makerfaire.com: Maker Faire Bay Area 2009: Items by Topic

Maker Faire Bay Area 2009
Projects and Makers By Topic

Music

1 to 66 of 66

"Streetbeats" by John F King II John King II
About my show! It's called "Streetbeats-Sounds of San Francisco". It is a high energy, innovative, infectious "all" instrumental drums and percussion show that was developed on the streets of San francisco, CA. The music consist of an eclectic blend of expressions with wide ranging cultural diversity and global appeal, emphasizing the introduction and promotion of positive messages/images. Fun beats and grooves with infuences from Celtic to afro-Cuban to Polynesian to American and East Indian to Jazz, country, Soul/R&B, hip-hop, Rock etc... All done with items found in a garbage dumpster such as old pots & pans, #10 foodservice cans, CD rack, 5 gal. buckets,garbage cans, etc..

5 Cent Coffee & the Junkstock Allstars
We are dedicated to the idea that everyone can make music. Whether you play a plastic bucket or a thousand dollar guitar, expressing yourself through sound is what it's all about. The Junkstock Allstars play orginal and traditional standards played in the old American tradition and employing found, homemade or dirt cheap instruments whenever possible. Music is everywhere, go out and grab it!

555 Noisemusick Kit
In the Maker Shed, Shawn Wallace from AS220 Labs will be demonstrating the 555 Noisemusick Kit and other projects developed at AS220.

Location: Maker Shed Maker Shed

Abby and the Pipsqueaks
The 3 time AWARD WINNING and UNESCO FEATURED ARTISTS: Abby and the Pipsqueaks, from the Bay Area, CA. A cartoon concept band, Abby and the Pipsqueaks brings to life award winning original songs in a zany show with jazzy joke bits, science segments, gym and dance classes, magic, and more!! ...the age 2-6 group has been struggling to find its voice in pop music. That void has been filled... SF Weekly's Listen Up by, Dan Dion. Motown meets the Muppets meets Schoolhouse Rocks, Abby and the Pipsqueaks is sure to inspire and delight.

Antioguia
...Experimental Rock/Funk/Reggae meets AfroColombian rhythm... !Musica para la revolucion!

Art Lessing and the Flower Vato
We are a band that uses a bunch of home made instruments. We have both invented and traditional instuments, but we like to use mostly DIY things when we're performing.

Bay Area Computer Music Zone Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group
A collaborative area for computer music makery by Berkeley Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (cnmat.berkeley.edu ), Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (ccrma.stanford.edu), and the Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group (barcmut.org). Exhibits will include the CNMAT "Ball of Sound" (120 speaker spherical array), Adrian Freed's stringless cello controller (CNMAT), the Particle Chamber (a surround sound infrared controlled installation by Kial Knickerbocker), the entranced interactive music video game (monstro.us), a EEG Biofeedback music machine (Jeff Stot), the sonic palette (sonicpalette.com), custom DJ software (flyloops.com), new sonic interactions using low cost toolkits and open source from CCRMA, and more. When you come by check the schedule for performances and presentations by the Proyekto Collective, Star Pause, DJ Cypod, Torsos and Wake (with the SN76477 complex sound generator chip and a circuit bent Casio), and many more.

Location: Expo Hall 211

Bleep Labs
Bleep Labs was begun as a solution to the world's ever increasing appetite for anthropomorphic synthesizer toys. Designed by Dr. Bleep (John-Mike Reed) and Goopymart (Will Guy), these instruments are made by hand in Dr. Bleep's Austin, Texas workshop and sent to noise lovers the world over. Our first instrument, the Thingamagoop is an analog synthesizer that you control in a different way. Instead of using a keyboard, the main oscillator is controlled by a photocell.The

Location: Maker Shed Maker Shed

BRAINY TUNES: Smarter Songs for Smarter Kids Ira Marlowe
I loved performing last year on the Human Powered Stage! I write and perform fun, challenging songs for kids 4-10, and use puppets and props to bring the songs alive onstage, while encouraging participation from kids and parents alike. Songs emphasize adventure, cooperation and creativity.

Location: Human Powered Stage Grass M

California Jug Band Association/Tarantulas Jug Band
Good-time music can be played on just about anything - garden hoses, kitchen sinks, combs, artillery shells, and luggage. CJBA members will provide toe-tapping musical performances and demonstrations on building and identifying a wide variety of music-makers. The audience will be quickly drawn into participating in the musical madness.

CCRMA Musical Interactives Stanford University's CCRMA
See (and hear!) new sonic interactions that have been developed using tools -- such as low-cost hardware prototyping kits and a customized open source Linux software distribution -- from Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA).

Location: Expo Hall 211

Cello Joe
The wildest beatboxin' cellist in the west!

Chladni Singing
Watch a voice-driven Chladni plate! Sound pioneers Robert Hooke and Ernst Chladni discovered in the 18th and 19th centuries that sand scattered on a glass or metal plate sent into resonant vibration with a violin bow arranges itself into interesting patterns according to places of stillness. Chladni plates are today often driven by tone generators and used in scientific demonstrations of modes of vibration, but Meara will also show how the human voice and various speech sounds have resonances of their own.

Cigar Box+Tape Loop=Drone Sounds
I use hand made cigar box guitars, piezo pickups, and cassette tape loops, along with some guitar pedals, to create a flowing, folky, noisy drone. I try to draw on everything from the blues to punk, and use that to promote DIY instruments and cassette hacking. Audience participation is encouraged.

Location: Music Noise

DIY Multitouch Musical Instrument
This is a simple and inexpensive way to create a multitouch surface with optical lasers, a webcam and some software that I wrote. The project uses the interaction with the surface to generate sound based on the position and amount of touch points. I use the surface as a musical instrument, but there are innumerable possibilities for such an easy to make multitouch surface.

Location: Expo Hall 211

DIY Stringless Cello and Other Chordophones
These instruments illustrate how to greatly simplify construction of string instruments by substituting rods, motors and resistive touch strips for strings and using a cheap Sparkfun microcontroller to control music synthesizers. A monochord and 12 string version are currently in use by professional cellists; new 2 string and 4 string versions are under construction. A new guitar variant will be ready next month that substitutes rigid rods for the rotating rods of the bowed instruments.

Location: Expo Hall 211

Drone Machines / Dub Machines Author & Punisher
Drone Machines and Dub Machines are custom made from raw materials, using open source circuitry. They draw heavily on aspects of industrial automation, robotics, and mechanical tools, and require significant force from the performer, aligning him or her with the plodding drone and doom-influenced sounds that are created.

dvj
I am demonstrating/performing with a newly open sourced DJ + VJ program I wrote, called dvj. It treats video as a first-class citizen, so if the user scratches the audio, the video also scratches in sync. It uses an M-Audio Xponent as a MIDI input device, and also supports a Nintendo Wiimote for video-scratching with the pointer. Runs on Linux, but OSX and Windows ports will be available later this year.

Location: Expo Hall 211

El Guitarnome
Over the last 9 months I have built a custom guitar from building the guitar body from cherry, wenge, and maple to finishing the neck with a zebra wood fret board and a birds eye maple neck. I have embedded a Monome within the body and custom built the encasing for all the electronics, I can now run USB and my 1/4 cable out to my audio interface and rock it with my Guitarnome. I have a few more things to finish on it but I am in the final stages! It was something I started in highschool, then 8 years later have finished.

Location: West Gate B4

Electric Western - Artisanal Electronic Sound
Electric Western is dedicated to artisan made electronic musical instruments, acoustics and innovation inspired by the spirit of the old west. From Taos NM, Lorin Edwin Parker and Sarah Seelig create instruments, performance, music, technology and research. Projects include Phantastron Kits, Steam Powered Synthesizers, Theremins, Radios and the performance art / music of Rocket Parlour.

Location: Outside Grass North Midway

Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the leading organization defending civil liberties in the digital world and promotes the rights of innovators to develop digital technologies.

Location: Fiesta Hall 342

Entranced Monstrous Company
Entranced, by Monstrous- Play with Your Music! � Immerse yourself in a 3D interactive music experience. Listen to energetic world music, interact with a vibrant landscape and move with the music using Wii game controllers. Stop by the Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group (BArCMuT) to play Entranced.

Guella
Four San Francisco-based musicians, all pulling in slightly different directions, find dynamic equilibrium in Guella. The music is at once catchy, open-ended, and original. Due to the great amount of energy and improvisation that Guella brings to each of its sets, it is truly best appreciated in the live setting. A combination of skillful songwriting, intelligent musicianship, and open-ended improvisation always leaves listeners wondering what might happen next.

Hand Some Voices Blue Fire Grant
Live performance processed in Kyma software over a surround system. Interactive controllers for passers by to play with the vocalizations. Informed by Noh drama, Grotowski, Stockhausen, Monty Python. Made by Blue Fire, one of the BArCMuT geeks.

Location: Expo Hall West Music Tent

jesse morris and the man cougars
country music played by strange folks.

Justin Ancheta
Justin Ancheta is an artist hailing from a small town of Meadow Vista, California with eclectic styles. He has been playing throughout Northern California for seven years, generating a worthy buzz with music worth falling for. He has opened for the Wailer's, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Lightning Temple: Interactivation Amoration
The core of our 45-foot temple is Interactivation, an open source synthesizer played by up to 6 people at once around a large musical Tesla coil. It's a unique musical instrument and a hands-on energy experiment for all ages.

Location: Midway M1

Lou Lou & the Guitarfish Live!!!
Spiritual heirs of 60�s British Invasion and actual heirs of 70�s San Francisco punk, these 5 teens mix quirky lyrics with addictive melodies -- and rock�n�roll sounds new again. Longtime Makers already, The Guitarfish have fun doing it all: writing and recording music, shooting videos, creating merch, designing costumes, and more!

McPuzo and Trotsky McPuzo and Trotsky
Heinrich McPuzo (Stroh violin) and Sid Trotsky (bantar) are purveyors of satirical songs from the Roaring Twenties, such as "Warren G. Harding Is A Horse's Ass", and "You Wouldn't Know She Was Irish". Interspersed shall be fabulations of mankind's bright technological future, including "The Lurch Head-on Collider" and "Mansect!".

Microfiche
Microfiche is a San Francisco-based, four-piece instrumental outfit � something of a noiserockdanceparty. A Microfiche show delivers a full-on extrasensory experience, drawing diagrams for your ears and mind while keeping your booty shakin�. Microfiche will team up with Andrey Turley and Mike Carnes to deliver a full-on Audio-Visual collaboration, inviting the audience to use crowd-controller sequencers, and incorporating large-scale VU meters and microfiche machines turned light-sensitive MIDI controllers.

Location: Music Noise

Mixing Maker Faire
Brandon McFarland, a young producer in Oakland�s hip-hop scene, will engineer a live mix of Maker Faire�s ambient sound. He�ll download audio recorded by Youth Radio�s roaming field producers and, with audience interaction and explaining as he goes, edit together a surprising and evolving soundscape that emerges from the fairgrounds.

Location: Outside Mobile

Mr. December Andy Tester & Jimmy Horn
We are an ukelele/upright bass duo, involving singing, harmonizing, rapping, being handsome, creating ill mouth beats, and playing rag-timey bluegrass. we call it folk-stomp.

Nathaniel Johnstone and his Band of Miscreants at Carnival Mechanique
I and a few other musicians will be providing live music with the Steampunk/Vintagepunk group using custom instruments/amps created by Jake Von Slatt and Molly Freidrich.

Location: Steampunk Grass F

OCB
OCB is a Celtic-punk-folk-rock act that serves up a stylistic combination of The Faces, The Pogues, and British Isles rockers of the 1970s. We call it "Busker Rock," and it's fun and danceable and kinda wild even! California punk legend Dave Dalton leads the band, which is composed of guitarist Michael Molenda, bassist Patrick Wong, bagpiper/tin whistle master Sean Cummings, and cajon player, percussionist, and background vocalist Cheryl Doll.

Oona Garthwaite
Electro / Soul / Rock

Pantomorf Squonk
Interactive improvised music using a percussion controller and laptop computer. Based on work of the Swedish duo Pantomorf and my own work on relaxation oscillator networks and birdsong simulation. I will be exhibiting as part of the Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group (BArCMuT.)

Location: Expo Hall 211

Particle Chamber
Particle Chamber is an immersive interactive soundscape being presented with the Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group (BArCMuT). First the hardware controller, it is a wooden circle with 8 IR sensors(corresponding to 8 speakers) separated by 45 degrees making a full circle. The analog signal from the IRs is then sent through a CV to MIDI circuit (MIDItron), which is connected to a laptop running PD, with a multichannel audio card. PD is doing most of the work; the MIDI data controls several variables of a sort of granular synthesis, as well as controlling the spatialization, harmonics, etc. Most of the spatialization is handled by large filter arrays, and a dynamic reverb. The sensors allow users to interact with the graintable particles and control spatialization with their body position and movement. Furthermore, PD is constantly checking for several types of change in the system overall, including average rate of system change, opposite sensors differential change, and total sensor activity. This type of system encourages group play and swaying dance like body motions. On the other hand, individuals can only control a small amount of the soundscape's parameters, whilst only activating a few speakers at a time but it is definitely still fun. This project is a improvement upon my Senior Project at UCSD, ICAM, which was overseen by Dr. Richard Moore, Peter Otto, and with help from Dr. Miller Puckette.

Pedal Powered Music Stage
With six Pedal Power bikes including the forthcoming "El Arbol" hooked together to power ultra-efficient amplifiers, the Rock the Bike crew will gather the collective leg power of the Maker Faire to support local 10 local bands over the course of two days.

Location: Outside Grass M

Piano Liberado Extreme Josef Szuecs & Mauro Fortissimo
A sound installation. Baby grand piano in the center surrounded by four liberated pianos and four basso profundis. A huge self standing mobile made from piano parts hangs umbrella like over the baby grand. Live performances will take place throughout the show. We will also premiere a new Arduino controlled player prepared piano

Location: Expo Hall 221

PlaySoundGround
The PlaySoundGround is an adult-sized, kid-friendly musical playground that's also a musical instrument, and a musical instrument that is also a playground. Your movement is turned into sound using sensors mounted on the playground equipment that send data to a computer running real-time synthesis software.

Location: West Gate Grass C

Proyekto Collective & (BArCMuT) Proyekto Collective
Sndrft eeoo and Mike Jacobs of proyekto.net present a live improvised electronic concerto: Sndrft eeoo mans a bespoke suite of live-composition and synthesis software written in Pure Data, controlled with MIDI, iPhones, a cello and wireless gamepads. Mike Jacobs uses whatever digital detritus he can scrounge together to create a software apocalypse. (*note: we are performing with the Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group (BArCMuT))

Pseudo-Revolving Guitar Amplifier
This amplifer recreates the unique multipath audio and Doppler phase shifting of the rotating Leslie speaker using solid-sate analog synthesizer techniques.

Location: Expo Hall 210

Quinn Devaux
Quinn DeVeaux and the Blue Beat Review is a dance and groove band with hopping mad rhymes and rhythms. Quinn has been playing soul and blues in the bay area for years and has finally started his own band The Blue Beat Review! It's sweet melody and soul music with a groove that makes you wanna use your feet for moving. This band is at the root of it and keeps the people in a state of joy. Don't miss em.

Ralph Carney and The All Ones Ralph Carney
Music performance May 31st.

Riekes Center Maker Soundtrack
Participants will collaborate to create and record songs using synthesizers and electronic music, as well as traditional instruments ranging from guitars to wood blocks. The songs will be posted online at the end of the weekend, with all participants credited in their creation.

Location: Outside Grass S near Gate D

Robotic Bagpipe Chanter
A Scottish bagpipe chanter gets computerized, resulting in a unique robotic instrument. Air pressure is created using three bicycle pumps, notes are played using eight electromagnetic fingers. The controlling computer can play anything from "Highland Cathedral" to "Star Wars".

Location: Expo Hall 111

RTTTL Calliope "Calliopus Minimus"
Stamp controlled programmable one octave calliope plays ringtone text files; Ed says, "So simple that even I could figure out how to build it!" A short video of Calliopus Minimus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKG3MYgIeMc&feature=channel_page

Location: Expo Hall 116

Salane and Friends show Salane C. Schultz
I am a solo performer with home made props, and hand painted signs. I use my original lyrics that ponder life, explore human senses, feelings, and why we all are here in general, with hopes of a positive future in an allegoric, prophetic way. My lyrics are backed up with melodic sound and rhythm. My "friends" are all of my expressions, two keyboards, an accordion, shakers and noise makers, effects peddles, a mixer, and a microphone. Some examples of my music can be heard at: myspace.com/salaneandfriends OR www.missalaneous.com. I currently teach a keyboard and handbell class at COVA Conservatory in the Oakland hills area. I was recently featured live on the radio in Point Reyes Station Home Grown Radio, as well as KALW in San Francisco.

Shake Your Peace
SHAKE YOUR PEACE! is a folk band based in San Francisco's Mission District. The band's goal is to - in the words of the great folk singers - "get happy," "walk the freedom highway," and "make a living, not a killing."

Shovelman Isaac Frankle
I play a guitar that's made out of an antique SHOVEL. (Dig it!) I loop, drum on the shovel body, play the strings with a slide, and sing through a bullhorn. (Folktronica!) My friend and I worked together to build it and make it sing. I even played it for my friends' wedding aboard the Neverwas Haul (Victorian spaceship) at Maker Faire last year!

Location: Steampunk

Sound Arts
An overview of the different forms of sound arts, from DIY pedal building to hands on learning demos, even with a few high-tech performances from some of our collaborators. Our main project leader will be Brian Schmierer, co-owner of Sound Arts studios. He will be demonstrating how to build your own pedal from a game pad controller. We will also feature experimental musician Christopher Willits, showing some of the ways musicians can incorporate Ableton Live and other different looping software into their live performance. Willits also has a few homemade tech toys he uses while performing.

Location: Expo Hall 212

starPause Jordan Gray
starPause is a netlabel pioneer who remains active with Mp3Death + Hexawe, releasing mp3s under the Creative Commons to catalog cutting edge sounds from re-appropriated retro computers + game consoles. Starpause brings the same DIY ethic to live gigs rocking LSDJ/Gameboy + LGPT/PSP at parties like DutyCycle (SF) + BlipFestival (NYC), and here @ MakerFaire with BArCMuT.

Location: Expo Hall 211

The Evolution Control Committee presents The Wheel Of Mashup
Spin the wheel, make a mashup! The Evolution Control Committee wasn't content to merely get credit for making the first mashup in 1993 � they've been cutting and pasting their way through music ever since. Now, you can too! Come to our show and spin the Wheel of Mashup � two wheels actually; one lands on the music, one on the vocals. The two are mashed up on the spot thanks to The ECC's Vidimasher 3000, a video control screen hacked from Nintendo Wii controllers. Faster than a DJ, cooler than a laptop show, this is the short-attention span dance party you've been waiting for!

The Gomer Hendrix Experience The Gomer Hendrix Band
The Gomer Hendrix Experience does original fun music that's a mix of Weird Al Yankovic's style and mash-ups between different styles of music. Humorous, upbeat, fun for the whole family, musical entertainment.

Location: Human Powered Stage

The Hounds Acoustic Stomp The Hounds
The Hounds are a high-energy acoustic indie band from San Francisco, who take old-fashioned instruments like fiddle, accordion, and steel-string guitar, and play them with rockstar levels of passion and fun. Bass and drums back up their hoe-downs and pop tunes, making EVERYBODY want to dance!

The James Moseley Band
The James Moseley Band fronted by lead vocalist and guitarist James Moseley has been wowing audiences in the Bay Area for over ten years at a wide range of music venues, festivals and special events. Their continually growing fan base, one of the most loyal in the Bay Area, is no doubt due to their high energy live performances that get everyone up and dancing with tunes by Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley and many more. The James Moseley Band showcases the very best in Motown, R&B, Jazz, Blues, Funk and Reggae.

The Lee Maverick Band
Rock-n-Roll using some instruments made from motorcycle parts and a unique kitsch set incorporating sculpture and paintings.

The Maker Fair Organ Simran Gleason
I take the sounds of the Maker Fair and turn them into a playable instrument: the Maker Fair Organ. Here's how it works: * Start with the basic principle of a brass or woodwind instrument: a chaotic sound source is filtered by passing it through a long tube which amplifies frequencies related to the resonant frequency of the tube. * Now reverse that: place a tuned tube in a noisy environment with a microphone at the closed end of the tube. The sounds that relate to the resonant frequency of the tube are picked up by the microphone. Other sounds are filtered out. * The Organ is then a set of tuned tubes placed together in a row. Each tube "hears" the portion of the sonic melee that is the Maker Fair that matches its tuning. * Hook a keyboard up to the tubes to turn on and off each tube's microphone, so when you press the C key, the microphone for the C tube is turned on, and when you release it, that microphone is turned off. * Now you have a playable instrument. Feed the sound from the microphones that are on to an amplifier and speakers. The tubes hear the sounds from the amp, and further amplify them in a tuned feedback loop that grows into an organ-like sound. * The instrument will be played in 4 modes: - interactive: Anybody can sit down at the keyboard and start playing a tune with the sounds of Maker Fair! - canned music: The instrument will be played by sending midi files to the controller, thus playing familiar tunes. - performance: small performances with other musicians can be planned or impromptu. Perhaps clowns or juggler will drop by. - generative music: A more ambitious plan will be to write a generative music algorithm that listens to the ambient sounds, detects notes, and composes a musical soundscape that is then played using those same sounds. This is a similar concept to my piece from 2 years ago, Haunted Garden. An added twist will be to take the parameters to the music generation algorithm, think of them as a genome, with a mutation function, and run artificial evolution on the composition. The fitness function would be the listeners preferences: there will be big "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" buttons that rate the results of mutating the genomes. Sets of parameters that make music that pleases the makers get to breed and send their genes to the next generation, thus evolving the musical landscape.

Location: Outside Front of Fiesta

The Pentachord Cole Ingraham
The Pentachord is a type of "long string instrument." These types of instruments have been created by various composers and instrument builders in order to perform music written in Just Intonation (a tuning system where every pitch is a whole number multiple of a fundamental frequency).

Location: Expo Hall 208

The SHE'S
The SHE'S are a rock band from San Francisco, California. They formed in 2007 learning, writing, and performing rockin' music. A colossal explosion of rock n' roll music in a candy shop. The SHE's are, SAMI: Bass and "oooohs"...... HANNAH: Lead Vocals...... EVA: Guitar...... SINCLAIR: Drums and Percussion!

The Slow Poisoner Andrew Goldfarb
The Slow Poisoner is a one-man-surrealistic-rock-and-roll-band, playing strange songs of the weeping willows and curing all manner of ailments with his patented miracle tonic.

the Way-To-Go-Joes Josef Szuecs, Seth Minor & JD Limelight
A musical trio that plays jazz, blues, and what-have-you.

Theremin Musician - Solar Powered
Play and explain the theremin (first electronic instrument). Converted to solar power. note: just talked to Dale Can send up some video later if the sun come out.

Location: Outside Mobile

Vagabondage John Flaw & Emchy
Vagabondage is a musical duo from a past that never happened � one full of the hard roads and dark roots of Americana. Featuring the barking mad vocals of John Flaw and the whiskey crooning of Emchy, Vagabondage will usher you into a realm of accordion, guitar, kazoo, and hindsight prophecies.

Video Guitars and Six String Midi Controllers Visionary Instruments, Ben Lewry
The Video Guitar and the Starry Night Guitar are two of the more high tech guitars ever made. They combine interactive light and video displays using computer control and Midi implementation.

Location: Expo Hall 209A

Wii Loop Machine Yann Seznec
Creative music and performance software for the Nintendo Wii! Ranging from a fun synthesizer to a real-time video mixer to "Exercise Magic" - a system for following an exercise video and making crazy visuals as you go along. Accessible interactive projects using everyone�s favorite games controller.