Abletonator

This was one of our tech guy Steve’s first interactive projects using Ableton as the sequencing package to his own hand made bespoke midi interface. Check this film to see it in action and find out more about The Abletonator.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The following article is used courtesy of a Creative Digital Music post from March 2008.

“It’s big. It’s beautiful. It’s … not at all practical as a mobile controller. It’s the Abletonator: Ableton Live on a PC with custom controller and casing, transformed into an arcade game cabinet form-factor. Why? Because. So, if you liked the Ambassador Live controller with arcade buttons, but wanted a full cabinet so it’s impossible to lift, you’ll love this.

The creator is Jr Savage, who evidently created this in 2006. Install MAME on this, and you’ve got an all-Live, all-vintage-gaming dream machine. Specs:

• Custom-built plywood cabinet
• PC running Windows XP, Ableton Live 6 (hmmm… may want to upgrade the cabinet), with a 8×8 audio card
• 19″ LCD monitor
• Custom control surface: 8 channels, joystick navigation (of course!), touchpad and mouse
• 2-octave keyboard

“Coin-op electro shock.” I love it.”

Promo Film 2012

The Drum Machine is a unique audio visual experience which provides up to six users a chance to jam in time together to create an unexpected live improvised electronic composition. This video captures the unique audio visual experience.

Bookings – email Pete Whelan – pete@program-music.com

Video Credits:
Camera – Janne Harrowing / Tom Gilbert
Edit – Tom Gilbert
Music & Sound Design – Echoic – echoicaudio.com
Graphics – John Lanyon

Visual Loops

Music Testing

The Drum Machine is always fun to setup and we get to play it ourselves and test it along the way. Here’s a quick snippet of it just before it opened at Glastonbury 2011. We love these acid house vibes.

Users Videos

We’ve had many many happy festival goers bouncing to the rhythms of The Drum Machine and we are always especially proud when people document their experiences!

Big thanks to KurbricksMonolith for their Youtube posts from Glastonbury 2010. FYI The Drum Machine now has monitors on each console giving a clearer visual cue as to what’s going on. We are always thinking of ways to improve The Drum Machine. If you have any ideas of your own contact us via email.

Plus big thanks also to Fishlick2 for their uploaded video also from Glastonbury 2010.

Where It All Began

The Drum Machine was first created in 2009 and debuted at Glastonbury’s Shangri La fields to great acclaim. Here’s a little promo film from the festival. There’s footage from our tent in the middle section. Plus you get to check out all the extraordinary other tents and acts on throughout that weekend. It was incredible!

Secret Garden Party feedback

Well we’re finally back and recovered after an amazing week at The Secret Garden Party! The Drum Machine was based in the kids field where we entertained and educated kids and adults alike with crazy noises and interactive fun.

We had some great feedback from parents, organisers and even a couple of teachers with regards how good The Drum Machine worked with young children. It was incredible to see how quickly they were able to interact and give creative input to the setup. For young children playing an instrument or the drums takes a huge amount of learning and time. But The Drum Machine allowed kids to be creative with music instantly. And that was just amazing to watch!

Check our Flickr page for photos of the event (more to follow) and see this how much fun this youngster was having literally ON the machine!

Glastonbury 2011

Glastonbury 2011 was the biggest and best The Drum Machine has ever been. The most significant upgrade being the inclusion of individual monitors on each console giving a visual representation of what you are playing and twiddling. Plus high spec audio speakers were in place to create the best interactive musical experience Glastonbury has to offer.

Check out this short video created using footage from Glastonbury. A full length Drum Machine promo is also in production. Watch this space!

Glastonbury 2011 from The Drum Machine on Vimeo.

Create, Play and Party inside ‘The Machine’

Enjoy this promo video for The Drum Machine.

The fully interactive, audio visual experience is driven by rock-solid digital music technology and fueled by the users creativity, The Machine creates a completely personal soundtrack to your festival. This interactive audio experiment will in equal parts intrigue, amaze and involve its audience, providing a unique insight into the core building blocks of modern music technology and culture.