GEAR + TECH
This App Uses AI to Generate Custom Playlists
The search for the perfect playlist just got a whole lot easier. In the latest test of generative artificial intelligence, PlaylistAI is a new platform which yields the promise of creating full, personalized playlists with just a couple of user inputs. The company explains that such inputs could be a variable combination of user prompts, images, videos and more. Have a certain mood or theme of music you’re looking to curate? The PlaylistAI app can run even with oddly specific requests, such as a playlist that captures the spirit of “playing board games on a rainy day.” Scroll to Continue Recommended Articles The AI can also generate a playlist from images. Just feed the program an image of your favorite festival flyer and watch it work wonders, deriving the names of the a...
Burning Man’s Mayan Warrior Is Using Blockchain Tech to Fund Art On the Playa
Fans of the legendary Burning Man metropolis and its devoted Mayan Warrior community have a new way to preserve its future prospects both on and off the playa. Blockchain technology has long been lauded as a more transparent and cost-effective means of fundraising. Now Mayan Warrior, one of the world’s premier artistic communities is embracing its possibilities. The organization, which operates as a 501(c)(3), has announced the “Mayan Warrior Amulet,” an offering of digital assets to directly support the artistic endeavors that have built the community into a creative powerhouse over the last decade. By purchasing the blockchain-powered assets, the community’s members can directly fund artists to help “produce, bring, and display their live interact...
This Astonishing Digital Piano Uses “Flying Drones” as Speakers
Speakers for any modern devices are typically built right in to the device, but Roland is thinking outside the box—or piano—for their 50th anniversary. The fabled electronic musical instrument company debuted its ambitious digital piano concept piano at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The piano features a sleek body made of Japanese oak with a touch panel in the lid, and it hides a 14-speaker, 360° system, per Engadget. But the unit’s standout feature is its innovative flying drone speakers, which “hover over the piano” and “bathe the player in a sound shower.” The speakers are said to float around and change positions, communicating with the piano on a low-latency channel developed in-house by Roland. Roland̵...
Researchers Print the World’s Smallest Vinyl Record With Nanoscopic Accuracy
There’s very little holiday cheer to be found on this Christmas record printed by DTU Physics at the Technical University of Denmark. That’s because it’s a record so small that it could fit within a single groove of a standard sized copy. This impressive feat of engineering marks the world’s smallest vinyl printed record, and it holds just 25 seconds of “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.” In a demo showcased by the university’s DTU Physics organization, the Nanofrazor Scholar 3D lithography system presses a 15×15 micrometer record into polymer film. More impressively, the depth of the grooves inscribed on this sliver of a record are just 65 nanometers deep. Scroll to Continue Recommended Articles “I have done lithography for ...
Wimbledon Tennis Balls Find New Life as Portable Bluetooth Speakers
Tennis fans can now share in the sounds and spirit of Wimbledon right from their own home. Heroes of the sport darted around the court in 2022, chasing and striking Wimbledon’s highlighter-yellow balls to hoist one of the most storied trophies in all of sports. Now, the Slazenger-emblazoned balls that defined Wimbledon’s high-stakes gameplay are finding new life as novelty speakers. The company has made their mark creating a sustainable path forward for tennis balls after they’re “retired” from tournament play. Produced by hearO, the units are one-touch bluetooth speakers embedded in the shell of an actual tennis ball used on the iconic grass courts of the All England Club at the 2022 Wimbledon tournament. The hearO 3.0 bluetooth speaker is made with an ...
Of The Trees Is Developing a Custom Game for Nintendo’s Original Gameboy Color
Of The Trees has announced a new video game, complete with a storyline, custom-made pixel art, soundtrack and more. Taking to Twitter to reveal the project, which is inspired by the “lore” of his recent music releases, the renowned bass music artist said the game will run on the original Gameboy Color. Of The Trees is developing the game and its infrastructure independently. “i’m actually working on a game right now, centered around all of the lore attached to my last few releases,” Of The Trees wrote. “pixel art, soundtrack, storyline, scripting – all by yours truly.” Of The Trees performing at Global Dance Festival in Denver, Colorado. Brian Rapaport/EDM.com Of The Trees also shared a clip teasing the game’s design, which follows a cha...
ILLENIUM Launches Decentralized Fan Community
Thanks to blockchain technology, “Illenials” now have access to ILLENIUM like never before. The Grammy-nominated dance music superstar has launched “The Phoenix Family,” a new community offering his diehard fans “first access for all things ILLENIUM.” Powered by the Polygon blockchain, “The Phoenix Family” was developed in partnership with Medallion, a Web3 platform that helps artists enhance their connection with fans. The community’s name derives from ILLENIUM’s signature emblem depicting a phoenix, which he integrates into his logo, visuals, merchandise and more. ILLENIUM performs at Chicago’s North Coast Music Festival on September 3rd, 2022. Christian Wade/EDM.com Scroll to Continue Recommended Articles “...
TIDAL’s New Tool Allows Subscribers to DJ for Their Friends and Followers
TIDAL is flipping the switch on consumers, allowing them to create mixes and mashups to kickstart their careers as DJs. TIDAL, a digital service provider known for their high-fidelity audio, is testing out a new featured called “DJ” for subscribers signed up for their HiFi Plus plan. In its current state, iOS users are the only ones able to create mixes with the “DJ” tool, but Android users can tune in and listen. With “DJ,” HiFI Plus subscribers are able to create a set and share it for friends and followers, who can tune in and listen to the mix in real-time, just like a live radio broadcast or podcast. The new beta program for “DJ” is different than “TIDAL for DJ,” which grants DJs access to the service’s expansive ...
Aromas and Audio: This Innovative Fragrance Diffuser Uses Speaker Design Theory
A new fragrance diffuser, which is shaped like an antique horn speaker, is designed to change the way we perceive smell. The Olfactive Stéréophonique delivers a controlled, cyclical smell that mirrors the way we hear sounds, according to its designers. It was developed by Devon Turnbull, the founder of artisanal speaker brand OJAS and Ben Gorham, founder and creative director of perfumer Byredo. They say the “experimental and revolutionary fragrance diffuser” is on the cutting-edge of multi-sensory experiences. The Olfactive Stéréophonique fragrance diffuser. OJAS/Byredo Scroll to Continue Recommended Articles “The process is simple: sit comfortably with a high-fidelity sound system and select disks that set the tone for that moment or take you on a voyage that you’ll ret...
We Asked the A.I. Program ChatGPT About EDM—It Knew Too Much
Following the release of the now-viral sensation, ChatGPT, it took OpenAI’s eerily sophisticated chatbot just five days to amass over one million users. And it’s become the most successful story at the intersection of artificial intelligence and meteoric tech adoption in the last decade. There’s many reasons why ChatGPT has become an instant hit. Some have called it a creative enhancer, others a search query replacement. But no matter what you think ChatGPT’s future use cases are, there’s no denying it has a tremendous trove of information to draw upon, including niche topics like electronic dance music. Despite our best efforts to stump ChatGPT with absurdly specific questions—and even thought-provoking, nuanced topics—it seems the algorithm has a deeper unde...
Discover Music Festivals Around the World With the Soundclub App
There really is an app for everything. Founded in 2020 by Max Zanetti Bottarelli, Soundclub is a platform created to help fans discover thousands of live music experiences around the world, all in one place. “In a world where we’re bombarded with constant stimuli, we need something to help us cut through the white noise to find out what frequency we’re on,” reads a press release shared with EDM.com. “Whatever fans like, wherever they are, Soundclub is committed to helping them find what suits them.” Soundclub has now launched its mobile app, Soundclub – Discover Festivals, which is available on Google Play and App Store and will focus specifically on music festivals. With over 5,000 in the app’s database, fans of EDM and all other genres can discover a w...
Watch Rolling Stones Co-Founder Keith Richards Create Ambient Electronic Music
Who knew Rolling Stones guitarist and songwriter Keith Richards also played with modular synthesizers? In a clip unearthed by Far Out Magazine, the legendary musician is seen making experimental electronic music on a modular synthesizer. The footage shows Richards arranging cords and cables to create ambient sounds as a soft, dreamy hum emanates from the machine, most likely a Moog. The clip comes from an obscure documentary called Umano Non Umano, which was screened at the 30th Venice International Film Festival. The film’s title translates to “Human Not Human.” Mario Schifano, an Italian painter known for exhibiting alongside Andy Warhol, released the doc in 1969, per Far Out. According to IMDb, “artists and poets meet in a dreamlike space be...
