Uli Maier explains carbon fiber and how it will be utilized in the beatjazz controllers
Carbon fiber, carbon fiber, CARBON FIBER! You would think i have some kind of obsession with this high tech, super cool, lightwieght, durable, uber material...You'd be right. For years, it just seemed like the coolest material that actually exists. of course, its being pushed aside by youngsters like graphene (mmmmmm....graphene) but we wont start seeing that on ebay for another few years (or if you subscribe to the law of accelerating returns, a few months), so until then, carbon fiber, in my eyes, is about as cool as it gets.
from the beginning of the first campaign, the plan was always to realize the final design in carbon fiber. I have played enough gigs to know that durable is a neccessity when playing "normal" live shows, but the kind of playing i want to foster-full contact, on the dance floor, sonic face off immersion-it is vital. currently, for example, the type of "liquid" glowstick style motions i want to do are not possible because i am still playing a prototype made of cardboard that, while very very strong, is still susceptible to damage if knocked against my arm or other objects too often. so i am very happy to have gotten the design to the point where i can finally start working on casting molds!
as such, i took the clay models over to Uli's Underground Lair to get his opinion and and get him to give a little breakdown of exactly what this material is, what the process is for working with it and how that process will apply to beatjazz controllers. exciting stuff explained by a guy who knows his shit. I am honored by the profound amount of input from this cat over the last year.
my next post will be on Monday as i now have to spend the next two days preparing for my first performance in Warsaw Poland at Urban Garden, Friday night. I am REAALLY preparing to make a good first impression there. then, I will be presenting the case for freelance artists at an incubator in the Wedding area of Berlin Saturday night from 7pm-10pm. so there is much to do but i wanted to leave you with something to chew on for the next few days because as of Friday the 18th, there is only one more week to be part of funding what i hope to be the beginning of a whole range of concepts that will stem from this system ranging from actual musical prosthetics for disabled musicians (i want to say more on this but its a bit too soon to comment) to workshops that combine technology and motion for teaching kids the fundamentals of programming, but in a different way. so much to do in so many ways! let make it happen! see you monday.
Click to share thisClick to share this
