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The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Friday, September 21, 2007
Crazy like a theremin-playing robot
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 21/09/2007 15:27:06Updated by Joel Dixon at 03/03/2008 17:19:49
Funny how things go full circle.
I was updating my contact me page for this site this evening, when I found an old text file that contained an idea for a blog post I had ages ago. The idea was to describe my linking travels on Wikipedia. Put in a search term, read through the article, click on an interesting link - and see where it gets you.
An example of this was when I was watching the Scrubs DVDs with Belinda, I saw an episode which featured The Polyphonic Spree.
The Polyphonic Spree
The mini Polyphonic Spree
I was first made aware of The Polyphonic Spree from an Excel-based Minipops quiz - in which they were the only 25-person group wearing white robes with colourful leggings. I didn't think too much about them after this until I saw them in the afore-mentioned Scrubs episode playing , and I quite enjoyed the song. Upon researching the band, as well as the fact that they've now diversified their robe design, I discovered that one of their 25 members is a theremin player.
This is such an awesome picture in so many ways!
The theremin is very difficult to play - the first instrument designed to be operated without touching it. The musician controls the pitch and volume by waving their hands around the two antennas - to varying effects (and sounds). It's probably more of a novelty instrument - but does appear in popular music from time to time (such as in Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love).
The circle was complete when the next DVDs Bell and I started watching was the final series of Futurama, which involved another hard-to-play futuristic instrument: the Holophonor. The DVD commentary also included a mention to the theremin as another hard to play instrument.
So that was my original blog post idea, which was discarded probably due to laziness instead of quality control. A few hours after reading this old blog post idea this evening - I come across the following video in one of my feeds:
Robot playing Crazy
To summarise, this guy has a series of robots playing Gnarls Barkley's on a series of different "instruments". They play the song using a MIDI file as input (MIDI files contain separate tracks for each instrument in the music). I hope you noticed one of them is playing a theremin!
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Web
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Comments
 Brad   Posts: 23 |
Wow, this is so similar to what I do as well... many times I'll end up with 20 or 30 tabs open in Firefox at the same time, all with the same W favicon. Hours will pass and I'll be on an article that is so far removed from my point of origin that I can't even remember where I started any more. Good times. That episode of Scrubs was my first exposure to The Polyphonic Spree as well. I love that song. Also, there's a great part in Bill Bailey's DVD where he uses a theremin to suggest a Portishead-influenced version of Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah for a new British national anthem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WktxIqbGAj0 # Posted - 21/09/2007 19:53:43 |
 joeldixon Posts: 170 |
For a second there I thought you were talking about programming robots to perform MIDI files at your leisure (and I was getting jealous!). That vid you linked was great! He really captured the Portishead sound! I haven't seen much of his work - I didn't even know he was a musician. I might have to look for some more of his stuff! # Posted - 22/09/2007 10:58:45 |
| jono |
hello sir hello sir ! i enjoy your musings and your blog, however I still prefer www.bigwetasses.com . Thank you. Ps. Do you have a nude webcam chat? # Posted - 22/09/2007 12:45:17 |
joeldixon Posts: 170 |
JG - good to hear from you! The Ice Storm is approaching over here - and you know what that means! (our snow-loving evil genius will be visiting soon) No nude webcam yet, but I'll take it under advisement. Strangely enough, yours is the first inquiry. Oh - and you never did send me the url of your blog site - send me the link! Unless you're posting under the pseudonym of Bigwe Tasses - then I guess you've already sent me the URL  # Posted - 22/09/2007 18:28:08 |
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