Printing in three dimensions
ahhhhh...that's better. starting to chill a little. The campaign was extended for a few more days on account of the increase in media attention towards the end, but my personal spam campaign is over. it was a lot of work to get all that info in there, but its there, and there are 3 more days for it to marinate. all in all, i am very happy with the progress and looking forward to where it goes from here.
One great thing that has come from the campaign so far is the acquisition (ordered though not shipped yet) of a 3d printer called a reprap. just in case you don't know what 3d printing is, its a manufacturing process by which 3d computer aided designs (CAD) are printed using a machine that prints those designs in a process similar to inkjet printing where instead of ink, it lays down extruded melted plastic. where it differs is that as well as an "x" and a "y" axis, there is also a "z" axis, up and down, so the plastic is built up in layers until the piece is realized. you can create some amazingly intricate structures with this technique. even creating a classic whistle, WITH the little ball printed in side it!
3d printers have been around for decades, but they were very expensive to acquire or make use of. but in the last few year, there has been a movement to create cheap easy 3d printing for the masses. this is where Adrian Bowyers comes in. An engineer and educator at the University of Bath, his goal with his reprap concept and subsequent invention was to emulate a bio-memetic process whereby the printer itself is able to reproduce 50+% of itself which allows a reprap owner to print one for a friend, because, make no mistake, when your friends see it, they will want one. and to do this at a price point that would make people actually want to.
I can see this thing being everywhere in the next 12-18 months. At the MAKER Faire in NYC in September, there were reprap variations EVERYWHERE!! Dozens of them! this is a technology whose time has come. It is even being debated, "mp3-threat-circa-1999" stylee by the US congress (for whatever that means these days).
I was lucky that a friend pointed me to their indiegogo crowdfunding campaign http://www.indiegogo.com/RepRapPro-Huxley-3D-Printer-Kits?a=63894&i=addr which has about 2 1/2 days left in it. seeing as it is Adrian Bowyers own campaign, that this is MUCH cheaper and more complete than any reprap kits i have seen thus far, even including a roll of plastic filament to start with, AND they ship before christmas, I could not pass it up. its just too good!
what does this mean to the project?! hahahaha, this is going to result in the most surreal design trajectories you can imagine. first off, prototypes from now on will be of a commercial quality. solid, light and defined. unfortunately, this is probably going to impede my evolutionary trajectory of using clay and cardboard, but sacrifices have to be made for progress;-) The things i make at home will be as good or better than anything i would seek to have produced in china or some other manufacturing center. in the short term, this means that the parts on the controller, such as joystick heads, backplate, key ridges, internal shock mounting and palm adjustment, will be of a VERY high quality and very durable. this is as exciting to me as pure data; one process creates something that lives in the computer and a similar process produces integrated real world counterparts. the mind boggles at the possiblities! in the long term, I would like to look at possibly adapting this technology to producing a wide array of things using a wide array of input materials. I have no shortage of potential uses for this tech.
Ok, I gotta get back to the sound design work. l8r.
At the current amount, as i stated from the beginning, i factored the costs of fullfilling the perks into their requested amount so I would, if no other contributions came in, be able to create everyone’s perks (thank you so much for believing in the concept), but beyond purchasing the 3d printer, there will be very little left to create the beatjazz system. for instance, the optics for the helmet (shown here) cost $1500 by themselves, BEFORE, i start buying all of the parts to connect them to the inbuilt computer, and thats just the helmet. the other items such as the performance clothing, the busking pod, the video tutorial series, the throat mic system...will be realized, just not in the time frame i set aside for this project (december to march)
With full funding, I will begin by acquiring the tools neccessary to fullfill the perks before i begin on the main heart of the project, and set about the task of creating the controllers for the contributors and compiling art work and notes for the beatjazz pack and the beatjazz supporter pack. once everyone has their perks and are happy with them, I will begin the video tutorial concept by asking these first "beatjazzers what they want to know, and creating a video series for these requests. also at this time, I will be deep into working on the helmet system whose computer and optics systems ($2500 just for those two parts, not including shipping)will allow me to superimpose performance data on what i see. once this works, somewhat, i will enlist Loganic to help with creating clothing concepts that will be turned into a new type of athletic stage wear. also around this time, i will start assembling the busking "Pod". in this future, I would have 2-3 months of body training by this point, to alllow for ever more expressive gestural narration and I would be preparing a "workshop" version of the system as an introduction to beatjazz, for kids and adults. with full funding, the project will range from beatbox vocal gestural interfacing and control, prosthetic musical interfaces for disabled musicians and a dozen other potential trajectories!
this type of journey isnt new to me. the "place" is new; the internet, but the journey and techniques are not. in the real world, we call it busking, sometimes referred to as street performing. this is where an artist will present their art to the public and either solicit donations or offer some artistic artifact for sale. I have been a "busker" for over 20 years. why? invaluable practice, networking, relaxation being social and making an ok living when neccessary. But also the fact that people and markets and scenes are fickle. most times, in my observations, even when artists acquire some sliver of fame, the market cycles them out of the public conciousness at which point, the re-adaptation can lead to them leaving music altogether. buskers dont deal with this cycle so you can focus on refining your thing, for its own cycle.
i want this system to reimagine busking as a gateway to the artists digital world. so that when you go to a new town, you would, hypothetically, find a pitch(performance location) and play for a bit to pull people who resonate toward your art and your digital self which includes social networks, mailing lists, etc, that would not otherwise know you exist. there, those people can be introduced to your whole "thing" and potentially become part of your network. but I'll save it for the book. suffice it to say that this busking "pod" is a significant aspect of what beatjazz is and where it is going.
I am going to eat some turkey and then tomorrow i will write summary thingy for the campaign. as always, go by the campaign page and check it out and share it and all that. I feel positive that full funding is possible and with that many other things are also possible. later. happy holidays.
Last night, I dropped by the studio of one Christopher Logan, A.K.A. Loganic, to acquire my fix of his awesome talents. in addition to being a gifted visual artist, whose work is growing in scope and exposure, he is also a very popular DJ whose selections constantly have people trainspotting his records. where the two converge is an oscillation between DJ sets with a painters aesthetic for layering and abstraction and paintings with the motions, intensity and space of a great piece of music. for one artist to be a master of both is awe inspiring to behold, not to mention being able to know him! Loganic is a deep cat.
From the very beginning of the first campaign, I have depended on Loganics vast artistic knowledge to realize the things i see in my head. he some how manages, from my ramblings and my exceptionally unsophisticated drawings, to create something of beauty and precision so it was obvious that he would be the cat to create the t-shirt and the poster for the campaign. You can check out some of his work at 
