Quite a few blogs have been posting the concept Original Sound Track from Ricardo Seola recently (shown above). Watch video. A wooden toy train moves across a track, with its front teeth plinking across pegs on the track, inspired by a music box. You can then tack the track and build different layouts [...]

Three examples of crazy musical heads…
drum|head

drum|head was a small project by murat n konar a few years ago whilst he was studying at the Royal College of Art. Its a simple idea but lots of fun. Project a video of his face on to a foam face, when hit like a drum the facial expression [...]

Quite a few people have sent me The fun theory, a viral campaign from ad agency DDB Stockholm for Volkswagen.
“This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or something entirely different, the [...]

The Youth Music Box, designed by Silent Studios & I, has now moved to the next leg of the UK tour to Bristol.
It will be on at Colston Hall, Bristol until 18th October. Go and have a play if you are in the area.
Watch video

(watch promo animation)
We are very pleased to announce the Youth Music Box, currently on show at the Royal Festival Hall London until 31st August.
“Youth Music Box is a free, interactive musical experience, allowing you to create your own unique track and video using cutting edge technology, all in under 10 minutes!”
Design & Implementation by Silent [...]

The Boom Bench by Michael Schoner of NL Architects…
Watch video

“As a part Urban Play 2, Droog Design and curator Scott Burnham have asked NL Architects to bring in ideas for interactive urban interventions. Urban Play is an exhibition and an interactive route along the IJ River. Urban Play believes that “street-level inventiveness, energy and innovation [...]

I’ve been meaning to post these for a while, examples of augmenting sound in the playground…

“At first sight the Laughing Swing looks like a simple, regular swing. When you sit on it, it chuckles. As you swing, it laughs, and the higher you go, the harder it laughs. At the peak swinging it is laughing [...]

4 years ago I saw a great 3d animation called Pipe Dream, part of a DVD of animations called Animusic. Music played by robots, in particular Pipe Dreams was played by very co-ordinated bouncing balls. I recommend you watch it here. The creators never claimed this to be real, but some prankster did.
Well [...]

“Phase is a sound generation system, bringing sound immersion, haptic response movement and visual immersion into play. The proposed musical demonstration (an interactive installation for science and technology museums, theme parks…) has two goals: firstly, to enable users to discover and learn about sound space and music, thanks to their immersion in visual, sound, and [...]

(concept image)
Usman Haque has been commissioned to create Evoke for the Illuminating York festival. You can see the work from on Fri 26 Oct until Sat 3 Nov, from 6-11pm. From the website…
“Evoke is a massive animated 80,000 lumen projection, which will light up the facade of York Minster. The facade is brought [...]

Miniorgan.com is a site documenting Erics collection of rare and vintage musical electronic toys. There are 112 in this online library. Aside from the many synthesizers, I find these toys delightful to look at in terms of their intended interaction and the aesthetic.

Tomy Voice Corder (1972)
“BEST MUSICAL TOY OF THE WORLD!!! Play & [...]

I hinted at it in the previous post, but Tenori-On, the fantastic instrument by Toshio Iwai and Yamaha, will be launching in the UK. This September, Yamaha will showcasing this brand new and visually stunning interactive live performance instrument through a selection of carefully selected record shops across the country.
Tenori-On has been at many [...]

With all of these new interfaces for musical expression that have been around now, I started taking a peak at the scores the players use in their performance. Whilst I am not personally involved in research in this area, I thought it might be interesting to someone out there who is (plus I’ve not [...]

As mentioned in a previous post, the documentation of my work at Moving Brands is now online.
An audio responsive installation for the launch of Muon, new speakers from Kef and Ross Lovegrove. Launched at the National Museum of Science and Technology (Leonardo da Vinci), during Salone del Mobile in Milan.
Created in Processing for a [...]

If you are in Milan for the Salone del Mobile, be sure to put a visit to this on your schedule…
The launch of Muon, an incredible two-metre tall speaker system, in one of the most fascinating locations in Milan, the Sala del Cenacolo. This exhibition is the extraordinary result of the convergence of two masters. [...]