I’ve been fascinated with the Voynich Manuscript for years, since first reading about it in David Kahn’s book The Codebreakers. Today’s xkcd comic provides a nice introduction.

I’ll be at BarCamp LA this Saturday, attempting to initiate a music-nerdery session that covers such topics as MIDI control in Processing, Mechanical Music and Process Music. I may also do a session on Mind Reading with Google, or Flickr Hacks, if there’s sufficient interest. If there’s something special you’d like me to cover, such […]

I found this old video of mine while looking at some old backup CDs. Back in the early 90s, while playing with Gryphon Software’s “Morph” software, I accidentally stumbled upon a technique for making a still photograph or painting look like a hologram. The basic idea is that you make a mirror image of the […]

I’ve been posting the above ad at local chess clubs in Los Angeles, in preparation for a June concert in which a live chess game will be translated into music. Contact me if you have leads. Thanks!

The other day I found this DIY music box kit over at Think Geek, but they were out of stock. So I found a supplier in the UK, called Grand Illusions. They actually carry two models, including one with a larger number of tines (20 tines covering a 2 1/2 octave diatonic range ). Naturally […]

The music box disc I’m getting prepared, mentioned in the previous post, looks something like this. Here’s a simulation of what it would sound like, played on an antique Stella music box, assuming the box’s spring-wound mechanism has the strength to play the first chord, in which every tine sounds at the same time. It […]

Oh, I’ve been bitten by this mechanical music bug big time. I’m now working on composing some new music for an orchestrion. This will be no mere weekend-long project (as most of mine tend to be), and hopefully I can share some audio snippets with you as work progresses. I imagine most of you don’t […]

I’ve added a new collection of Slitherlink puzzles to the site, which feature six-different tile layouts. Enjoy!

Today, on the spur of the moment, I decided to visit the Nethercutt museum in Sylmar, which I had heard about a couple of years ago when I was researching automatic music instruments. The museum, an unexpected display of wealth that sits on the corner of an industrial park in an economically depressed area — […]