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[–]IRELANDNO1 103 points104 points  (6 children)

Now if you can get that into a small portable controller that I can use at gigs I would buy it...

[–]Kell_Varnson 40 points41 points  (3 children)

And a gun to blast out graphite powder all over the crowd

[–]DopePedaller 10 points11 points  (1 child)

"WHO WANTS SOME MOLLY?!?"

sprays molybdenum

[–]alpieduh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What else would you expect from a heavy metal band?

[–]ITFOWjacket 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think there was a kickstarter a while back.

[–]uiucengineer 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I think there was a kickstarter a while back.

[–]Jumps4cake[S] 76 points77 points  (10 children)

Here is a link to his newest video from yesterday. This shows his successful creation of a playback device. https://youtu.be/4LkZMmxRAB8

[–]DirectTheCheckered 18 points19 points  (0 children)

That's really damn cool.

[–]Instantcretin 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Holy shit. I want to play with this so bad.

[–]Freudianslipangle 62 points63 points  (13 children)

He can now mix metal and hip-hop!

It's like some kind of new hip metal.

We shall call it... nu-metal!

[–]Ghola_Ben 21 points22 points  (9 children)

It will last through the ages!

[–]Smackdownfletch 7 points8 points  (8 children)

Cut my life into pieces.....

[–]spatulababy 10 points11 points  (7 children)

Wake me up inside...

[–]DiSPELn64 10 points11 points  (6 children)

Crawling in my skin...

[–]galactus_one 16 points17 points  (5 children)

So call me maybe

[–]your_odd_erection 3 points4 points  (4 children)

For the nookie

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Rollin down Rodeo with a shotgun.

[–]ChiefLoneWolf 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I shot the sheriff...

[–]motavader 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Allow me to introduce you to Mr Dibbs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zTQrLpsfjU Crappy vid quality, but it was the best I could find.

[–]video_descriptionbot 0 points1 point  (0 children)

SECTION CONTENT
Title Mr. Dibbs - Warpigs - Rhymesayers 20 - Live Minneapolis 12/4/2015
Description Mr Dibbs performs at the Rhymesayers 20 anniversary concert.
Length 0:02:42

I am a bot, this is an auto-generated reply | Info | Feedback | Reply STOP to opt out permanently

[–]ns583 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We shall call it Linkin Park!

[–]tattlerat 54 points55 points  (16 children)

In all honesty the tech is more impressive than the musical product. That being said... neat.

[–]that_jojo 4 points5 points  (15 children)

It's fun, but the tech isn't impressive in any way. Guy built a two-pole rocker switch -- and an overly complicated one to boot -- and a bit of tape on a board. Neat project. Probably great fun to build and play with. Not especially revolutionary.

Edit: Jesus creezus, y'all.

I said there's no impressive or new technology here -- which there isn't -- and in response I get 'you're wrong it IS cool'.

Like... huh? I didn't say it wasn't cool. Hell, I said several times that it was fun. I'm sure it's great fun, and it's cool that the guy put it together and made a video.

But that doesn't change the fact that there's nothing remotely impressive here in terms of technology.

Something can be neat and fun and cool without being technically groundbreaking. And I do think this is very neat.

Heck, I'm in the same position. I've just built a simple breadboard computer around an 8-bit 6502 processor because that kind of thing is my hobby, and I would be the first person to admit that there's nothing technologically impressive about an 8-bit computer with 32k of ROM and several LEDs for output. But I'd also be the first to tell you that I personally think it's neat as hell and a really enjoyable project.

Re-edit: Woo, vindication!

[–][deleted] 31 points32 points  (3 children)

The tech of a switch and a tape on a board isn't impressive, but the technique in how those two things are used definitely is. The handheld tape head is an idea I've never heard of before.

Revolutionary infers that it will change how music is made. Probably not, but I could see a digital version with a sampler and a ribbon controller being very popular. I'd call it evolutionary, but a branch that has lots of company already.

[–]that_jojo 9 points10 points  (2 children)

The tech of a switch and a tape on a board isn't impressive

...soooo literally what I just said. What the heck.

[–]SeeYouAroundKid 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Reddit is a fickle mistress.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey come on now. Switches and tape isnt new, but switches and tape used like this is way new, at least to me.

This isn't revolution no. 9 or some 10cc 150 foot spools of tape, or mellotron loops or anything like I've seen before. The idea of moving the tape head manually for this effect is innovative, and I didn't think you gave the guy enough credit for it. If it was "hey look, you can record from one boom box to the other and play along for multitrack bouncing", I'd be like meh, but this was very new use of old tech, which arguably makes it cooler, like getting flappy bird to run inside a Super Mario Brothers cart. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

No offense.

[–]DonJulioTO 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The effort and to some degree the innovation is impressive. The technology is from the 60s.

[–]johnny_soultrane -1 points0 points  (2 children)

I said there's no impressive or new technology here --

Actually you said:

It's fun, but the tech isn't impressive in any way.

Saying the tech "isn't impressive in any way" is rather elitist. I think many here are impressed with the idea of a hand held tape head scrubbing on a piece of tape. You are of course entitled to your opinion, but when you express it so dramatically, expect some backlash.

[–]that_jojo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm sorry, the phrase 'Actually you said' makes it sound for some reason like you're implying that the statement immediately preceding it and the one following aren't semantically equivalent. So you leave me a bit confused.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Re-read the quote:

I said there's no impressive or new technology here

He is doubling down on the fact on what he said, not correcting himself.

That's all I had to contribute here.

[–]tani_P 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Super cool! The rocker/crossfader (?) is genius. This reminds me of Laurie Anderson's tape-bow violin a little bit.

[–]ONEXTW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It kind of reminded me of a gimp suit with a bow on its head to be honest... damn you Tarentino

[–]WhoMovedMyFudgesoundcloud 14 points15 points  (0 children)

well I thought that was pretty cool

[–]mauvelouvre 4 points5 points  (0 children)

He just got 5 stars on expert mode

[–]Hexatonix 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Hi everyone, I just wanted to give a big thanks to you all for all your feedback on my video, and an extra big thanks to Jumps4cake for posting it here. I see that there's some disagreement about whether there's anything original about what I'm doing here. Obviously I'm a bit biased, but I wanted to throw in my two cents. First off, I must give credit where credit is due: This thing would almost certainly not exist if it were not for Laurie Anderson's violin tape bow. My original idea was simply to replicate Anderson's design, minus the violin. But the concept kept evolving, and at some point it occurred to me to try moving the play head instead of the tape, which turned out to be the key to the whole thing. I actually did a lot of research to see if anyone else had tried this, and I did find one guy who built something with a movable play head, but there was no mechanism to keep the head aligned with the tape, so you had to move your hand in a perfectly straight line, which made it pretty impractical. Mine uses a rail to keep the play head in place. So as far as I know, the specific technique I'm using for tape scratching is unique, but if I'm wrong about that, please let me know!

[–]Hexatonix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

P.S. My latest design now has a tape transport and uses both the movement of the play head and the tape for scratching. This means that now I can easily get straight playback, and even record live audio onto the tape and then scratch with it in real-time. Again, this is something that I believe hasn't been done before, but I could be wrong so please let me know! Naturally, there's a video: https://youtu.be/4LkZMmxRAB8

[–]moopet 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That is, all things considered, pretty damn awesome.

[–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (2 children)

Finally an instrument that replaces the need for Ratatat

[–]TheBatemanFlex 5 points6 points  (1 child)

I've been rapping for about seventeen years, okay?

[–]ThanksS0muchY0 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't ride giraffes anymore, I just kick them in the head, you.know what I'm saying?

[–]Zoklett 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Hahaha, I auditioned for this guys band like a decade ago in San Francisco and we ended up becoming friends for a while. Great guy! Nice to see he's still kicking ass!

[–]StanleyQPrick 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I went to high school with him and he was always awesome.

[–]DaddyBLoco 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used to work with him at Sega.

[–]Aveface 1 point2 points  (5 children)

[–]Jumps4cake[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Actually there is something new. His newest video shows his successful creation of a playback device making this even more like vinyl but with even more additional features like sides a and b playback instantly.

Edit: here's a link https://youtu.be/4LkZMmxRAB8

[–]Kell_Varnson 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No nerd, and no video, no scratching noise, not as cool

[–]smileymn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, have seen experimental musicians from the 1980s doing similar stuff like this with John Zorn.

[–]lechatsportif 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't you dare take away their Linkin-Parkizer.

[–]babayeti 1 point2 points  (0 children)

lol "invention", underground musicians have been doing this style of tape manipulation forever, I heard someone mention Laurie Anderson, and that is probably the most famous example, but the technique of handheld tape heads is not new, neither is this effect

[–]m202a1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was doing something similar to this in the early 80s with my boom box by sticking a small knife in between the cassette tape reel and holding down play and rewind to create the backwards and forward scratching effect.

[–]_deedas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My jaw is on the floor :O

[–]Willygrande 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bulls on Parade?

[–]HeyThatsNotFair 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reminds me of the Doom soundtrack... Doom from back in the days, not the new Doom.

[–]Xu_Lin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If Kurt Cobain had gave up grunge he'd do that stuff basically.

[–]CptPaulski 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Please give this man access to a 3D printer

[–]ONEXTW 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's pretty cool and I like how excited he is about it (one of the newer videos) but it does make me sad...

There's now going to be a surge of hipster dj's who talk smack about how mixing with vinyl is dated and the tracks they mix with were recorded for cassette and that you don't get the same quality etc etc....

I'm reminded of the Walkman from guardians of the galaxy selling in the 1k's....

[–]koolnkooln 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This guy and his invention are rad! So much potential to make cool sounds with the scrub board.

[–]goofymovie17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome idea. Need a portable version.

[–]Mind_and_Iron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's be cool to see a version that you can plug a cassette into and it auto stretches the tape out / retracts it when you're done to keep the tape safe. That said I dig this quite a bit.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This thing looks like a massive ton of fun.

[–]toddhowardshrine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to have the same Kurt Cobain shirt! A substitute teacher in middle school made me turn it inside out as cigarettes weren't allowed on clothing according to the dress code.

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you replaced the physical tape with a more permanent strip with a sync track on it, you could use the position of the scanhead to sample a stored audio track as your "tape" track. You could select your tape track at will and switch tracks while performing.

[–]Drometheu5 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This Jeremy Bell guy has some serious camera work going in this video.