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Music Media Education

Hamster-controlled MIDI 216

Posted by michael from the better-than-most-composers dept.
haeger writes "I found this wonderful page on the net. The project was initially fueled by the desire to explore the MIDI protocol. It was decided that this would be accomplished by building a MIDI device, and an intelligent hamster controlled MIDI sequencer was designed. Each voice was controlled by two hamsters: one that was responsible for adjusting the rhythmic qualities of the melody and another that modified the note sequence. With all of these elements in combination, an output was produced with very musical qualities. This is like Fritz & His Performing Hamsters with a geek twist. Video and music is provided on the webpage."
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Hamster-controlled MIDI More

Hamster-controlled MIDI

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  • This puts a whole new meaning (Score:5, Funny)

    by va3atc ( 715659 ) * on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:08AM (#8336252) Homepage Journal
    to the song Hamster Dance [hamsterdance.com]

    Remember this when ICQ was in its infancy? :)

  • *sigh* (Score:5, Funny)

    by TWX ( 665546 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:08AM (#8336255)
    Richard Gere jokes in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

    • Re:*sigh* (Score:5, Funny)

      by Trillan ( 597339 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:12AM (#8336296) Homepage Journal

      *points one post down and giggles*

      Dude, you called that pefectly... :)

      • Re:*sigh* (Score:3, Funny)

        by TWX ( 665546 )
        "*points one post down and giggles*

        Dude, you called that pefectly... :)"

        Yeah, I noticed that. Kind of caught me by surprise. That post is here [slashdot.org] for anyone not browsing at -1, where the comment was moderated to...

        • I thought for a minute you'd jumped computers and posted AC. :)

          But that two minute delay thing woulda stopped you. Knowing for sure that it was someone else makes it that much funnier...

  • Not only can hamsters make music (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:09AM (#8336259)
    They can make people dance as well. Just ask Richard Gere

  • Electrocuting hamsters for music (Score:5, Funny)

    by JoeBaldwin ( 727345 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:09AM (#8336260) Homepage Journal
    How could we sink so low...

  • Great! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Trillan ( 597339 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:10AM (#8336271) Homepage Journal

    I want those hamsters. My GarageBand music could use a professional touch...

  • Well (Score:5, Funny)

    by savagedome ( 742194 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:11AM (#8336284)
    Using Hamster input for music. We are now a step closer to monkeys writing Shakespeare. Its finally going to be true!
  • HAMSTERS!? AHHHH!!!

    If I see one more hamster themed [hamsterdance.com] product, I'm going to kill someone.

    Seriously, that fuzzy little rodent species is getting way too much attention. The website and dancing musical hamsters are quite possibly the most obnoxious thing ever invented.

  • how long... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mikeeeeeee ( 748191 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:12AM (#8336289)
    until i can see them in concert?

  • hamster intelligence (Score:5, Funny)

    by tsunamifirestorm ( 729508 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:12AM (#8336290) Homepage
    an intelligent hamster controlled MIDI sequencer
    as opposed to a nonintelligent hamster? ;)

  • Why bother? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Rallion ( 711805 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:12AM (#8336293) Journal
    It's a multimedia item, and it looks to be pretty low bandwidth. Now the server is actually on fire somewhere and only about ten Slashdotters got to hear the hamsters play.

  • Well... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DoraLives ( 622001 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:12AM (#8336294)
    if you consider some of the *cough* art that's being foisted upon the music consumer these days by the Big Corps, this might be considered a sign of Coming Improvements in the product.

    Is the RIAA looking into this stuff?

    • Re:Well... (Score:5, Funny)

      by PacoTaco ( 577292 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @01:29AM (#8336775)
      Is the RIAA looking into this stuff?

      RIAA hamsters cost $17 each and you're not allowed to let them out of their cages.

      • RIAA hamsters cost $17 each and you're not allowed to let them out of their cages.

        And SCO will claim ownership of any offspring (as derivative works) should your hamsters have any offspring. May Darl have mercy on your soul if those offspring should produce their own music (derivatives of derivatives)...

      • Re:Well... (Score:3, Funny)

        by Maestro4k ( 707634 )
        • RIAA hamsters cost $17 each and you're not allowed to let them out of their cages.

        The RIAA announced today that they had served lawsuits on over 1000 pet stores allegedly selling RIAA hamsters as regular hamsters. Shortly thereafter it was reported that of those initially sued, one was a mortuary, another a bank, and a third a hospital. When asked about this, the RIAA just shrugged and said "We can afford to sue them, they can't afford to fight it, so they'll pay anyway. And that's all the matters i

    • Re:Well... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by lavaface ( 685630 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @01:45AM (#8336885) Homepage
      if you consider some of the *cough* art that's being foisted upon the music consumer these days by the Big Corps, this might be considered a sign of Coming Improvements in the product

      I'm getting tired of the endless comments about the endless stream of crap the "Big Corps" are shoving down our throats. While I agree there is a lot of redundant, senseless tripe being peddled these days, you have to give some credit for bands like Radiohead, Sigur Ros, DJ Shadow, and countless other deserving artists that are served up alongside the Spears and [insert mindless pop band]. I have the sneaking suspicion that much of the crud out there is not necessarily "foisted" upon the masses; a lot of idiots actually like the blah and request it. Companies respond to market forces.

      That being said, let me note I hate corporate control of culture. I would love to see the day when the general public catches on to how useful the internet can be for finding and promoting good music. I work with music and every day I see more people realizing you can sculpt soundscapes, make beats and bust grooves with a computer, cheap software and (also cheap) instruments. It's a two way street. Consumers can be producers. With sites like Magnatune [magnatune.com] and countless others it's just a matter of time before all true artists realize their best bet is to share and sell direct to fans. Two more years and that will be the prevailing model.

      Video is next . . .

  • Despite.. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by agent dero ( 680753 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:12AM (#8336297) Homepage
    the 'cool as hell qualities.'

    Does this question strike anybody; how much, alchohol/time/delirium must a person have to mix hamsters, small rodent aminamals, and MIDI.......

    Something just seems......weird here.
    • Does this question strike anybody; how much, alchohol/time/delirium must a person have to mix hamsters, small rodent aminamals, and MIDI.......

      Yes and I am jealous:) If only I had more more alchohol, time and delirium, then just maybe I too could be cool as hell.

    • Re:Despite.. (Score:5, Funny)

      by kinnell ( 607819 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @08:23AM (#8338300)
      how much, alchohol/time/delirium must a person have to mix hamsters, small rodent aminamals, and MIDI

      Sadly, not enough to make the conceptual leap from hamster-controlled-MIDI to MIDI-controlled-hamsters.

  • As long as they don't use a Badger... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:13AM (#8336299)
    Badger Badger Mushroom Snake!

    Sorry. I'll stand over hear and be quiet.

  • Why Not? (Score:5, Funny)

    by photonX ( 743718 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:13AM (#8336302)
    Well, we had the Monkeys, the Beatles, and the Byrds, why not the Hamsters?

    • We already have Alvin and the Chipmunks [chipmunks.com] and the copycats known as Hampton and the Hampsters [sonymusicstore.com].

    • Pfft, We had The Hamster back in like, what? 1998?

      Great group. About a hundred hamster dancing and singing acapella, I think was the idea. Anyhow they quickly sold out and became to "commercial" so I moved on to way more indie things. Poser.
    • Reminds me of when I was in high school on one of those academic challenge shows (college bowl type thing). We had to guess what three things had in common. The host reads "The Birds, The Frogs, The Clouds." I buzz in and answer "Sixties rock bands?"

      He says "No, but good guess. It is plays by Aristophanes. Plays by Aristophanes."

      Now I will never forget.

  • Damn, beat me to it :) (Score:5, Funny)

    by mcc ( 14761 ) <amcclure@purdue.edu> on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:14AM (#8336317) Homepage
    I was actually wanting to do something pretty much just like this with ferrets. My idea being you somehow attach something to some ferrets that will let you track their location and then set them loose in a room, and record their locations over a couple of minutes, and have the current location of each ferret correspond to one tone (maybe with the x position controlling frequency, and the y position controlling a VCF). The idea came when I was at the house of a friend who has six ferrets and he wound up dropping all six into a plastic bag and then just dropping the bag in someone's lap... ferrets just spewed out everywhere...

    Unfortunately unlike me the hamster people appear to have actually (1) initiative and (2) the technical will to get it done. Of course, I have the definite advantage that unlike them, my web page still works, because they have just been linked in a slashdot story and I, due to my clever strategy of not putting up cool hamster music, haven't... ;)
    • What is the point of that? Might as well just roll some dice and play a note based on whatever comes up. What exactly do the ferrets have to do with it, other than making some randomness. Explain the point to it, I don't get it. I could just mash on a keyboard with my eyes closed and come up with the same thing.

      • Depends on your sample rate. Ferrets (unless they develop the power of teleportation) move relative to their previous position. So you'd get a frequency shift more like a therimen (ack, is that the spelling of the damn thing).

        Whereas die have a tendency towards randomness (Obviously). Unless you use the randomness to seed an algorithm its going to sounds very musically odd and disjointed.

    • People have RC cars that are controlable from the web, why not attach a webcam and some electrodes to a small pet. Steer the creature around with a light current(irritating but not painful) on either side, buzz the left side and the ferret turns right and vice versa, maybe one on the nose and one on the tail too...
    • I was actually wanting to do something pretty much just like this with ferrets.

      And people thought I was weird because I listened to music made with shopping carts, steel pipes and plastic waste bins.

  • Mirror (Score:5, Informative)

    by markclong ( 575822 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:14AM (#8336319)
    Never thought I'd have to mirror Cornell but here she is!

    http://slushdot.org/mirror/hamster/ [slushdot.org]

    It's a work in progress...give it some time.
  • I mean come on here..admit it

    It's gotta be better than half the crap on the airwaves today !

  • en masse (Score:2, Funny)

    by slobod ( 726279 )
    Ironic that a hamster site shows what a bunch of lemmings slashdotters are. Everbody races to the links at once until a server crashes to a grisly death...

  • Cornell makes me say this... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Faust7 ( 314817 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:20AM (#8336367) Homepage
    Looks like a hamster-controlled web server as well.

  • So.....how does it go? (Score:5, Funny)

    by trainsnpep ( 608418 ) <mikebenzaNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:24AM (#8336409)
    1) Get Hampsters to make music
    2) ?
    3) Profit!

  • HaHaHampsters (Score:2, Funny)

    by sr180 ( 700526 )
    Honda use them to power engines, these guys use them in synthesis, what else can hampsters do?

  • Saw this coming up 5th Avenue (Score:3, Funny)

    by blair1q ( 305137 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:27AM (#8336432) Journal
    I found this wonderful page on the net.

    This is the "needless to say" of /.

    You found this wonderful page, so you posted the link, and now 90,000 of your closest friends (sorry about that) have found it, too. Or rather, its ISP's favorite mode of error coding a smoldering pile of rubble...

  • Hearing Threshold (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:30AM (#8336445)
    A hamster's hearing covers only a fraction of ours (http://www.utoledo.edu/psychology/animalhearing/h amster.html), I wonder if the researchers considered using other rodents like mice (SpiceMice) or groundhogs for that Barry White sound.

  • It's voice activated! (Score:5, Funny)

    by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @12:30AM (#8336451) Homepage Journal
    To abort the program, you have to shout ARMAGEDDON!

    (Before modding me off-topic, look it up. :P)
  • I promote this song to Grammy Best Animal Music ever produced. The tune is catchy to say at the least.

  • After creating the HamsterMIDI an automated process could upload the files to the internet via the RFC 1149 [ietf.org] protocol.

    I for one would love to see this. Because the day hamsters and pigeons can create and distribute music, is [insert RIAA flamebait here]..
  • How many emails have you deleted that started out just like that?

    In this case it should be: Found this wonderful site on the net and thought, "Why not turn its server into a smoldering heap of slag!"

  • Our poor server! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 20, 2004 @01:08AM (#8336665)
    I don't think our server was designed to handle much load. (I work for the Neurobiology and Behavior department at Cornell University.) I can't remember what kind of computer it is, but I don't remember it being anything fancy.

    Levy worked on my audio project this summer, and he brought his hamsters into the lab for a couple of days. They smelled horrible! I can't imagine anyone keeping them as pets, but, to each his own, right?

  • Would a service for sharing those songs be called Nampster?
  • I just got two siberian hamsters and boy are they son's-a-bitches. I was told that they are "agressive," little did I know that agressive meant that they would try to literally KILL me through the cage. This little fuckers HISS at me and try to knaw through the cage and bite me. Once one bit my finger so hard that I had to pry it off. The people at petsmart also forgot to mention that very soon, the hamsters will try to KILL each other. I even got the little bastards yogurt treats and a fucking hamster
    • The people at petsmart also forgot to mention that very soon, the hamsters will try to KILL each other.

      If they are from different litters, this is normal behaviour. Have you tried sprinkling baby powder on them so they can't tell each other apart by scent?

      I haven't been around rodents for a LONG time, but that usually worked pretty well.
      • No, the bastards are from the same litter. It's just that they are Siberian Hamsters with a naturally high temper (why fucking sell them in the first place as pets?) and once they realize that they are actually evil, they will try to kill each other.
    • ...hamster house that looks like a mini McDonald's playground

      jeez... and you wonder
    • Seriously, rats are social, give "warning nips" before seriously trying to hurt you, like humans, and can learn tricks and stuff. Cheap like hampsters too.

      Mine used to have an open top cage, and could climb out, go across the dresser, to the shelf, to the windowsill to my bedstand, to my bed and come sleep with me. (It was an albino, which cant see to well so they dont make blind leaps off of stuff... never ended up on the floor unless I put her there.)

      Though if you get two, get littermates or they may

  • Great (Score:2, Funny)

    by lostguy ( 35444 )
    Anyone want to start a pool on when RIAA tries to shut down "Hamster", the Internet-based music swapping system?
  • After watching it, can any of you audiophiles pick out which hampster is which melody/rythm ?

    That would be kinda cool if you could.
  • I had (still have) a Sequential Circuits Pro One Synth. There was no midi then but it did have control voltage inputs for Gate(note on/off) and Pitch.

    Having a really sporting girlfriend at the time. A bit of wire, a nine volt battery and some Reynolds wrap and we were wired for sound. The synth was set for a pad/drone sound and she was one part of the circuit and I was the other.

    The changing resistances between our bodies made some both pretty cool and pretty funny sounds. We both enjoyed but the wires di

  • usenet? (Score:2, Funny)

    by nfman ( 109619 )
    What happens when those deviants on usenet hear about this... alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.small.furry.animals. midi perhaps?

    Disclaimer: IANAUD (I am not a usenet deviant :) )

  • ObPython reference (Score:3, Funny)

    by Salsaman ( 141471 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @05:52AM (#8337845) Homepage
    I prefer "Three Blinded White Mice" on the Mouse Organ.

  • FIrst Power, then Music? (Score:3, Funny)

    by fuzzybunny ( 112938 ) on Friday February 20, 2004 @07:17AM (#8338067) Homepage Journal

    Great. This reminded me of a list I once posted to rec.humor.funny [rec.humor.funny] about getting electric power from hamsters.

    Until now, the poor things were limited to purely acoustic music. This way, we can finally get an all-electric hamster band going!

    I'm just waiting for hamster groupies.

    Here's the list:


    The following should be credited to the UC Berkeley CSUA. I left a world-writeable file in my account and waited to see what people would put in it...
    42 ways to get electric power from hamsters

    Stick copper and zinc electrode-needles in opposite ends of hamster. Use in series for higher voltage. -gwh

    Shove them back and forth in Richard Gere's butt. Creates static electricity.

    Go to Radio Chack and offer them the hamster in exchange for two AAA batteries.

    Attach the hamster to a hand-crank generator and then drop it onto a trampoline.

    Ignite in large numbers. Use heat released to drive steam turbine.

    Kidnap and threaten to torture. Extort ransom from animal-rights activists and other anti-cruelty types: demand payment in the form of electric current.

    Drop hamsters from great heights. Use water-mill like turbine to generate electricity.

    Drop large numbers of hamsters into tar pit, wait a few million years, drill for crude oil at same location to run electric turbine.

    Cold Fusion -> Steam Turbine. No explanation necessary. -seano

    Any form of neutron capture / beta emission. -seano

    Convince hamsters they're really lemmings. Show cliff to hamsters. Install turbine halfway down cliff.

    Densely pack hamsters into flywheel shape. Spin rapidly. Attach generator.

    Put hamster on electricity-generating treadmill. Feed back small portion of generated electricity into hamster brain pleasure center. Watch him generate his little heart out!

    Seal large quantity of hamsters in air tight holding tanks. Add water. Allow suitable time to pass for decomposition. Collect methane gas resulting. Put gas in fuel cells.

    Smush mucho hamsters in a trough, use the drippings/blood to run a waterwheel for hydroelectric power.

    Give hamsters lots of shitty beer. Use piss and vomit to run hydroelectric generator.

    Skin hamster. Melt animal fat into tallow and then form candles. Heat steam turbine.

    Switch hamsters for P6 chips coming of Intel assembly lines. Saved electricity will be enormous. Cover performance loss by releasing new version of Windows NT at the same time. -gwh

    Build glass room. Put hamsters inside. Put cocaine inside. Ground the floor and attach negative leads to the ceiling. -gwh

    Have hamster steal one of kube's magic cards. Leech power from resulting nuclear strike.

    Teach hamsters to play blackjack. Once they're at the competitive level, convince Las Vegas hotel owners to convert to serving hamsters. Saved electricity from smaller lights, hotels, etc. -gwh

    Accumulate enough hamsters that the self-gravitational force causes the mass to shrink and heat up. Use thermocouples to generate energy. -gwh

    Raid PG&E corporate headquarters. Threaten to drop hamster down CEO's pants unless he gives you a power plant. -gwh

    Get several dozen hamsters. Shoot them up with crystal meth. Attach dog sled.

    (This is, undoubtedly, the way to get the most power from them) Combine the hamster with an equal mass of antimatter -- a anti-hamster if you will. Then harness the massive energy release for power....

    Have the Emperor warp and twist a hamster clone into an evil Anti-Hamster, Darth Hamster. This should be good for 4-6 sequels. Install tension to electricity converters into theatre. -gwh

    a. Find a _good_ genetic engineer.
    b. Splice appropriate genes from electric eels into hamsters, because they're smaller and cuter and, well, hamsters.
    c. Feed the hamsters.
    d. Surgically install appropriate electrodes.
    e. Periodically drain off the volt
  • Is anybody else reminded of Explorers [imdb.com]? That scene where Wolfgang's mouse or hamster or whatever it is steps on the switches to ask for cheese? Did anybody else see this one? Flight of the Navigator meets generic buddy flick? Bueller?

    I'll go sit by myself now.

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