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I built my own analog drum machine (2020)

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Re: I built my own analog drum machine (2020)

#31
post #28

In school I studied computer music, and I participated in a grad seminar for which the final project was a group concert. Alvin Lucier, one of the progenitors of electronic music, led the seminar as guest faculty. For the performance I built a software instrument in Max/MSP with some similar principles around free timing to those in this drum machine, but with a digital granular synth voicing. At the pre-show critiqu…

Id be curious to see a performance with that instrument. Any link?

It wasn’t documented! :/ one of the things I learned only after my prolific college years is that despite what Cage says, if you don’t document, it didn’t happen.

If it’s at all interesting I’d add that the instrument was multichannel and I performed from a seat in the theater audience, with the outputs of the system variously directed to the quad-channel PA and to the battery-powered car stereo I had sewn into a nylon vest / jacket on my person.

Re: I built my own analog drum machine (2020)

#32

Notorious studio perfectionists Steely Dan commissioned a custom drum machine during the recording of Gaucho because none of the session drummers could play to their standards. http://rogernichols.com/wendel Clocking in at ~$150K, it probably was a bit more expensive than this guy's project.

I love when musicians nerd out on gear. This snare drum commissioned by Aphex Twin may interest you: https://stichtinglogos.org/instrum_gwr/snar2.html

Re: I built my own analog drum machine (2020)

#34

There's a brilliant set of live performances from the artist, of music made with these machines: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLafsplTntnuaL2ARcXtij...

Darn it, was secretly hoping I’d dislike it and not have to pick up a copy. Oh well. :-)

Re: I built my own analog drum machine (2020)

#36

The slider interface on the second prototype is very appealing as a UX. His other ones look sold out, and naively I could see custom collector synths from artists become quite a thing. What I love about making music with synths is you're essentially exploring a fractal overlaid on all possible audible frequencies, modulated by time. There is a kind of romanticism to the analog aspect of it that emphasises how it is a…

>The slider interface on the second prototype is very appealing as a UX

Man, particularly for drums that seems so cool. Obviously you can nudge things off the grid in Ableton or whatever DAW, but just to be able to move the sliders as it plays in real time and figure out where things feel right seems like a lovely way to work.

Re: I built my own analog drum machine (2020)

#37

In school I studied computer music, and I participated in a grad seminar for which the final project was a group concert. Alvin Lucier, one of the progenitors of electronic music, led the seminar as guest faculty. For the performance I built a software instrument in Max/MSP with some similar principles around free timing to those in this drum machine, but with a digital granular synth voicing. At the pre-show critiqu…

My first encounter with programming (after childhoolds basic coding) was a Max/MSP course at music school. I remember I built a program which plays a short loop and each iteration modifies the loop a bit. It ended up pretty nice, but unfortunately I've lost the copy long time ago.

Re: I built my own analog drum machine (2020)

#39

Notorious studio perfectionists Steely Dan commissioned a custom drum machine during the recording of Gaucho because none of the session drummers could play to their standards. http://rogernichols.com/wendel Clocking in at ~$150K, it probably was a bit more expensive than this guy's project.

I love when musicians nerd out on gear. This snare drum commissioned by Aphex Twin may interest you: https://stichtinglogos.org/instrum_gwr/snar2.html

That's sick, thanks. Somebody also posted this a while back:

https://warp.net/editorial/richard-d-james-speaks-to-tatsuya...

I think RDJ was involved with other instruments' designs too.

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