middledigit.net | jonathan hopkins

12-17-08

Man and (music) machine(s)

Music. Technology. Geeking out. Bring it on.

10-29-08

AC/DC ASCII Action – the first music video created in Excel

I love ASCII stuff. But I’m not so sure about ACDC. This is interesting nevertheless – a music video created in Excel. Not quite Radiohead’s House of Cards. But still cool.

[via the brand spanking new onlinefire blog, which is super smashing great BTW Mel, Graham and co. - more hippy love coming at you from me!]

10-16-08

Can you imagine when you go into a club or pub or somewhere and the person sat next to you is actually sat somewhere else in the world but has decided to ‘dial-in’ to be there ? Virtual clubbing? Popping out for a drink via your iPhone app? Hmmm. . .

Updated . . . just noticed a ‘what that brings to the table’ non-intended pun from the guy at Cisco !

[Via a 'multimedia news release' with details of the first 'public' TelePresence rooms in conjunction with Tata Communications]

08-28-08

♥ Hedluv

Today I stumbled upon Hedluv and I am declaring my love for their lyrics, Casio-induced lo-fi beats and in particular . . . their dance moves/microphone technique. Just check out the following vid of them playing in someone’s lounge as part of the Orange Unlit tour (which is how I found them – via Iain who’s working with Orange on it).

The moves are about half-way through. Enjoy.

And check out the lyrics to PE Teacher – based on actual comments written on his report at school by the PE teacher.

Finally – a rather nice video from Hedluv for H30 LUV.

~~Love~~ luv it.

07-13-08

“Zelda’s Lullaby (In duet with myself)”

There’s so much right (and wrong) with this, which reminds me, I need to finish Zelda.

Zelda's lullaby, in duet with myself (guitar+flute)
Uploaded by JumpmanFR

07-02-08

Touchscreen Turntable Action

Uh oh. So awesome, I just reached for my credit card of the future. Waiting for iPhones to be used as turntables at some point this Summer and loads more impossibly cool stuff like this. Bring. It. On.

Final Product // ATTIGO TT from Scott Hobbs on Vimeo.

UPDATE – Just looked more closely and it looks like Mac OS X in action, using touchscreens with the software action running on the side.

[Via here, source of much goodness]

06-18-08

We’ve come a long way, Baby

Technology moves super quick and over the past few decades we’ve come on leaps and bounds and pretty much take it for granted that we can broadcast live from our mobile phones. Every so often it’s nice to be reminded of that and I had one of those moments this morning.

Here is a link to what’s thought to be the oldest known recordings of computer generated music – in this case “Baa Baa Black Sheep” and “In the Mood” – released ahead of the 60th anniversary of ‘Baby” – the forerunner of all modern computers. (Shame on you BBC for not allowing me to embed the player!) And here is a link to a great video explaining more about more the Manchester-based magical computer behind the music.

And, carrying on with the anniversary theme, here’s a guy retracing the very room in which the internet was born at UCLA (more details here on the forthcoming 40th anniversary of the birth of the internet).

Finding ARPANET: The First (Physical) Site of the Internet from Brad Fidler on Vimeo.

And to finish thing’s off – blending music and computers and the web – here’s a cracking rendition of Radiohead’s Nude, with the following band members (!):

Sinclair ZX Spectrum – Guitars (rhythm & lead)
Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer – Drums
HP Scanjet 3c – Bass Guitar
Hard Drive array – Act as a collection of bad speakers – Vocals & FX

Big Ideas (don’t get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.

06-04-08

Current/Techtonik

Up watching Current (193 on Sky) – the best channel to watch whilst on the web I reckon. There’s a pod about the Techtonik phenomenon on and can’t decide if it’s silly or very cool. Thoughts?

Oh and I hit Mahalo for pretty much the first time looking for some vids. Pretty good results.

PS – one comment on the video above from someone with great spelling and command of the language made me smile:

you move liek a gay and they like it 0.o i am gonna earn my money liek antoher way gays

Nice.

03-19-08

Behave yourself: Guitar Hero on the DS?!

There’s something a bit odd about this (just check out the video, me thinks they look a bit silly) – but, I just can’t resist even more music and DS action. This time Guitar Hero makes it’s debut on the DS using a nifty little plug-in-device-type-key-thingy. Looks a bit clunky if you ask me, but then again, I guess it means you can rock out anywhere. I think I’d be too conscious of looking like a bit of a tit with that thing plugged in. With something like Electroplankton or the Korg DS 10 (covered before) at least you can go a bit covert. Hmmmm, see how it goes – it’s out later this year. Video below of it in action.

03-12-08

I want to live in Japan

Because then I wouldn’t have to get really frustrated at seeing stuff like this and not being able to get my grubby mitts on it – the Korg DS 10 synthesizer for the DS. There’s blatently going to be so many more things like this out over the next year. And I CANT WAIT.

With the iPhone/iPod Touch SDK out and Nintendo showing all the right signs – mobile music is getting even more exciting all the time. New Macbook Pro for me next week – means I can crack open my copy of Logic Studio and get Live and Reason up and running again. I haven’t done any tunes for a couple of years and now the potential to do so is just round the corner . . . I’m really rather excited about the whole prospect.

Via Wired (one of the only magazines I still absolutely have to go and buy in print, which actually gives me an idea – say you were reading Wired whilst clutching a mobile device, then let’s say that the cover had an RFID device in it and your phone could read it, wouldn’t it be cool if your web device served up supporting multimedia content whilst you were reading the mag? Hmmm, back to thinking about making music again.)

middledigit_

If technology doesn't seem like magic, it's probably obsolete . . .