Best known as electronic musician Zemi17, Brooklyn-based composer, sound archivalist and Ransom Corp founder, Aaron Taylor Kuffner, presents mythic tales and compositions on the world's first and only fully robotic gamelan orchestra.
The GamelaTron.
Using robot technology developed by the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR), Kuffner marries his traditional Indonesian training in Gamelan music with his fascination for the ever-evolving world of electronics.
The hardware: MIDI sequences control 117 robotic striking mechanisms to produce intricately woven and rhythmic sound on a full orchestra of tradititonal instruments.
The story: Our descendants--an ethereal synthesis of our human consciousness and highly advanced robot technology--discover a set of bronze percussive instruments buried in the earth. Through the resonances of these instruments, they begin to recall and to tell the stories from the time of the human race's great transformation.
We invite you to take a look at our website for an in depth look into the world of the GamelaTron.
You probably know French artist Pierre Bastien and his huge machines playing mechanic music. If you don't check it out.
I don't remember if I posted you my video : this is MIDI GAMELAN made of Ice Cube sounds (but the bass is a Slenthem and there is a gong as well) and performed on MIDI-fied guitar in the streets of Paris :
Oh how I wish I could come to the show. But it just seems a few thousand miles too far away from Berlin/Germany... I wish you all success and an enthusiastic crowd! Maybe next time? Regards from Berlin
