Whitechapel - Victorian Synthesizer 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/ Lussumo Vanilla & Feed Publisher Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11135#Comment_11135 2008-01-08T06:57:46-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 V http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=765 I can't believe it only just dawned on me to share this now, but my friend John Bowers has an ongoing project "to build a musical instrument boasting the kinds of parts and capabilities ... "to build a musical instrument boasting the kinds of parts and capabilities traditional synthesizers have (oscillators, filters, amplitude envelopes, modulation) but using techniques known to the Victorians."
(Click through for a blog post that talks about it briefly.)

If any one is interested I can try to post more about it as he progresses.
He also has a piece in Hack 'n Snack (Ignivomous) where he provides a recipe for constructing a very basic one.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11177#Comment_11177 2008-01-08T13:50:01-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 warrenellis http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=2 ooooh. Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11180#Comment_11180 2008-01-08T13:57:29-08:00 2008-01-08T13:58:05-08:00 screaming meat http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1219 Thats really interesting. It's always great to see music from a totally new angle. Wonder if it'll catch on... You, uh... you reckon he'll make to order? I have about thrupence to my name.
You, uh... you reckon he'll make to order? I have about thrupence to my name.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11199#Comment_11199 2008-01-08T15:47:49-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 V http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=765 @screaming meat - Heh. I could ask him, but I'm pretty certain he'd just tell you to build your own. Buy him a few drinks though, and he'll go on for hours about what new options he's thought up ...
He's recently built his own version of the dream machine, which is pretty cool.
Actually, I'm creating an artificial neural network that will perform with him (on guitar) and the dream machine. How's that for a weird combination of things across the technological spectrum?]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11209#Comment_11209 2008-01-08T17:21:59-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 nexus http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1332 that is just too cool. @ Vanessa: you rock, and are probably made of pure awesome.
@ Vanessa: you rock, and are probably made of pure awesome.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11211#Comment_11211 2008-01-08T17:40:38-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 StefanJ http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=961 Does the Telharmonium count as a synth? http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/telharmonium/index.html
http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/telharmonium/index.html

Telharmonium Rotor]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11243#Comment_11243 2008-01-08T22:24:38-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 steveburnett http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=941 Oh, that is an excellent post you link to, Vanessa, thank you. I have been thinking along some related lines, and this is inspirational. I build dreamachines, too: that picture of the red-lit one ... Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11247#Comment_11247 2008-01-08T22:49:06-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 Fractal http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1084 ! Hot damn, that's hip. You guys should tour and come to UVic.
Hot damn, that's hip. You guys should tour and come to UVic.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11279#Comment_11279 2008-01-09T05:53:21-08:00 2008-01-09T09:53:36-08:00 V http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=765 @warrenellis - I told him you said so. He has mailed me back to say: "insightful! it is ooooh-ish!" Which means he's excited and glad that you like it. @nexus - Thanks, that's ...
@nexus - Thanks, that's really sweet of you to say. Although if the sound of me moving around is any indication I'm actually made of dry twigs and rubber bands. And probably not even the sexy kind.

@stefanj - Nice! Well, John thinks it counts (I do too, but who am I really when it comes to this particular thing). The telharmonium uses early telephony technology both to generate and distribute its sound so you could argue that it's an actual Victorian Victorian synthesizer.
John says he regards Cahill as an anticipatory plagarist of his work.
.... yeah ... I don't hang out with him for the jokes really.

@steveburnett - Oh, very cool! When John gets around to making dreamachine stuff for youtube, I'll try to remember to post it so you can check it out and compare.

@Fractal - Hey, you! How are things? You need a blog or something so I can see what you're up to.You need to add an RSS feed to your site because I want to spy on you periodically, but I'm very lazy. I like Victoria .... does UVic have funding to bring in music nerds on tour?
We do have a concert lined up for the very beginning of February in Stockholm. John will be on stage being the happy showboat. I will be skulking in the background somewhere nervously hoping my network-baby doesn't fall and twist it's ankle .... and explode.


John asks that I send all the people of the internet the following links, and so I have:
http://www.onoma.co.uk/jmbowers.html
http://www.onoma.co.uk/jmbowers/victorian.html


And now I'm done with all the John says-ing. I have to be able to work with him and I don't want my playing messenger to get to his head. Heh.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11402#Comment_11402 2008-01-09T19:07:43-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 screaming meat http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1219 A neural interface? I have no idea how that would work. Is that even possible (forgive the innocence on the matter)? If it is I'll buy a round. Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11409#Comment_11409 2008-01-09T20:20:40-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 steveburnett http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=941 @screaming meat, here is one example of a neural interface for music. http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2008/01/composing_by_brain_.html Because Vanessa wrote she's "creating an artificial ...
http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2008/01/composing_by_brain_.html

Because Vanessa wrote she's "creating an artificial neural network" I think she's doing something completely different to this link's example, but I thought this was an interesting link nonetheless.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11410#Comment_11410 2008-01-09T20:23:16-08:00 2008-01-09T20:25:03-08:00 eggzoomin http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1442 It's starting to become possible, slowly. There was an experiment I read about recently where they sank electrodes into the areas of some sort of primate's brain that control movement of the arms and ...
Edit: steveburnett beat me by two minutes - just checked hs link and that is, if you'll forgive the muso pun, mindlblowing.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11444#Comment_11444 2008-01-10T04:27:45-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 V http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=765 @screaming meat - No, no neural interfaces in this stuff. The idea is for the network to be a separate entity that you can jam with. It responds to audio and visual data coming in, and it retrains ... Or something like that. We'll see how it goes.

There is neural interface work being done, like steveburnett and eggzoomin have mentioned.

There are a few places doing work with EEG hats and people, like here:
Berlin Brain-Computer Interface
(Although I would like to state for the record that everytime I see a place that says man-machine interface instead of something like human-machine interface, it annoys the hell out of me. It just sounds stupid and inaccurate. I mean what is this, original star trek? Harumph.)]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11466#Comment_11466 2008-01-10T09:32:37-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 screaming meat http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1219 @Steveburnett - thats like every artist/musicians dream (or at least a baby step toward) of being able to lay the song/composition straight from brain to instrument. Damn... @eggzoomin - Thats ...
@eggzoomin - Thats still pretty freaky. You'll have to show me photo ID before I start buying :)

@Vanessa - Thats also an interesting idea. Are we talking basic AI or is it a series of routines?

This is why I like this site: stuff I didn't think was even possible becomes... well, possible. Thanks to y'all.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11480#Comment_11480 2008-01-10T12:41:02-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 V http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=765 @screaming meat - By basic AI do you mean classical AI? If so, no. Artificial neural networks are from the branch of AI known as Connectionism. I try to explain that a little in this thread ... I try to explain that a little in this thread over here.
But I'm happy to answer questions if that doesn't tell you what you were looking to know.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11485#Comment_11485 2008-01-10T13:06:47-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 screaming meat http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=1219 Argh. Thread won't open... Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11488#Comment_11488 2008-01-10T13:26:40-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 V http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=765 Synchronicity! A piece on newscientist with a bunch of links to articles about brain-machine interfaces, and addressing an interesting issue: Physically disabled people must be able to switch on ... A piece on newscientist with a bunch of links to articles about brain-machine interfaces, and addressing an interesting issue:
Physically disabled people must be able to switch on brain-computer interfaces without external help if the futuristic devices are to give them greater freedoms, say researchers beginning to study the little-addressed problem.
...
Subjects in their trials produced the spikes by breathing rapidly for a short period, while software compared their heart rate to one recorded at rest.


Despite my horrible desire for many bad puns (change of heart, you can breathe easy once its on, etc), it's a nice idea and could be poetic in the right hands...

@screaming meat - It was the We Make Robots Feel Pain thread. Maybe you can get to it by scanning the Mad Science section.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=11561#Comment_11561 2008-01-11T05:42:37-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 houseofmystery http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=150 And at last I get what we were talking about in the Market last night! Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=12484#Comment_12484 2008-01-15T09:08:55-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 groonk http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=631 my attention, you have it. Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=12513#Comment_12513 2008-01-15T09:43:53-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 ravnos http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=644 I think I may have found a new favorite thread. Now I'll go look at all the links again and let the musical nerdiness wash over me for a second time... Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=13964#Comment_13964 2008-01-19T21:08:03-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 steveburnett http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=941 Vanessa, you may know of this fellow's work already, but if you don't I thought I'd mention it as potentially interesting to you. I followed a link off Grinding about this concept guitar to the ... this concept guitar to the website of Amit Zoran. On his portfolio page he has a project titled "Imitating Harmonic Connections in Polyphonic Music Using a Neural Networks Model" (Flash site, can't link directly), with several examples and a PDF of his research paper on the topic.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=15560#Comment_15560 2008-01-24T13:16:51-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 Richard Kadrey http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=2111 The Telharmonium is a strange and wondrous thing, and the story of its birth and death is as weird a tale of steampunk techno tragedy as you'll find. If you can track down the definitive book on the ... If only Fritz Lang were still alive, he could make a wonderful movie about the rise and fall of the instrument and Cahill, and do it in the style of Metropolis.

The book:
The Telharmonium: A History of the First Music Synthesizer by Reynold Weidenaar, NYU, 1988)]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=15568#Comment_15568 2008-01-24T13:37:30-08:00 2013-06-20T00:29:18-07:00 frenchbloke http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=759 similarly, although not as old, is the wonderful novachord dating from the late 30's. it's very ooh when you see the valves and hear the crackly sounds it made once they restored it. novachord dating from the late 30's. it's very ooh when you see the valves and hear the crackly sounds it made once they restored it.]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=15694#Comment_15694 2008-01-24T22:05:07-08:00 2008-01-24T22:05:50-08:00 mrghosty http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=2139 Here's a wicked site called synthmuseum and they've gots a nice brief little timeline of the history of synths!!! and yes mr StefanJ the teleharmonium totally counts as a synth :) even if i took up ... synthmuseum and they've gots a nice brief little timeline of the history of synths!!! and yes mr StefanJ the teleharmonium totally counts as a synth :) even if i took up a whole building. (well the mark 2 did almost anyway !!!]]> Victorian Synthesizer http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=458&Focus=16093#Comment_16093 2008-01-26T07:44:02-08:00 2008-01-26T07:48:27-08:00 V http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/account.php?u=765 Hey everyone. I completely mean to get back to this thread; I'm just a bit swamped right now. For now, I just wanted to say: Tonight! Concert! In Stockhom! Featuring John Bowers and a number ...
For now, I just wanted to say:
Tonight!
Concert!
In Stockhom!
Featuring John Bowers and a number of others doing exciting circuit bending noisey experimental music.
There is even a cross media piece that makes use of some photographs I created this week especially for this event.

Details (in Swedish) can be found here: http://www.fylkingen.se/.


There is also on concert on Feb. 2nd which will include the neural network I'm creating for John (as mentioned in one of the posts above).
So if you happen to be in Stockholm, please feel free to come check it out!
Loud machiney musical love for everyone!

I will be the redheaded girl in the corner.
At both these events.

Random side note: I hadn't realised that John's and my band (Glorrph) had a pre-recorded piece as part of his Just Landed concert back on the 14th. It was a piece we'd done for a short film soundtrack (actually, we made Glorrph specifically for our film soundtrack projects so that is currently all we do). I'm mentioning this as a way of reminding myself to make our myspace page when I am home again.

Editted to add: Steve Burnett! Hello! You are excellent. I have seen Amit Zoran's site before but I am delighted that you thought of me.]]>