Friday, July 11, 2008

ISEA Update: Robot Gamelan Beaters

So far the concrete (actually wooden) results of my two months in Singapore:





Above are two shots of the beaters for the Kenong (3 units from a set of 10)



Above is the Kendhang Ciblon (medium-sized drum) and one of the 2 beaters I made for it.



These weren't even the biggest gongs in the full-scale gamelan I borrowed them from.


The beater for the Saron Panerus.



Another angle.



Closeup of the solenoid mechanism. About as simple as you can get. Many thanks to Professor Jan Mrazek, the the head and teacher of the NUS gamelan group (Czechoslovakian, but an absolute Southeast Asia geek), for his very generous loan of the instruments, and to Varghese Paulose, the head of I2R's fabrication laboratory, without whose enthusiastic and welcoming support I wouldn't have been able to move a single step on this project.

5 comments:

Rainer said...

Hi,

this looks interesting. I assume you can also control the beaters (have them play). How do you do that? I have been involved in working on a program that can play Javanese gamelan-music. Sofar we sent our tone events to a simple sample-player. In theory it could also act as a controler of your robot. The program (actually a framework) is being developed with SuperCollider. I'd be interested in discussing things a bit.

Best
.p.

Tad Ermitano said...

Right now, they're being controlled by video images. The images of players trigger photosensors attached to the video screen. The images in turn are controlled algorithmically with MAX/MSP and Arkaos. The installation is meant to enable virtual images (usually conceived as powerless ghosts) to hit things in the real world. Sure, let's talk. Email me at libertad99@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

You should go to this website:
http://gamelatron.com

This is a project that I have been working on with the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots in Brooklyn for the past year.

We are on the same wave length.

Zemi17

Anonymous said...

I am so impressed with your music.

I noticed that you are more into working with javanese gamelan instrument.

You should participate on the Gamelan Music Festival in my town this year or maybe next year? in Yogyakarta, Java.
I am sure you will create a great crowd of your uniqueness style.

Namaste.

Tad Ermitano said...

Hi Dimana,
Thanks! I would LOVE to show this Indonesia. Unfortunately, the instruments were the property of the National University of Singapore, and I had to return them after the exhibition was over. The wooden beaters were custom-fitted to those instruments, and have since been disassembled. In short, to do this again, I would need access to instruments, funding, plus maybe another 3 months of solid work to put it together. However, if I do find some form of grant to help me put it together, I will definitely try to show it in Yogyakarta. (PS do you know Venzha? I was in a festival with him some time ago. Say hi if you do)

Tad