Dyskograf

Dyskograf is like a turntable, but this time you can draw the record yourself. OK - you cannot actually create a song, but a loop of electronic music. It’s like a circular step sequencer with a nostalgic appearance, as it bridges the gap between virtual instruments and the tactile way of writing music with pen on paper. The audible result is not all that inspiring, but it sure looks good.

A camera reads the information drawn on Dyskograf’s paper disks and transfers the information to the software which plays the sound. The installation is created by French new media collective Avoka. Will this make you more creative, or is it just a good looking toy? Watch the video to see Dyskograf in action:

Via The Verge

Playa

An interesting question: what happens if you put 14 acoustic guitars on the floor and play them randomly? You would assume it would result in uninteresting noise, but listening to Playa by Ruben Dhers proofs the result can also be quite enchanting. 31 DC motors play the guitars using fans, and a computer controls the installation. The speed of the fans varies, causing a pleasant change in dynamics, and when they swing back and forth a higher speeds it feels like we’re listening to waves of guitar strings. 

Playa can be seen in real life at the Neues Museum Weimar, Germany. 

Urban Time Machine

“A three dimensional physical and aural mapping of conversations that occurred within the community of Providence, Rhode Island.” That’s the somewhat curious description of the concept for the Urban Time Machine sound installation. But whether you can still perceive these conversations or not, it’s an interesting idea and the result is quite impressive. At least when it comes to looks…

Urban Time Machine is a project by Joshua Lantzy, whose work is based around sound, design and architecture. For this project he collaborated with Benjamin Phillips. Have a look at his website for some other interesting projects. So, what does the Urban Sound Machine sound like? It’s like a never ending composition, which apparently doesn’t sound the same for at least 19 years:

Volumes for Sound

Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson came up with Volumes for Sound while looking to find a physical representation of immaterial things. The objects can be seen as sculptures which can form all kinds of different structures, but are equipped with speakers as well.

This summer Volumes of Sound is exhibited as part of the 2012 Reykjavík Arts Festival in Iceland. Various sound artists will be asked to compose a piece specifically for the installation, which plays eight channels of audio. 

Voice Array

It records your voice, then plays it back, cross fading into a cacophony of previously recorded samples. Voice Array, an installation created by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, also gives a visual representation of what’s being recorded by blinking its white LED’s.

In total, the installation can hold up to 288 samples, so your message won’t be captured inside of it for ever. When it gets pushed to the end of the row by a series of new recordings it gets one last moment of fame, before it will be deleted for ever:  

Photos by Photo by: Antimodular Research - Found via The Emergent Locality

Audiograph

Audiograph is like a seismograph for sound. It measures the sound level in a space and creates a visual timeline of this level. It’s like a real-time score of the everyday noise and the sounds we make. The installation was created by Christopher Ruggio.

Wave of Matter

The sound of the sound installation Wave of Matter is created in a way similar to the ocean drum we had at our house when I was young. Only this one is square, and huge. Due to its square form factor it produces short waves of noise, unlike the ongoing whoosh of an ocean drum. This does make it a bit less interesting, sonically. 

This good looking installation was created by Tommi Grönlund and Petteri Nisunen, an artist duo based in Helsinki. 

Via Yves de Mey

The Centre of Silence

Jesper Norda created the sound installation The Centre of Silence for the Kalmar Konstmuseum. The installation consists of an empty room and sound, nothing else. A voice describes the space and the movement of air molecules in the room. In between the pieces of text the listener is treated to silence, a sine wave and white noise. 

Power Model VII

Power Model VII (White Power) is a sound installation by Henrik Rylander. All white keys of three electric organs are pressed down with clamps, creating a suspenseful soundscape that sounds surprisingly un-static. 

Playing all those notes at the same time results in a massive sound blanket. Watch the video for an impression: 

Coronado

We used to have an ocean drum at our house when I was a teenager. I loved to gently tilt and turn the drum and listen to the sounds of the waves. It’s nice to see Coronado, by Ong Kian Peng aka Bin, incorporating an ocean drum in a six channel surround sound installation. According to the artist, the installation was inspired by a visit to the beach at Coronado, hence the name.