Electronic Music 411 - Meek FM Typographic Synthesizer

05/16/08 + Zanf

An interesting project:

Recent Blog: first impressions (moans, glitches and suggestions)

05/16/08 + actuel

yeah, this thing is brilliant. i have been in contact with the builders for some time. sounds like they're planning to eventually share the software. the hardware is a DIY midibox project.

as a musician and graphic artists, this looks to be bliss!

Recent blogs: Richard Devine Interview + Song..., ems 2006

05/16/08 + actuel

i like might be nice: link

Recent blogs: Richard Devine Interview + Song..., ems 2006

05/16/08 + actuel

link even...sheesh!

Recent blogs: Richard Devine Interview + Song..., ems 2006

05/16/08 + Zanf

sorry i forgot the link but Ive been running round all day like a blue arse fly because one of my work projects goes live on monday then a few beers after work and Ive got flu like symptoms.

Recent blogs: STFU Marseille live sets, Taking Liberties, Albert Hofmann

05/17/08 + papalote

this is just plain ridiculous.
it gets to a point where people just invent more technology around the most arbitrary of forms for making music versus actually sitting down and making music.

05/17/08 + astroid

that thing is pretty amazing.

i wish they had done it with simple geometric shapes, but that's my trip.

Recent blogs: it WAS my birthday yesterday, wetf, 2 new things in my life

05/17/08 + skab

papalote - obviously the developers of that thing *have* been sitting down and making music. it sounded like music to me.

Recent blogs: Digitech EQ, Some Old Sh1t, RIP Klock

05/17/08 + Logo

Yeah, this is totally amazing/beautiful. They should open it up to any vector image and use a XY monitor for the display.

Recent blogs: My MIDIBox, Let Me Show You It., Sherman Filterbank 2 Demos, Evolver, the synth preferred by 9 out of 10 cowboys

05/17/08 + license

cool idea, but I'm with papalote on this one.

Recent blogs: Sports, Friends' computer troubles, Milkytracker now open source

05/17/08 + nagrom

this is just plain ridiculous.
it gets to a point where people just invent more technology around the most arbitrary of forms for making music versus actually sitting down and making music.

You're certainly sitting on one extreme, but it's a good point to bring up.
Frankly I don't see what's interesting about this piece of machinery except that it's well-done -- the box is beautiful and those 3d spline transformations are elegant. I do wonder how they did the mapping though... Reminds me of "Different Strokes" (http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~zadel/differentstrokes/) or Golan Levin's work which are more interesting, but perhaps a bit lacking in visuals/gestures -> sound mapping.

Kyle Gann has a good related rant: link

Recent blogs: Interview: Mark N./Bloody Fist Records, Je Suis en Montreal, Electronic Music Search Engine

05/18/08 + actuel

ya know, i think it's perfectly fine to not like something or it just not be your cup of tea but some of the above statements seem quite 'ridiculous' to me. if you don't like something, then don't like it but the reasoning here waves a mighty finger that we've all heard before. whether it's people pooping on IDM, electronic music, rap, hip-hop, grateful dead, or whatever...say you don't like and move on, but the moment you say ______ (rant topic/something) isn't ____ (fill in the blank) because it doesn't share my personal intentions and tastes, you become a zealot for your own self and perspective.

people disagreeing or not sharing the same views is GOOD, it's what makes us us, but saying it's "plain ridiculous"? come on man, really? is it ridiculous? is it more ridiculous and arbitrary then anything else? i mean if you're going to say something so definitively please elaborate on why this is any more arbitrary and ridiculous then anything else.

i see it like this, these guys merged two things things they liked, synthesis and typography. i'd hate to see where we'd be as humans if folks weren't pursuing they're interests. even when it falls outside of the 'norm' (i use that very loosely). i find it hilarious to hear someone sounding like an old curmudgeon on a progressively oriented electronic site. 'single file folks...nobody do anything different...nobody experiment...'

it is ridiculous, very. ;)

Recent blogs: Richard Devine Interview + Song..., ems 2006

05/18/08 + papalote

nagrom: i'm not arguing on whether or not it's well done. i'm sure it's well done, i'm sure it's amazing as well ... but what would be the difference in sound, in the outcome, for example, actuel: of playing with this device versus playing with a step sequencer that reads off of toilet paper? where you can adjust the sensitivity to read not just the embroidery on the page, but the very fibers of the paper itself? come on guys.

the concept, effort, flexing of my intellectual vanity muscles is amazing, i'm sure, for them.
but what's the point? it didn't even have to be strictly typography; it could have been geometric forms in the shape of letters, but that's just me buying into this, right? that's just me being ridiculous.

edited: May 18 2008 + Zanf

papalote said: "but what's the point?"

The answer to that question will always be: because they can.

Unless youre a zen buddhist then it will be: because you want to know what the point is.

Recent blogs: STFU Marseille live sets, Taking Liberties, Albert Hofmann

05/18/08 + papalote

exactly my point.