
Automated snare drum made to the order of Aphex Twin (2014) - grimgrin
http://logosfoundation.org/instrum_gwr/snar2.html
======
rdtsc
Aphex Twin is probably one of the few artists I have consistently liked and
gone back to listen to over the years.

I don't know anything much about music, but I feel out of electronic music
past and present his works are the most dynamic and interesting. Most other
stuff I kind of like but it gets old so move on to other things.

~~~
icpmacdo
Anyone know of great albums similar to his songs Avril 14th or Aistsan[102]? I
have little musical context if this is a dumb question.

I like all his albums but those songs are really some of the most relaxing
sounds I have heard.

~~~
daeken
Avril 14th is one of my absolute favorite songs. It's my go-to song when I
need to just relax and push away from reality for a bit; one of the few I can
just put on repeat and be happy with.

~~~
rmunoz
I just discovered the violinist Daniel Hope recently, and in the following
album: [http://www.danielhope.com/listento/for-
seasons/](http://www.danielhope.com/listento/for-seasons/) you will find a
beautiful cover of Avril 14th (Spotify link:
[http://open.spotify.com/track/3MjbuOV1RDEdXfyJwuzzOS](http://open.spotify.com/track/3MjbuOV1RDEdXfyJwuzzOS))

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sagichmal
Dada Machines have a Kickstarter for a set of MIDI-controlled solenoids that
can be used to a similar effect. (Not affiliated, just a backer.)

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1481744082/dadamachines...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1481744082/dadamachines-
music-machines-for-everyone)

~~~
mmastrac
This was a really interesting project to explore. The videos were well-
produced and whet my appetite for playing with this a bit.

It's probably something I can do more cheaply with an Arduino, assuming I
don't count the value of my time.

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moritzsimon
Shameless self promotion: Over here at SonicRobots we are working on
electronic music and robots as well
[http://sonicrobots.com/tripods/](http://sonicrobots.com/tripods/)

We also got a huge list of music robot projects for anybody who wants to read
more about that stuff [http://learning.sonicrobots.com/list-of-music-robotic-
projec...](http://learning.sonicrobots.com/list-of-music-robotic-projects/)

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tyrust
Based on the timeline [0] I'm guessing that these were used in his album
Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2. I assume that this robot is used
on the track snar2 [1] and perhaps others.

[0] - "15.01.2015: Aphex Twin announces a release using Robosnar as well as
our HAT robot."

[1] - Listen to an unauthorized upload here: [https://soundcloud.com/xiao-bao-
ming/02-snar2](https://soundcloud.com/xiao-bao-ming/02-snar2)

~~~
mturmon
Which is a fun and enjoyable album. (e.g.,
[http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20156-computer-
controlle...](http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20156-computer-controlled-
acoustic-instruments-pt2-ep/))

~~~
pidg
I found it an interesting concept but pretty lacklustre as a piece of music,
especially after the incredible Syro.

What's there is nice, but hardly any of the ideas develop beyond "hey, look
what I did with these instruments". More like a demo than an EP.

~~~
jsmthrowaway
I read speculation somewhere that the first track of that album is the
finished product, and the other tracks are works in progress or mood/jam
palettes or investigatory scraps of various parts, some of which went unused.
When I listened through with that in mind it made sense (and made the album
more approachable), and the track titles may indeed support that theory. But,
as with all things Aphex Twin, we are left to interpret on our own -- who
knows?

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1001101
Go on, give us a snare rush

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snare_rush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snare_rush)

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rorosaurus
If you liked this, you might also be interested in Squarepusher and Z-Machines
"Music For Robots". It has significantly fewer technical details, however.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MluikyEQF4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MluikyEQF4)

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softwarelimits
Please also note "The absurdity of copyright" by Dr. Godfried-Willem RAES:

[http://logosfoundation.org/copyleft/copyrigh.html](http://logosfoundation.org/copyleft/copyrigh.html)

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jzwinck
Really interesting writeup. The contraption has parallels to some of what we
do with software: automating a legacy system without completely reinventing
it.

For such an accomplished practitioner, the author made one glaring mistake:

> We will use one solenoid on each side of the snares, thus doubling the force

Clearly they have a system with one solenoid pulling from each end of the same
thing. This does not increase the force at all. Pulling on a rope with one end
fixed is just as good as pulling on both ends (from the rope's perspective
there is no difference).

~~~
gattilorenz
Couldn't it mean that the inner solenoids are active in pairs, so the two most
external ones hit at the same time?

That would mean hitting in the same direction on two different spots on the
diameter of the circle, effectively doubling the force...

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jenrzzz
The Hit AnyThing bot is pretty cool too. You can hear them both on "Computer
Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 EP" (2015).

[http://www.logosfoundation.org/instrum_gwr/HAT.html](http://www.logosfoundation.org/instrum_gwr/HAT.html)

~~~
guscost
What a neat project. I've wondered about the robots for that album, cool
stuff.

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ruraljuror
Very cool write up. If you like this, and aren't familiar you should
definitely check out Pat Metheny's orchestrion:
[http://www.patmetheny.com/orchestrioninfo/](http://www.patmetheny.com/orchestrioninfo/)

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almost
If you like this you might also like
[http://FelixsMachines.com](http://FelixsMachines.com) by my friend Felix.
From a good few years before this one :)

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ovao
An outfit called Polyend has commercialized the concept with something they
call PERC, though I don't believe they have something capable of engaging and
disengaging the snare like this contraption.

[http://polyend.com/perc-pro-drumming-machine/](http://polyend.com/perc-pro-
drumming-machine/)

[Not affiliated]

~~~
mrmondo
FYI - Aphex Twin owns this / several of these and speaks very highly of them.

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stevehiehn
Awesome! I just started building a robotic band with rasberry pies and a bunch
of selonoids :)

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trevyn
Video? :(

~~~
glitcher
I've been searching, so far coming up empty.

Would love to see a video of Richard James sending midi data to that snare
that was meant for a completely different instrument, maybe one of the
melodies from Windowlicker :-P

~~~
VSpike
Even though I think this was video trickery mostly, I often wonder if the
later experiments with computer controlled instruments were partly inspired by
this Monkey Drummer video
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZGIrNf71Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZGIrNf71Q)

~~~
glitcher
Hadn't seen that before, thanks for the link!

That video is funny, perplexing and frightening all at the same time! I was a
little relieved to realize the human appendages were added digitally
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Drummer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Drummer)).

