The Bit-52s Play Rock Lobster
September 12th, 2010
The Bit-52s are the creation of Toronto’s James Cochrane, who’s programmed an array of mechanical and electronic contraptions to crank out music, sans human musicians.
The “band” features everything from a solonoid-controlled guitar, keyboard and tambourine to a set of old scanners which help give the group its squeaky Kate Pierson-esque backing vocals. The whole rig is is controlled by a pair of PIC16F84A microcontrollers. Here, have a listen…
Sure, the timing is a little rough around the edges, but James points out that it’s nearly impossible to precisely time the solenoids due to their mechanical nature. I always thought Fred Schneider’s voice was a bit monotonous, but once I heard the electronic vocals from the TI99/4 computer singing Rock Lobster, Fred sounds positively operatic to me.
[via Switched]
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Categories: Audio Computing Hacks + Mods Just Plain Fun Retro Strange + Wonderful Technology
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@Zainuddeen,
I believe it’s early voice synthesis done by the TI-99/4 computer that you can see in the video. The audio seems to be fed through a Oscilloscope to yield that wave pattern I believe.