A fun looping app for Mac and Windows from the MIT Media lab:

(via educationalrap)

The machine, created by Kathrin Stumreich in Vienna, plays multiple loops of fabric. Light sensors are used to generate the sounds and the quality and density of the cloth determine the pitch and the rhythm of the sound. So for example, the number of threads interrupting the light per second determine the pitch of the sound.

This is a fantastic-looking and sounding machine!

(Regular posting will resume soon—there are a few loose ends to tie up for the end of the school year, but once they’re done you’ll get more posts and to read bits of thesis summary for the foreseeable future.)

(via Everyday Listening)

The Wurlitzer Sideman is one of the earliest drum machines, with charming electromechanical action, and a very interesting way of playing/storing rhythms.

Want.

More info here.

(via SynthGear)

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, played on soda bottles.

Similar to the Dirty Projectors’ gimmick, but a little less impressive. (But maybe more doable at home!)

(via oddstrument)

A new Dirty Projectors song. That’s fine, but the vocal acrobatics between the three female singers are amazing. Is this the influence of computers, or could this arise without the existence of modern music technology? Does that question even really make sense?

(Recorded all casual in the Roots’ dressing room at Jimmy Fallon’s show. Stage version here.)

(via Pitchfork)

This is a great example of pulling musical content out of non-musical data.

(Although there are other ways to make music with birds and wire)

This is an experiment, where I count one byte up - from 00000000 to 11111111. I have assigned a sound to each bit and when it switches from 0 to 1, the sound is played.

The sounds of skateboarding made into a little ditty.