Robots, hype & rock`n`roll: about culture, music, automation and button accordions
With the phenomenon, which will be discussed in this post, I encountered a long time ago and, interestingly, on the pages of GT. It was a small sergeykalenik publication about the performance of the group Compressorhead in Moscow . Then I regretted for a long time that I missed this event. Then in YouTube, I watched a video of another team, Z-Machines, which also impressed me a lot.
Last year I received information about the birth of another musical project where industrial robots were used. He did not duplicate the previous 2, but was created in the spirit of this comparative new trend of musical culture. Impressed by these projects, I became keenly interested in everything related to machine guns that extract sounds from classical instruments, ranging from experiments with Lego and ending with the little-known developments of our compatriots in the 80s.
That's right, we will talk about the robots, musicians and machine, playing on traditional musical instruments (guitars, keyboards, drums, bass guitars). The stories of such projects are somewhat similar, but each is interesting in its own way. In addition to the story about these unusual robots and their creators, I will publish several videos and make my own hit parade of songs, partially or fully performed by robots. Under the cut facts about modern robots, musicians, their designers and living partners in creativity.
The team of anthropomorphic robots-musicians was created by Berlin artist Frank Barnes, as well as his partners, designers Markus Kolb and Stock Plum.
This project was able to ignite my interest in this form of musical art.
As the name implies, for the movements of the robot musicians use the energy of compressed air.
A characteristic feature of the team members is not only the performance capabilities, but also realistic stage plastic, which makes the performances humanized. In other words - the developers gave the machines a “character”, using seemingly banal expressive means.
Today the team consists of as many as six participants. The structure includes:
How to collect frontman can be seen here:
Attributed to the team of articles in the wiki 2013th year of birth - a chronological error. The earliest public performance of the group is considered to be the debut of Fingers and Stickboy in the studio Brainpool (Cologne, Germany), which took place in March of 2012. The robots performed a cover on “TNT”, a group of AC / DC, which later became a piece of software.
At the beginning of the 13th year, the band's creators invited Canadian punk John Wright from the Party Machine group as the author of the works. The musician wrote 3 songs for robots and became the band's music manager. These original tracks, namely the Compressorhead of the same name, Speed Walking Lady and the instrumental version of the Hanson Brothers song “My Girl” Robot, became the basis of the concert program.
Rehearsal led by john wright
Later, Wright's compositions will be included in the first studio work of the Party Machine team, released in 2017.
Live performance of 2017
Like many live rock musicians, Compressorhead is used in advertising. At the beginning of a musical career, with the tacit consent of the materially interested creators, they advertised GIbson products.
Gibson Promotion
In addition to their own material, the band performs the compositions of such gangs as Nirvana, AC / DC, Motorhead and other legends of world rock music.
Z-machines is another well-known team of robot musicians, created by Japanese engineers under the general conceptual guidance of renowned designer Kenjiro Matsuo. The aim of the project is to make robots that can significantly exceed the capabilities of people in the performance of music on ordinary instruments.
The main work on the design and manufacture of machines were carried out at the University of Tokyo. Today, Z-machines are considered the most constructively complex. A robot guitarist by the name of Marsh operates with 78 “fingers” and 12 guided mediators on a two-guitar. Ashura - the robot drummer is equipped with 22 hands, which makes its rhythm management capabilities almost limitless. A robot keyboardist named Cosmo is notable for speed of sound extraction and is able to master such intervals as the 64th and 128th. Many who saw Cosmo in live, very impressive his appearance with green lasers in his eyes. Instrument controls are driven by electric and pneumatic actuators.
Making and setting up musical Z-machines robots
The debut of the team was a commercial event for the sponsors of the low-alcohol brand ZIMA. The pieces that the team performed were either monotonous half-electronic meat or half-pop surrogate with anime flavor.
Meanwhile, the unusual idea itself impressed many, both in Japan and abroad. In particular, DJ Tasaka, quite popular in his home country, joined the project. Although it remains not fully understood that the DJ was the main motivating factor - the possibility of robots or the fee from ZIMA.
Kenjiro suggested that composers use the capabilities of their robots, and, according to the developer, many agreed. The team is especially known for working with Tom Jenkins, better known as Squarepusher. The musician, using robots, recorded an album of five tracks, which he called “Music for Robots”. And this work, perhaps, was the first experience of using robots, not for the purposes of commercial PR, but to empower the creator of music.
The first release of Squarepusher with robots called "Sad Robots Goes Funny".
After impressive successes, Kenjiro Metsuo gradually cooled to the Z-machines project and in recent years switched to the use of artificial intelligence in creating musical drones. It is likely that in case of launching a musical AI, it can be fully tested with Z-machines.
Perhaps this is one of those cases where the interests of the musician and the interests of the business completely coincide. German industrial robots manufacturer KUKA and New Zealand musician Nigel Sandford found each other at the right moment.
The result of the work of Standford with robots was the album Automatica, which was released last year. In support of the album and, of course, the manufacturer's company, a video was recorded with signs of a viral video. The video was hapanul in September 2017, and even those who had never been associated with industrial automation learned about KUKA.
In the clip, robots do the almost impossible. If this unconditional button accordion passed by you, I recommend first to look at short excerpts from the rehearsals of Standford, and only then go to the clip.
rehearsal and tuning
rehearsal and tuning
rehearsal and tuning
clip
I did not plan to include this talented compatriot in the material and, frankly, did not know about his work. The first video that impressed me was the performance of guitar-robot tokkaty and fugues in D minor I.S. Bach on organ score. I ran into it by chance while preparing this post.
Biographical information about this person in the network, probably not. There is only scant information from an interview at hackaday.com , where Demin reports that he is an engineer and programmer who as a hobby is working on musical robots, that he lives in Moscow, and previously lived in the Irkutsk region. There is also his YouTube channel , where there is definitely something to watch.
And then YouTube recommended this to me:
In the video, Vladimir says that he created the demonstrated device in 1988 or 1987, the video itself was recorded in 1999. After viewing, I realized that the author of these devices must necessarily get into this material. I do not exclude that in our blog there will be an interview with this person.
I sincerely hope that I will find the time when composers will start writing works for robots. Such projects contribute to the popularization of science and technology, make it possible to understand the opportunities that progress can give. It’s hard for me to imagine what this music will be like, written with the capabilities of a robot musician, but I’m convinced that going beyond the physiology of a live artist opens up to the creator of the work endless possibilities.
The material used photo content:
compressorhead.rocks
lenta.ru
www.roxyrocker.com
Traditional jeans
In our catalog , unfortunately, there are no robot musicians yet, but, for certain, there will be a lot of tools and other equipment for creating music.
Last year I received information about the birth of another musical project where industrial robots were used. He did not duplicate the previous 2, but was created in the spirit of this comparative new trend of musical culture. Impressed by these projects, I became keenly interested in everything related to machine guns that extract sounds from classical instruments, ranging from experiments with Lego and ending with the little-known developments of our compatriots in the 80s.
That's right, we will talk about the robots, musicians and machine, playing on traditional musical instruments (guitars, keyboards, drums, bass guitars). The stories of such projects are somewhat similar, but each is interesting in its own way. In addition to the story about these unusual robots and their creators, I will publish several videos and make my own hit parade of songs, partially or fully performed by robots. Under the cut facts about modern robots, musicians, their designers and living partners in creativity.
Compressorhead - robo-punk not dead
The team of anthropomorphic robots-musicians was created by Berlin artist Frank Barnes, as well as his partners, designers Markus Kolb and Stock Plum.
This project was able to ignite my interest in this form of musical art.
As the name implies, for the movements of the robot musicians use the energy of compressed air.
A characteristic feature of the team members is not only the performance capabilities, but also realistic stage plastic, which makes the performances humanized. In other words - the developers gave the machines a “character”, using seemingly banal expressive means.
Today the team consists of as many as six participants. The structure includes:
- Stickboy is a four-armed drummer, created back in 2007. We can say a veteran of the team with which it all began. The performance is also carried out using the legs, which the robot uses to control the bass drum pedals. Realistic head movements with a metallic mohawk deserve special attention. The description on the official website of the group reads as follows: “Four arms two legs and one head, no brain”. Control is carried out with the help of - Midi.
- Fingers is a manipulator-guitarist who extracts sounds using 78 independent fingers and has 2 hands. He expressively shakes his head and moves his torso up and down and turns in different directions. Built in 2009. Plays Gibson Flying V with Min-E-Tune System. Character nasty, not married, wears sunglasses.
- Hi-Hat Humper (Junior) is the smallest member of the group with a height of less than half a meter. Drives the hi-hat pedal, simplifying stickboy tasks. Moves to the rhythm of the composition and likes to suddenly turn his head toward the audience. The head is equipped with a metal mohawk.
- Bones is an electronic mechanical replica of a typical bass player. Plays two four-fingered hands. Can move around the stage on a tracked platform. The head is equipped with decorative horn-shaped antennas. Completed in 2012.
- Hellgå Tarr is the only woman in the band, the role is the second guitar and backing vocals. In the future, she should be the first to receive movement with the help of anthropomorphic moving legs. Built and joined the team in 2016.
- Mega-Wattson is the most charismatic frontman in history. For its construction raised funds for Kickstarter, and, as it turned out, they were not collected in vain. The robot imitates singing in a very realistic way, opens its mouth, moves the body plastically, can move around the stage on tracks. By the end of 2016, the vocalist was fully completed.
How to collect frontman can be seen here:
Attributed to the team of articles in the wiki 2013th year of birth - a chronological error. The earliest public performance of the group is considered to be the debut of Fingers and Stickboy in the studio Brainpool (Cologne, Germany), which took place in March of 2012. The robots performed a cover on “TNT”, a group of AC / DC, which later became a piece of software.
At the beginning of the 13th year, the band's creators invited Canadian punk John Wright from the Party Machine group as the author of the works. The musician wrote 3 songs for robots and became the band's music manager. These original tracks, namely the Compressorhead of the same name, Speed Walking Lady and the instrumental version of the Hanson Brothers song “My Girl” Robot, became the basis of the concert program.
Rehearsal led by john wright
Later, Wright's compositions will be included in the first studio work of the Party Machine team, released in 2017.
Live performance of 2017
Like many live rock musicians, Compressorhead is used in advertising. At the beginning of a musical career, with the tacit consent of the materially interested creators, they advertised GIbson products.
Gibson Promotion
In addition to their own material, the band performs the compositions of such gangs as Nirvana, AC / DC, Motorhead and other legends of world rock music.
Z-machines and Squarepusher
Z-machines is another well-known team of robot musicians, created by Japanese engineers under the general conceptual guidance of renowned designer Kenjiro Matsuo. The aim of the project is to make robots that can significantly exceed the capabilities of people in the performance of music on ordinary instruments.
The main work on the design and manufacture of machines were carried out at the University of Tokyo. Today, Z-machines are considered the most constructively complex. A robot guitarist by the name of Marsh operates with 78 “fingers” and 12 guided mediators on a two-guitar. Ashura - the robot drummer is equipped with 22 hands, which makes its rhythm management capabilities almost limitless. A robot keyboardist named Cosmo is notable for speed of sound extraction and is able to master such intervals as the 64th and 128th. Many who saw Cosmo in live, very impressive his appearance with green lasers in his eyes. Instrument controls are driven by electric and pneumatic actuators.
Making and setting up musical Z-machines robots
The debut of the team was a commercial event for the sponsors of the low-alcohol brand ZIMA. The pieces that the team performed were either monotonous half-electronic meat or half-pop surrogate with anime flavor.
Meanwhile, the unusual idea itself impressed many, both in Japan and abroad. In particular, DJ Tasaka, quite popular in his home country, joined the project. Although it remains not fully understood that the DJ was the main motivating factor - the possibility of robots or the fee from ZIMA.
Kenjiro suggested that composers use the capabilities of their robots, and, according to the developer, many agreed. The team is especially known for working with Tom Jenkins, better known as Squarepusher. The musician, using robots, recorded an album of five tracks, which he called “Music for Robots”. And this work, perhaps, was the first experience of using robots, not for the purposes of commercial PR, but to empower the creator of music.
The first release of Squarepusher with robots called "Sad Robots Goes Funny".
After impressive successes, Kenjiro Metsuo gradually cooled to the Z-machines project and in recent years switched to the use of artificial intelligence in creating musical drones. It is likely that in case of launching a musical AI, it can be fully tested with Z-machines.
Nigel Sandford and millions of views for KUKA
Perhaps this is one of those cases where the interests of the musician and the interests of the business completely coincide. German industrial robots manufacturer KUKA and New Zealand musician Nigel Sandford found each other at the right moment.
The result of the work of Standford with robots was the album Automatica, which was released last year. In support of the album and, of course, the manufacturer's company, a video was recorded with signs of a viral video. The video was hapanul in September 2017, and even those who had never been associated with industrial automation learned about KUKA.
In the clip, robots do the almost impossible. If this unconditional button accordion passed by you, I recommend first to look at short excerpts from the rehearsals of Standford, and only then go to the clip.
rehearsal and tuning
rehearsal and tuning
rehearsal and tuning
clip
Vladimir Demin and the accordion from the USSR
I did not plan to include this talented compatriot in the material and, frankly, did not know about his work. The first video that impressed me was the performance of guitar-robot tokkaty and fugues in D minor I.S. Bach on organ score. I ran into it by chance while preparing this post.
Biographical information about this person in the network, probably not. There is only scant information from an interview at hackaday.com , where Demin reports that he is an engineer and programmer who as a hobby is working on musical robots, that he lives in Moscow, and previously lived in the Irkutsk region. There is also his YouTube channel , where there is definitely something to watch.
And then YouTube recommended this to me:
In the video, Vladimir says that he created the demonstrated device in 1988 or 1987, the video itself was recorded in 1999. After viewing, I realized that the author of these devices must necessarily get into this material. I do not exclude that in our blog there will be an interview with this person.
Total
I sincerely hope that I will find the time when composers will start writing works for robots. Such projects contribute to the popularization of science and technology, make it possible to understand the opportunities that progress can give. It’s hard for me to imagine what this music will be like, written with the capabilities of a robot musician, but I’m convinced that going beyond the physiology of a live artist opens up to the creator of the work endless possibilities.
The material used photo content:
compressorhead.rocks
lenta.ru
www.roxyrocker.com
Traditional jeans
In our catalog , unfortunately, there are no robot musicians yet, but, for certain, there will be a lot of tools and other equipment for creating music.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/409865/