Lately I’ve been working to learn my way around Processing, a free open-souce visual programming language. There’s a lot of great documentation and people always adding new libraries to it that do a lot of the heavy lifting for complex functions.

Also, a lot of people post their code online, so if you want to learn how to use a particular function you can see what someone else did and copy/paste the useful parts into your own sketches.

Here’s a few videos created by other folks doing some pretty awesome audio-reactive generative imagery:

Audio-generated landscape from flight404 on Vimeo.

Flightpattern from Gwen Vanhee on Vimeo.

After my performance at the MCA in January, I was interviewed by a journalism student from Northwestern who works for the Indy Gazette. She and her cohort took some photos and combined that with the audio to create a nice audio slideshow of some of the instruments I used for the show:

Thanks guys!

Here’s a little something I scripted yesterday in Processing. I’m working my way through the book Programming Interactivity. So far, so good. Next I want to start working on realtime processing of the image from a webcam.

Crystal Lattice from Michael Una on Vimeo.

Interactive designer/artist Grant Bussinger took some cameraphone footage of my set last night:

If you watch to the end, you’ll see me kick the power cord for the whole table and temporarily knock out the audio.

This is a great audiovisual sculpture by Jesse Stiles, Chris Harvey and Olivia Robinson:

The Harmonic Center of the Universe from Jesse Stiles on Vimeo.

Looks like a microcontroller doing the heavy lifting for the light sequences, and a synchronized audio piece. There’s a lot of handmade effort in there.

Found via Saturn Never Sleeps.

It occurs to me that I neglected to post this a while back.

A bigger and better version of Beep-it is available thru Transistor in Chicago and will be in my online store soon(ish). This one features a handsome laser-cut bamboo case and a 2nd oscillator for LFO modulation.

Here’s what it looks like in the wild:

And here’s a demo video I made for it:

Beep it Deluxe from Michael Una on Vimeo.

As the date of my performance at the MCA draws near and my set matures, I thought I’d share a brief preview of some of the new devices I’ll be using during the show.

First, I got some time to circuit-bend a Bliptronic 5000. There’s a pitch bend control courtesy of the Getlofi Precision Oscillator kit, and another bend I found between some points on the IC that creates a nice harmonic drone. A Highlyliquid MD24 translates a MIDI signal from Ableton Live to sync the Bliptronic with the rest of my gear.

Circuit bent Bliptronic 5000 from Michael Una on Vimeo.

Also joining me will be four MIDI-controlled solenoids which strike an african drum, some finger cymbals, and a woodblock in the shape of a frog. Again, the MD24 is providing the MIDI-to-voltage conversion that lets me trigger the solenoids from beats programmed in Ableton Live.

Drumbot jam from Michael Una on Vimeo.

Most Saturdays from noon-3pm you can find me at Lizard’s Liquid Lounge, 3058 W. Irving Park Rd. in Chicago.  That’s the meeting point for an open, informal group of folks who like to tinker with music and electronics, called the eSymposium, which is the brainchild of Patrick McCarthy of Roth Mobot.

Lately, we’ve been setting up the PA every week and letting a loose open mic happen in parallel with the circuit-bending and shop talk that goes on.  This past Saturday, a kind gentleman from Columbia College set up and recorded the jams.  He happened to catch a particularly nice one from Tomer, Jason and myself:

Tomerica, Michael,OtherGuy by The Troglobite

Also, I’ve been working up my performance for the upcoming MCA show and I’ve built some new MIDI-controlled drumbots. Here’s a cameraphone photo of one of them, called “Ting.” It clinks together two tiny finger cymbals when it recieves a MIDI note:

I have been asked by LAMPO to perform at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago later this month, as part of their Magical Musical Showcase series. I’m pretty excited about it, and I hope you can make it- I’ve been creating some new instruments and experimenting with drum-playing robots, so this show should be worthy of the venue. The details:

Date: Tuesday, January 26th
Time: 6-7pm
Location: Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611 (East of the Water Tower on Michigan Ave.)
More Specific location: Enter the museum, then head straight to the back where they have a cafe.

Yes, I know the showtime is early but admission to the MCA is free on Tuesdays, so have a look around the exhibits while you’re there.

Sometimes my day job calls on me to illustrate abstract concepts. Today’s challenge: “A Brief With Gestures.” First is my initial sketch, and second is what it ended up becoming. I need a Wacom tablet.