Who says pro-tools are the future of music? This year’s 2015 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition semi-finalists prove that there’s still room for traditional mechanisms and buzzy tech wonders to co-exist. As the celebrated annual competition hosted by Georgia Tech enters its seventh year, Hyperallergic rounded up some of their favorite entrants. The finals concert, held February 20 at the Klaus Building Atrium, will be live streamed and feature everything from Cantor Digitalis’ singing, hand-powered software, to Matthew Steinke’s pocket cathedral pipe, the Tine Organ, controlled by MIDI.
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In the past we’ve covered Turkish musician Görkem Şen’s yaybahar, so we’re thrilled to see he made the list. The yaybahar is an acoustic stringed instrument whose futuristic sound comes by way of a very rudimentary, very low-tech mallet. The echo effect the yaybahar is prized for is achieved by the subtle vibrations of the strings, which connect to the drum frames via coiled springs. The result is a primal beat that lands somewhere between a dystopian film on nuclear winter, and early Kraftwerk.
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Created by Brooklyn-based artist and musician Jonathan Sparks to take loop-based music “up off of the floor, out from behind the laptop,” the Nomis uses a spinning octagonal wheel of light to record and transfer the sound. The final product, above, is nothing short of a one-man electric light synth dance band.
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We think we may have just found your next sci-fi party trick. The Holophone by Daniel Iglesia produces three-dimensional images in real-time, based on both physical and auditory input. The best part is that they can only be seen through 3D glasses, literally creating a hidden world right before your eyes.
For the full list of exciting contest participants check here.
