Midi Motor...

Today I made a midi controllable motor with a phono socket to hook it up to the msar. I am going to do some motors that, when triggered, do something mechanical, ie turn something to make a sound, strike something or possibly create a strumming motion. However this one I have just been playing through a tape deck head of a hacked walkman. Its interesting as a dry sound but I can get some good sounds by feeding the walkman through an effects unit. Here is a short sample, starts dry and then I dial in a chorus/reverb effect..

Finishing things...

So I've been putting in some time finishing things off, below is a picture of my finished MSAR kit I've posted about before. I've finished it by giving it phono socket outputs for each relay and mounting it in a plastic food box! Believe it or not I've given this enclosure a lot of thought.. the sealed nature makes it pretty splash proof (good for gigs with drinks involved) it's see through so (with some extra led's in the box) its easy to see what is plugged in where, I've also made it so that the on off switch sits under the lip off the lid so when it's powred up and the lid is on you can't accidentally knock it off...similarly you cant knock it on when it's in transit.



I showed a couple of posts ago a rough mockup of a robotic cymbal player well I've also completed a better more final version...



So this robocymbal machine is built using more bits salvaged from the original toy that I got the solenoid from, the base of the unit is one of the pcb's from the toy and the uprights and the "drumstick" are made from some plastic tubing that came with some packaging. Again I've used a phono socket as the connection so its a simple phono lead to connect it up to the msar.

Lastly it's a bit of a pain to connect this all together and then to a midi source if I just want to check that the robocymbal unit is working, so I made a switched phono plug just for test purposes...sometimes the simplest things are very satisfying..



and yes I do like leds... they are useful for showing that things are receiving power...but also look great in the dark...like so..



next jobs are more instruments for midi control...stay tuned!

Warm Data Soundcloud

The mighty Warm Data netlabel have a grand selection of tunes available for streaming on their soundcloud site. There is a tune off my EP that I didn't do a video for so you may not have heard it..(unless you are one of the great people who bought my ep:)

Here's the link

Robocymbal....

Concretedog Robocymbal from concretedog on Vimeo.

A continuation of my tinkering with the highly liquid MSA-R kit, today I built a little test system that plays a ride cymbal controlled by midi...Its kind of inspired me to create a robot band!...I'm sure it will pass!

Soldering on

So I've finally got round round to building my own MSAR midi to relay kit from Highly Liquid, after building this one for a friend. Again I was struck by how well laid out these kits are...a real pleasure to put together...I need to pick up a couple of bits to finish this one and find an enclosure for it but I should finish it this week.

In other news, the interview I did for radio wales about warm data and my ep is not on iplayer anymore but is now available to listen to here if anyone wants to hear my dulcet tones wittering on about circuit bending!

Great Gigs in London...wished I lived closer...

I got an email today from someone who had been reading my blog and thought I might be interested in these gigs celebrating the life and works of Moondog happening in London... I don't usually do promotion on this blog but these gigs look really interesting... I'd love to see Britten Sinfonia and many of the artists espescially Max De Wardener...his album "Where I am Today" I would site as a big influence on me.... unfortunately "where I am" is a long way from these gigs!

Here's a link to the barbican site

But here's the details/lineup anyway

Saturday 30 May 7.30pm
The Viking of 6th Ave - The Music of Moondog

Tickets: £15 / 20 / 25
Barbican Hall

Saturday 30 May 11.30pm
Moondog Around Midnight

Tickets: £5 (50% discount for main concert ticket holders)

St Giles Cripplegate

Presented by the Barbican and Eat Your Own Ears; part of Only Connect

A glimpse into the world of iconic American composer Moondog (1916-1999), whose music has influenced generations of artists, from Philip Glass and Steve Reich to Charlie Parker, and later devotees like Mouse On Mars, Anthony Hegarty, Damon Albarn and Elvis Costello.

This unique concert event features a number of guest artists who reflect the extraordinary range of the composer. Before the show, a Freestage set from composer Max de Wardener and percussionist Tom Skinner will explore the canonical music from the 1970 Moondog 2 album.

The first half will feature the specially–assembled Moondog Choir featuring the idiosyncratic vocals of Lightspeed Champion, Pictish Trail and Adem; they will perform with London Saxophonic, joined by pianist Liam Noble, percussionist Paul Clarvis and others. Domino Records stalwarts Clinic will also perform two Moondog compositions in the Hall before their own set on the post-show Clubstage. In the interval, Moondog-inspired DJ set from Caribou.


In the second half the Britten Sinfonia will perform under the baton of André de Ridder of the Viva Orchestra, along with Andi Toma (of Mouse On Mars), who collaborated with Moondog on the music for Elpmas while the composer was living in Germany. The Britten Sinfonia will perform some gems from Moondog’s classic CBS repertoire as well as previously unheard works.


Alongside Clinic on the post-show Clubstage will be a DJ set from Kieran ‘Four Tet’ Hebden, mixing sounds from all kinds of genres and crosses any musical borders he can find.


In a companion event, Moondog Around Midnight takes place in the beautiful setting of the church of St Giles Cripplegate at 11.30pm on the same evening. US organist Paul Jordan, a veteran Moondog collaborator, will play a concert of the composer’s organ music; tickets are at a 50% discount for main concert ticket holders.

‘Moondog was as recognisable in the New York City landscape as the Empire State Building ’ - New York Times

‘Wonderful music: strange, jaunty, sad, eerie, virtuosic, maddeningly catchy’ - The Independent

Radio Wales Iplayer link

Image is courtesy of Adam Walton

So an interview and some tracks from my ep went out last night on Adam Waltons show, it was an interesting show from the start with fellow Warm Data artist Dez Williams having one of his tracks featured right at the begining. My stuff was in the last hour and starts at about 2hour16mins on the iplayer version. The whole show is well worth checking though with a diverse spin through electronica both in and outside of north wales.

Here's the iplayer link