music

This is a demo of Smule’s Leaf Trombone: World Stage (App Store link), which takes advantage of the latest features of the iPhone operating system.

“Without the iPhone, there would be no Smule,” said Dr. Ge Wang, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Smule, and Assistant Professor at Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). “And without iPhone OS 3.0, there would be no leaf trombone duets on the world stage.”

Leaf Trombone World Stage is the first massively multi-player musical game, and was designed from the ground-up to take advantage of all the iPhone offers, including multi-touch, location services, full-time data access, and real-time graphics.

In this video demo, violinist Jon Rose controls feedback with the K-Bow, a Bluetooth-enabled sensor bow for string instruments.

Filmed at STEIM, Amsterdam, 04/2009.

This wired video looks at how Amon Tobin and the Sony Music team used found objects to create a dark and grimy video game score for Infamous.

This track, Cosmos, features Roland D-550 + JD-800 + TR-808, and was inspired by Carl Sagan’s classic TV series.

via retrosound72:

“COSMOS theme”
Inspired by the cosmos tv series by C.Sagan

pads, sweeps, chimes and other sounds: Roland D-550 and JD-800
drums: Roland TR-808

This gorgeous video captures a performance of Oraison, composed by Olivier Messiaen in 1937 for six Ondes Martenot, transcribed for Buchla 200e synthesizer and Haken Continuum Fingerboard controller and performed by Richard Lainhart in 2009.

Here’s Lainhart’s background for this performance:

From the time I first touched the Haken Continuum, I’d wanted to use it to play a composition by Olivier Messiaen called “Oraison”. I first heard “Oraison” years ago as a student of electronic music, and had fallen in love with its simple, beautiful harmonies and profound sense of mystery.

“Oraison” is not only a lovely piece of music, but has historical interest too – it may be the first piece of purely electronic music written expressly for live performance. Also of note is that Messiaen re-arranged “Oraison” for cello and piano and used it for the fifth movement of “Quartet for the End of Time”, which he composed in a German prisoner-of-war camp in 1941; the “Quartet” is one of the great classics of 20th-century music.

“Oraison” (”prayer”) is from a suite of pieces for six Ondes Martenot called “Fete des Belles Eaux” (”Celebration of the Beautiful Waters”), composed for the Paris International Exposition in 1937. The Ondes Martenot was among the first electronic instruments, and is still among the most expressive. The Continuum’s own expressive qualities seemed at least the equal of the Ondes Martenot’s, while allowing for polyphony and the possibility of performance of the work by a single player. I transcribed “Oraison” for my Buchla 200e/Continuum system, programmed the modern system in homage to the sound of the Ondes Martenot, and now offer this performance to you.

Fantastic, isn’t it? Leave a comment with your thoughts!