Goodness me, yesterday was amazing. I met tons of interesting people here at the Maker Faire, and I’m sure today will be no different! Thanks to everyone who dropped by and said hello and played with the Jam Jars and the Wii LoopMachine. My favorite moment so far?
Boyfriend: “beep beep boooop” (playing with jars)
Girlfriend: “What’s it for?”
Boyfriend: “What do you mean ‘what’s it for’? It’s awesome!!”
I’ll be posting the schematic and directions for building your own Jam Jars in the days following the Maker Faire, I’m afraid I don’t have time to do it right away! So check back soon for all of that. In the mean time, if the first people to come down to booth number 121 (next to the Tesla coils) today and say “Jam Jars For Life!” get a free Amazing Rolo t-shirt!
Okay! They just made the announcement that the doors are opening for day two in less than five minutes. Let’s power up those Jam Jars!
Posted 2 years, 11 months ago at 5:57 pm. Add a comment
Here’s a demo video of a new mini piece of wii music software, made in preparation for my trip to the Maker Faire next week. The BeatLooper is a fun scratching looping device! I’ll be posting this software very soon, along with the Max Patch, and of course there is much more on the way!
Posted 2 years, 12 months ago at 9:20 pm. Add a comment
I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here yet, but I’m currently on a tour of the music industry in Poland, thanks to the British Council. It’s been an amazing experience, and last night I played a show using the Wii LoopMachine at Jadlodajnia Filozoficzna, a totally awesome independent venue in Warsaw. The crowd was fantastic, thanks so much for being so supportive!
For those of you who were asking about the music, my Music page is in need of a refresh, I’m afraid, but if you poke around my blog you can find the songs I played last night! Here are two of them right away:
I’m working on a project right now that involves building digital synthesizers that react to light. As a first step I made a small synth that I was able to fit inside a jam jar. I creatively named it the Jam Jar, and it totally rocks. Here’s a video that explains what it is and shows me jamming out with Ableton Live!
For more pictures check out my Flickr set. [edit]> I neglected to mention that I built this synth with enormous help from a tutorial on hack-a-day!
Posted 3 years, 2 months ago at 8:56 am. 5 comments
Here’s a track I made the other day…I took a recording of “Wild Goose Chase” played by the incredible fiddler Clyde Davenport and edited two little sections out.
I then imported those samples into Ableton and layered them all together, using follow actions to randomize the way they were layered and played back. This created a sort of Steve Reich phasing effect, except with the added fun of randomness.
I’ll be playing some music tomorrow night at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh. My friends Pete Vilk and Roxana Pope have included me in their Gol project, so I’ll be playing some keyboards and doing plenty of live sampling, Max/MSP trickery, and general sonic mayhem! We’ve been rehearsing a lot lately and it sounds great, a mix of electronic, acoustic, Iranian traditional music, improvisation, and heavy beats. The show is part of the Edinburgh Iranian Festival, which features great films, music, art, and a really nice logo.
We’ve got some more shows coming up, including one very special one that all of you in the internets will be able to watch, so check back soon for more details.
In the mean time, I’ll be headed to London on Monday, for a very excitinginterview! Who ever said I was “French-born”? I often find that people assume that your citizenship is the same as your birthplace…
Posted 3 years, 3 months ago at 5:36 am. Add a comment
My brother Cory and I are both at home in Maryland, and we’re going to try and make a few more semi-improvised videos like this one over the next few weeks…enjoy!
Posted 3 years, 4 months ago at 3:22 pm. Add a comment
Tomorrow night I will be doing a performance at the launch event for the new issue of Yuck n Yum, a publication by a group of pretty hip artists in Dundee.
This show is going to be a bit of a departure for me, as I will be doing some new things that I have not yet tried in public! Hurray! Because of this, I thought it would be fun to give a sneak peek of just what exactly I will be doing. That’s what blogs are for, right? This picture shows most of what I will be using, conveniently labeled for you (click to enlarge). The equipment list is:
3 Wii remotes with Nunchuk attachments
Laptop
one-stringed guitar, fitted with ultrasonic and light sensors
I’ve set out a process for creating sound out of all of this mess, with video as the starting point (another first for me).
The first step, then, is the video. I made a patch in Jitter for controlling two video streams independently, and overlaying them. The two videos can be warped, stretched, colored, and mixed together in real time. The output of each manipulated video stream is being analyzed, and sent to a synthesizer which is creating sound based on the visuals. Thus, by manipulating the videos, which are then generating sound, the video manipulation becomes an “instrument” of sorts.
In addition, the audio of each video can also be used independently of the visuals and passed through various effects.
The guitar, meanwhile, is fitted with various sensors that are plugged into an Arduino. These sensors will control sampling and playback of the guitar signal, creating textures underneath all of the sound from the videos.
Finally, the webcam on my laptop will also be activated, using live footage of myself to trigger more synthesis in Jitter.
Where do the Wii remotes fit into all of this? Well, rather than sitting in front of my laptop clicking through my Jitter patch, I will be using several wii remotes to control it all, with the ultimate goal of being able to do the whole performance without touching the computer at all. All of the video manipulation, audio effects, guitar sampling and playback, and synthesis will be controlled with the Wii remotes. The rotation of each video, for example, will be controlled by twisting and turning my left hand, while the playback speed of each video will be mapped to the movements of my right hand. A wii remote will be attached to the guitar, so the angle of the instrument will dictate the pitch of the sample playback.
Does that makes sense? My goal was to try and combine video mixing, Wii remotes, and music. If you’re in the Dundee area you should definitely come along. If not, the show will hopefully be recorded and I will definitely post the video as soon as I can.
Posted 3 years, 5 months ago at 11:28 am. 2 comments
I’m in a funny situation these days, where I’m working really hard on a bunch of different projects, but have very little to show for it all! It’s been frustrating me a bit, so I made an extra effort to make a finished version of a song I’ve been working on for a while. I will probably continue working on it at some point soon (I would really like my brother to lay a banjo or guitar track down, for example), but I really like how it sounds now too. Give it a listen!
I started writing this song while playing in “Jack and the Beanstalk”…the production began with myself and the other musician walking out onstage from the wings playing a (deliberately) cheesy melody, before getting kicked off the stage by the bad guy. It was really fascinating to wait backstage before every show and watch the crowd file in, waiting for the lights to dim and the stage manager to give me my cue.
I started wondering if nature worked the same way, each creature waiting for the right moment to perform. But surely not, I surmised, because they perform every day, despite a total lack of audience most of the time. I’m not sure if I ever came to a conclusion about it, but I did write the lyrics based on those ideas. In fact, this song is a rare instance of me putting a lot of emphasis on lyrics…usually I’m much more concerned with the musical structure.
This recording features the inimitable Pete Vilk on percussion. He and I go way back.
Posted 3 years, 6 months ago at 11:53 am. 3 comments
This Saturday I will be playing a set at the Buff Club in Glasgow. Electrorock duo Any Color Black will be playing a show and taking tons of pictures in order to create artwork for their upcoming EP, and I will be remixing some of their songs with the LoopMachine! Expect some crazy Wii music action, and a generally wild night overall.
It’s free, starts at 7:30 (doors at 7) and you can get into the dance party that follows for free! Check out the event website for details. See you there!
The Amazing Rolo is Yann Seznec, an artist, sound designer, musician, and entrepreneur in Edinburgh, Scotland. He specializes in making fun and intriguing musical instruments, software, and installations. He is founder of creative studio Lucky Frame , releases music with The Seznec Bros and is currently on tour with Matthew Herbert's One Pig Live.
