Catching up on music technology: Tornado Twins' "How to Make Dubstep in 10 Minutes"

I've been neglecting my musical experiments for too long.  My Yamaha Motif 8 is about 9 years old, and my last copy of MOTU Digital Performer is on a computer that died in 2007 or so.  In the past, I found that immersing myself in wave forms and playing around with sound synthesis was quite relaxing.  I miss it.

Since I'm not a performing musician, I told myself not to trouble with researching electronic keyboard/workstations and fancy software. The practical thing to do is to stick with Garage Band to give life to the musical ideas that pop into my head.  I've played with music-making on my iPhone and iPad, hoping it would dampen my electronic music urge, but wasn't quite right.


What to do?  I still am not sure what I will do.  However, a link from a tweet by the Tornado Twins caught my eye today.  It led me to a short video that put me back into the music-creating groove.  Even if you aren't into music technology or electronic music, you might enjoy the opportunity to view musical creation visualized in the video, and appreciate the enthusiasm of the twin.


HOW TO MAKE DUBSTEP IN 10 MINUTES (Using the Dubstep Master Kit)

RELATED 
Tornado Twins Dubstep Master Kit
MOTU Digital Performer
Tornado Twins (The Tornado Twins are involved in music as well as video game development.)


SOMEWHAT RELATED

Comment: 
I plan to devote periodic posts to music technology in the future a bit more frequently than in the past.  It is a topic that is dear to my heart.
A little "history":
In the early 1990's, I bought an Ensonic KS-32 weighted-action keyboard.  I was exasperated by the 250-page manual that came with my keyboard. It was time to upgrade the computer, so I got a Mac Performa 600 CD, and purchased the very first version of MOTU's FreeStyle software to ease the music creation process.  I have been pleased with all of my MOTU products over the years, as well as the excellent tech support. 

MOTU Freestyle Sequencing Software (review)
Mike Collins, Sound on Sound, 1995

2011 NAB Show in Vegas: It's not just for broadcasters!

The 2010 NAB Show, a major event sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters, will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 9-14. The theme of this year's conference is "The Art of Integration: Picture the Possibilities".


The NAB Show has been held for over 85 years and provides a wide range of conferences, sessions, and classes.  This year, the NAB Show continues to address the rapid changes in the industry and related fields. The topics touch on emerging trends in technology, convergence, and ways content is created, distributed, and accessed across platforms and screens of all sizes. 


Below is are quote from the NAB Show website:


"From broadcasting to broader-casting, the NAB Show is the premier event for content professionals who share a passion for bringing content to life on any platform--even if they have to invent it.  From creation to consumption, this i the ultimate place to find everything necessary to bring your vision to life."

"The NAB Show™ is your chance to evolve, innovate and grow your business – in smarter ways that allow you to save time and money in today's economic conditions...More than just broadcasting, the NAB Show is the world’s largest digital media industry event attended by leading media, entertainment and communications professionals who share a passion for the next generation of video and audio content across multiple platforms — from television, radios and computers to phones, the big screen and beyond."    NAB Show Flyer (pdf)

NAB Conferences and Sessions
Telepresence    
Broadcast Engineering    
Master Class in 3D Film-making
Post Production World
Content Lifecycle 
Content Creation : Creating for the Big and Small Screen
Content Management 
Content Commerce, 
Content Distribution and Delivery 
Content Consumption
Super Sessions
Connected TV: Smart Devices, Smart Strategies
Mobile TV: The Path to the Future
UltraViolet: Your Content on Any Device

Social Sound Waving: Sound Cloud

One of my Facebook friends recently shared a link to the SoundCloud website, a site that is new to me.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn about it!


"SoundCloud is a platform that puts your sound at the heart of communities, websites and even apps. Watch conversations, connections and social experiences happen, with your sound as the spark." -SoundCloud

Here is the screenshot and the link:

Jurassic Park Theme (1000% Slower)

Yet another rabbit hole for me to follow in the future!

Multi-modal Interactive Maps for People with Visual Impairments: Featuring a Stantum multitouch screen with a tactile layer.

To learn more about this project, take a look at the video and related publications below. This is a great example of a team that is harnessing emerging technologies to improve the lives of people with disabilities.


Video: "Multimodal Maps for Blind People"


Website


Publications
Anke Brock, Philippe Truillet, Bernard Oriola, Christophe Jouffrai (IRIT CNRS and Universite de Toulouse) Usage of Multimodal Maps for Blind People: Why and How
ITS’10, November 7–10, 2010, Saarbrücken, Germany
Paper: http://www.irit.fr/~Philippe.Truillet/projects/doc/MultimodalMapsForTheBlind-ITS10.pdf
Poster: http://www.irit.fr/~Philippe.Truillet/projects/doc/Poster-ITS10.pdf

Stantum (Multi-touch screen used for the application.)
Ivy Middleware (Used in this application.)

Cross-posted on the TechPsych blog.

ImageFlow for streaming image search; Content-Aware Dynamic Timeline for Video Browsing, and more from Microsoft Research

I thought I'd share a couple of interesting videos about the work of some researchers at Microsoft Research and their colleagues:



RELATED
Japani, V., Ramos, G., and Drucker, S.  ImageFlow: Streaming Image Search (pdf) (Microsoft Research Publication, 11/18/2010)
Link to abstract

Fisher, D., Drucker, S., Fernandez,R. and Ruble,S. Visualizations Everywhere: A Multiplatform Infrastructure for Linked Visualizations, in Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, IEEE, Salt Lake City, UT, November 2010


The following video and article focuses on some research that I think will be very useful for creating interactive multimedia timelines in the future.  I'd like to learn more about ways this interaction can be implemented in gesture-based systems!





Content-Aware Dynamic Timeline for Video Browsing
From Gonzalo's YouTube channel: "When videos have more frames than pixels in the player's timeline slider, frames become inaccessible and scrolling actions cause sudden jumps in a video's continuity. We propose a content-aware dynamic timeline control that decouples video speed and playback speed and allow salient shots to be presented at an intelligible speed."


Article
Pongnumkul, S., Wang, J., Ramos, G., Cohen, M.  Content-Aware Timeline for Video Browsing (pdf). UIST '10, ACM


Note: The researchers are investigating the use of audio/sound in a similar manner, making this form of video browsing/search truly multimedia. An example of this is included near the end of the above video clip.


The following video is a demonstration of something I could use in my work as a school psychologist, since I use a lot of video for assessing students with disabilities, including those with autism.  I also use video to create digital social stories for many of the students.

Interactive Technology in the Carolinas: T-1 Visions Update

Interactive off-the-desktop technologies are taking off in many regions, including the Carolinas. I'd like to share some of this "post-WIMP" goodness with my readers.  There are lots of interesting things developing in my own backyard!

About a year ago, I wrote a post about T1 Visions, the company behind the interactive technology at the T1 Tapas restaurant in Huntersville, NC.  In May of this year (2010), Mike Feldman, the president of T1 Visions, LLC, and inventor of the T1 Connection Booth, participated in a panel discussion about innovative technologies for the restaurant sector at the National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show in Chicago, Illinois.

The T1 Connection booth is an integrated system that includes a durable interactive multi-user touch screen table, powered by a mac. It also includes a high-quality audio system and high-definition video screen. It can accommodate a variety of mobile devices, such as iPods, iPhones, MP3 players, and laptops.  If you have digital photos, you can easily connect to the system and view them on the video screen.

The T1 Connection Booth was designed for use in restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. In the Charlotte area, booths can be found at Harper's Restaurant in South Park, and soon will be ready for action at a new restaurant, Cowfish. According to a press release, the system is more affordable than the Microsoft Surface, and can be

The T1 Connection booth looks like it could be re-purposed for a variety of settings. I've experienced the T1 Connection Booth "hands on" a few times while visiting T1 Tapas, and I'm sure that it has potential for use in museums, libraries, and other public spaces.  T1Visions also provides high-definition display systems that coordinate with the T1 Connection booths.   T1 Vision's displays and digital signs are in use at the newly-opened NASCAR Hall of Fame museum, and also at the Charlotte Convention Center.


T1 Visions Touchscreen Experience


2009 Five Ventures Conference: T1 Visions, Inc.


The TechnoFiles, CNN Video Feature of T-1 Vision's High Tech Restaurant, T1 Tapas (2009):


RELATED
T1 Visions Website
T1 Tapas Website
Connection Booth Brochure (pdf)
High Definition Display Systems Brochure (pdf)
Post-WIMP links


Previous IMT post about T1 Tapas, July 16, 2009:
T1 Tapas, a restaurant north of Charlotte, N.C., in the Birkdale Village in Huntersville, has majority owners with a technology background. Mike Feldman and Jim Morris started up Digital Optics Corporation, which focused on optics for computers and imaging, and after they sold their company, they teamed up with Denise Feldman to establish their company.
T 1 Connection Booth with Multi-User Touch Screen, HD TV, Sound System, Computer, & more:

"T1 Connection Booth seating gives you access to music, photos, and videos through built-in touchscreen tabletops, brilliant monitors, speakers, and computers." -Picture and taken from the T 1 Tapas website

The restaraunt serves as a test bed for T 1 Visions to try out their software and hardware designed to enhance the digitally connected dining experience. The restaurant was featured in May of this year on CNN.

British Library's Online Gallery: Turning the Pages- Great for an interactive whiteboard or display

The British Library offers an on-line interactive gallery, "Turn the Pages" , where you can "turn" the pages of great books, page by page, view additional information about the information of the page you are looking at, and also listen to an audio description. You also have the option of using a magnifying feature that you can move over the surface of the page to get a closer view of the text or illustrations.

If you have an interactive touch screen display or whiteboard, you can turn the pages with your hand, and also move the magnifying viewport about the screen. What a great resource for the classroom!

Here is additional information from the "Turning the Pages" website that will help you get started:

"The standard version of Turning the Pages™ uses the Shockwave plugin, which can be downloaded from the Adobe website, to simulate the action of turning the pages of a real book. For Mac OS X users there is an alternative download. The volumes may not open if you block popups on your computer. Technical specification"

"A new version, Turning the Pages 2.0™, runs on Microsoft Vista operating system (and on Windows XP with the .NET 3 framework). It will also run on other operating systems using the Microsoft Silverlight plugin. Technical specification"

"And there are alternative versions which do not need a plugin but display static images (and enlargements) in standard web pages, in the same window."

Here are some sample titles:

Masterpiece of the Renaissance, Landmarks in Medical History, Glimpses of Medieval Art, Mozart's Musical Diary (with 75 audio excerpts), 15th-Century Church Book, Flemish Masters in Miniature,
Sketches by Leonardo, Classic of Botanical Illustration, The Original Alice, by Lewis Carrol....