there was this table thing that made noises as objects were shifted on it. I now learn that its actually Bjork’s producer, Damian Taylor fiddling with the reactable.
The reactable is being developed by Music Technology Group within the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain and Bjork is one of the artists that have started to use it on tour. As you can see in the pic above, its really a big, flat, round, illuminated table which reacts as you place objects on it. These objects have hieroglyphs printed on them that tell the table how to react, be it producing a sound or effecting other objects. You pretty much have a whole lot of control over pitch, volume, wavelength and how the sounds combine and move together. This is what makes the reactable different from a normal synthesizer. It allows you to effectively play many instruments that can mould and shape noise and sound as they are moved around each other.
But this is obviously one of those things that you have to see to believe.
One of those things I’ve always wanted but procrastinated too much about was getting a set of decks. Kinda like my fascination with a Fender Strat or a drum kit or a piano. Obviously, the financial outlay for each of these would considerably eat into my ability to purchase clothes and food, so I compromise by putting them off.
I understand I’d be being quite the poseur lusting after the Pacemaker by Tonium. But to quote some dude in a movie, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!”. So why the fuck would I need one? Well, it looks cool for starters. Kinda like a PSP meets a voltmeter kinda vibe. Plus it also has a reasonable sized capacity at 120Gb. And I get to indulge in my erotic fantasies involving the mixing of Joy Division with Shampoo. The only thing is it costs a little over double a 160Gb iPod, which reiterates my first paragraph.
How can you look at that and not see sex?
Practically, this isn’t going to be replacing too many real consoles anytime soon. Its limited and would be kinda dumb used in a club situation by a serious DJ. You could still use the device though, to replace the iPod and fool around with on the go. Wannabes like me could also fiddle around a bit if they could afford it. Plus, its just this idea of extra functionality beyond just a music player to becoming a music maker. Would be cool if you could record stuff as well but I suppose that’s a whole nother ball game right there.
My birthday’s in June btw.
A recent holiday revealed the need for objects with the power to displace time. An intensive research program undertaken by none other than myself revealed that said objects needed to have the ability to absorb light as one of its qualities. I present the following 2 objects as conclusive proof of the results of my studies. I also point to aforementioned object aka Xperia as another device with similar capabilities.
Nintendo DS Lite
iPod Classic 160Gb
