Firstly many thanks to Anna, Hamish, Ben and the support staff at FACT.  Secondly the adults and children who took part.

Today I ran  a day long workshop, teaching people how to use the new “SUPER CHIP TUNE SAMBA BAND” software, the new software is made to encourage people to perform chip tune music together in groups. The day long session included an introduction to chip tune music, why and how I made the software, the rehearsal and the performance by the participants.  Already the event has attracted international press here and here.

The software is designed to mimic the sounds of a samba band albeit a very chip tune samba band with a Sirdu, Caixa, Rep, Ganza and an Agogo, it’s time to turn those game playing skills in to Samba music.

Despite many technical hitches due to several cables being a bit flaky (grrr just bought them for the event, but I can sort this out with a bit of funding or sponsorship) the feedback was very very positive and some nice stories about families coming together for the event to make music.  Can’t post any pictures tonight left my camera adapter at the lab will update this post later in the week.

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I really enjoyed it and the families did too. Very pleased that they really took to the idea of creating something with the DS instead of just being a passive consumer of it. I also gave them copies of SUPER CHIP TUNE SAMBA BAND and Music Tech Master Stroke so they can go away and make there own music.  You can read my paper on it below on the how, what and why of the workshop, minus the conclusion which I will write up next week.

Cultural perceptions, ownership and interaction with re-purposed musical instruments

Some minor hitches with the software (if one drum is exited before it is finished playing it holds it in memory especially the Agogo) and I think the PC/MAC Player software needs to have several more patterns and more simpler patterns as well apart from that it was great.

When it’s all done and written up all the software and teaching notes will be available for download so you can make your own samba band in your schools and homes.

This event forms part of FACTs “Space Invaders: Art and the Computer Game Environment” season and is delivered in partnership with Netherlands Media Art Institution, Amsterdam.

Can’t keep this quiet any longer, the long awaited follow-up to “Obsolete?” is here. Very excited.

“Observations” is an audio visual study of the people, machines and practices at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University. Culminating in two performances on 12th &13th of March, 2010 at 7.30pm during the Cambridge Science Festival.

The piece poses the question of “What does it mean to be an Astronomer?” and how it has evolved; from observations with the unaided eye and the first telescopic studies 400 years ago, to modern telescopes and satellites collecting data across the full reach of the spectrum, and the importance of theoretical study of astronomical concepts such as cosmology.

Following on from the successful “Obsolete?” in 2009 at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park, Matthew C. Applegate aka Pixelh8 internationally renowned “chip tune” musician will be directing, composing and performing this entirely new piece.

All of the sounds in the music will be recorded from the machines, people and interpreted from the data they collect at the Institute. This includes electro-mechanical, mechanical, and ambience as well as interviews with leading scientists and curious visitors to the Institute.

The work is supported by the researchers at The Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and the outreach officer Dr. Carolin Crawford and was funded by the PRS for Music Foundation Live Connections award.

The PRS for Music Foundation (PRSF) is the UK’s largest independent funder of new music across all genres. Widely respected as an adventurous and proactive funding body, the Foundation supports an exceptional range of new music activity – from unsigned band showcases to composer residencies, from commissions for new music to experimental live electronica. Since March 2000 PRSF has given more than £12 million to over 3,000 new music initiatives.

Very pleased to announce I will be performing at this years Vintage Computer Festival at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park on June 19th and 20th, 2010. Check back to the sight nearer the times for the performances, however I am sure I will be on hand showing people around some of my favorite machines in the best computer museum ever. Bring the whole family!

Britain’s largest celebration of vintage computing is to be held at The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) in Bletchley Park from 19-20 June 2010.

Originating ten years ago in California’s Silicon Valley, to celebrate our computing heritage, Vintage Computing Festivals are now regular events held across the USA and in Germany. The June 2010 event at TNMOC will be the first in the UK and will pay particular tribute to the British contribution to the development of computing.

The festival, which is open to the general public and welcomes private exhibitors, will have exhibition stands, a full lecture programme, machine demonstrations, computer games and challenges, bring-and-buy sale, and performances of electronic music.

Exhibitions already committed include Acorn, Amiga, Atari, PDP11, Retro Computer Museum, Sinclair, and Sundown Demoparty (PCs). There will be performances by Pixelh8 and a guest appearance by one of the pioneers of British synthpop.

Childrens’ toys are often seen as transitional objects that let the child gain mastery of the world around them. Paradoxically “Childhood Remixed” seeks to re-purpose the toys of my childhood with the skills and understanding of the world I have as an adult.

By rewiring, re-purposing and re-using them I will essentially be remixing my childhood to form an orchestra of automated toys, a learning curve that that folds back on itself.

The interactive pieces will be on display in the Town Hall Galleries, Ipswich between May 29th- July 11th, 2010.  Alongside the main pieces I will also be running workshops and giving talks about my work.

The pieces were commissoned by Ipswich Borough Council & Turnstone Arts Grants sponsor Ip-art Award 2007- 2010 and I am very grateful to be exhibiting this project in my home town. Join the Facebook event page here.

After a long Christmas and New Year break, it’s back to coding, fortunately that break didn’t wash away all that they had learned and we were able to get on with Dimensional arrays. The best part of the lesson was when we started talking about how the Baddy AI will be implemented next lesson. They were beginning to think laterally, and how the computer doesn’t view the game as the player, but as a maze of 0 and 2’s in this case. The 2’s in the array are solid walls and so could 1,3, and 4 but they will be added later. 0’s are for nothing and is where both the goody and baddy can walk.The first row of 0’s is there to allow for space to draw the number of lives, score and level later on.

Every loop it redraws the level, and when key presses occur it checks if the position the character wants to head is clear, if it’s not it issues a return;. The following code builds upon last lesson here and adds the map drawing and good guy collision with it. The code as is also purposely presented the students with a dilemma, how do you get into the maze.

To get the below example to work

1) Load up processing and save immediately calling it “MazeGame” this will create a folder, example “MazeGame”

2) Within that folder create another folder called “data” so MazeGame\data

3) Within that folder put a graphic called “good.png” 40X40 pixels.

4) Run it

//MazeGame
//Copyright Room 1 Studios 2009
//Matthew C. Applegate – Pixelh8

int goodx, goody;

int level, column, row;
int[][][] mapper = {

//Level 1

{
{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
{2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2}},//End of Level 1

//Level 2
{
{0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0},
{2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2},
{2,0,0,9,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2},
{2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2}} //End of Level 2
};

PImage hero;

void setup(){
background(0);
size(600, 400); // 15 X 10
hero = loadImage(“good.png“);
}

void draw (){
background(0);
updatescreen();
}

void updatescreen (){
image(hero, goodx*40, goody*40);

for (int row = 0; row < 10; row++){
for (int column = 0; column < 15; column++){
if (mapper [level] [row] [column] == 2){fill(255); rect (column*40,row*40, 40,40);}
}}
}

void keyReleased() {
if (key == CODED) {

//check if collision free
if (keyCode == UP)    {
if ((mapper [level] [goody-1][goodx]>0)&& (mapper[level] [goody-1][goodx]<4)){return;}}
if (keyCode == DOWN)    {
if ((mapper [level] [goody+1][goodx]>0)&& (mapper[level] [goody+1][goodx]<4)){return;}}
if (keyCode == LEFT)    {
if ((mapper [level] [goody][goodx-1]>0)&& (mapper[level] [goody][goodx-1]<4)){return;}}
if (keyCode == RIGHT)    {
if ((mapper[level]  [goody][goodx+1]>0)&& (mapper[level][goody][goodx+1]<4)){return;}}

//If collision free
if (keyCode == UP)    {goody=goody-1;}
if (keyCode == DOWN)  {goody=goody+1;}
if (keyCode == LEFT)  {goodx=goodx-1;}
if (keyCode == RIGHT) {goodx=goodx+1;}
}
}

Very pleased I got to finally written this up “A Choice to Compute: Rant in C++” it is part of a talk I give on the decline of programmers and some of the possible causes behind it. You can read the full article on Game People and all of the quotes can be referenced.

Although things are getting better there is still alot of work to be done to turn things around, and on the back of this rant instead of just complaining about the problems I have set up “Computer Club” with several schools to get people programming at an early age. You can see some of the example lessons and projects that I have undertaken with Holywells High School on this Blog here.

Enjoy.

I was asked to describe the last decade in 10 words, I think I did rather well you can check out my “10″ in the new issue of Dazed & Confused Magazine January 2010 issue now. Very pleased to be in such good company as Bjork, Michael Stipe and my favourite redhead La Roux.

Contrasting this “Obsolete?” and I were also named as the Number Nerdiest thing in 2009! awesome thanks to the nerdyshow.com, Hex Warrior and Cap Blackard.

2009 was both a tricky and wonderful year, and for me it was the first of a new kind of year, 2010 already is set to be amazing with five large musical works, two pieces of software and one new album, so yeah I am gonna be very busy.

Image repoduced with permission.