Moritz Simon Geist, creator of the massive MR-808 robotic drum machine, let us know about his latest project, making techno using music robots.
Geist has released a new techno EP, The Material Turn, entirely recorded with robots and has a full-length album coming out Nov 16th.
All of the sounds on his records are played by robots: small motors that beat on metal, futuristic 3D-printed robo-kalimbas and salvaged parts from old hard drives that click and cut. Geist built his DIY robotic instruments over several years.
For this project, he teamed up with the sound wizards from Mouse On Mars and dug deep into the history of mechanical music and experiments of early electronic music.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the project:
Geist has also shared some of the technical details on his site.
You can preview the EP below or on Bandcamp:
Fucking awesome! The whole track on bc is also cool. Underground stuff, superb!
Thank you – that was great! There’s something really exciting about applying highly sequenced repetitive patterns and techno arrangements to organic sounds.
Wow; I am blown away at the melding of technologies going on here. More please!!