The 2013 Music Tech Fest was an incredible event, especially on the final day when the Music Hack Camp awards were presented, with hacks ranging from new instruments to a remix. Here are some of our highlights from Day 3, including Ableton’s new Push instrument, and guitars and synths made from ‘upcycled’ computer game instruments. The sessions were filmed and the videos are on the main Music Tech Fest site. We will be bringing you a second report as there was so much going on!
Key industry speakers in the morning included David Adams from SoundCloud. He talked about all the new development work going on at the leading platform for artists. The big news is that video is coming and is already being tested out. This will make a huge impact we’re sure.
It was great to hear BandWagon Gigs founder Stan Mcleod talk about the platform that connects bands and DJs with venues and promoters. It looks like a good and transparent way to get bookings.
We absolutely loved Fakebit Polytechnic’s performance. They use hacked and upcycled music kit - putting guitar strings on a computer game guitar controller is just one of their feats. They describe themselves as a ‘Wiimote-controlled pseudo-chiptune shouty synthpop, lo-fi band’ and invented CheapSynth.com. Why give a talk when you can sing, and make people laugh too. Their punk-influenced set was just glorious.
Beatboxing supremo Shlomo - currently on tour - gave an amazing performance, which included looping on the new Boss RC-505 tabletop looper. We had checked this bit of kit out at Musikmesse and it’s a great box of tricks - beautifully laid out and easy to use.
Shlomo was joined by dynamic French beatboxer Ezra, part of The Bionic Orchestra who put on immersive experiences using the latest tech and creating all the sounds live. Ezra performed solo later, and revealed a new ‘bionic’ glove controller, as well as using his iPhone as a controller.
Ninja Tune’s free remix app Ninja Jamm was put through its paces. There’s more on Ninja Jamm in our launch report, and we’ve filmed a great interview with Coldcut and Ninja Tune’s Matt Black who invented the app. You can remix tracks from top Ninja Tune artists.
The inventors of new electronic instrument Alphasphere have been demo-ing it around the globe this year. We ran into them at the NAMM show in LA where they had the press area jumping with a massive jam. Here at MTF, designer Adam Place gave a great run through of the tactile ‘sphere with some innovative playing. The company behind it is Bristol-based Nu Desine and he told us afterwards about some exciting artists who are now using it.
It was great to see Ableton’s Push in action thanks to a demo from Mark Towers. The hotly-anticipated Push is a powerful instrument and digital audio workstation, with a really intuitive feel, and there’s been a scramble to get hold of them.
You can make a song from scratch on the Push, and Mark did just that - Ableton say it’s not just for musicians making electronic music, but is a tool for all genres. We had the swiftest of goes and can’t wait to bring you more on it.
The hacking that went on was pretty spectacular and you should check out all of the videos on the dedicated Music Tech Fest YouTube channel. The Music Hack winner was Nadine Kroher with an Air guitar made with two Android phones - in just 24 hours! We’ll be bringing you more on the hacks in another report.
The day finished with some incredible beatboxing from Jason Singh, who started his set solo then went on to perform with Ilyas Raphael Khan and Ezra.
We were also excited to check out Signature Brew’s latest release - custom beers created with Frank Turner, Professor Green and Enter Shikari.