Deconstructing The Gibson Robot

At the Embedded Systems Conference, teardown expert and guitarist David Carey disassembled the electronic system on a Gibson Robot Les Paul. CNet posted pictures.

Last.fm Streaming Good For Music Sales

Interesting news from over at Wired's Listening Post where Mr. Van Buskirk sez the early returns from Last.fm's full-track streaming are good news for music sales.

Laugh Gleefully Or Cry In Despair?

That's how I feel after finding out that Yamaha will finally be releasing the Tenori-On in the United States. The happiness? Because the Tenori-On is f'ing cool.

The tears? Because Yamaha is only releasing 100 units a month, with the run rumored to top out at 1,000 for the year. Plus, the price tag will be about $1,200.00 (US dollars). That means some of us will end up paying about double or triple that on eBay for the Tenori-On, used or new.

If you can't stand the wait, or if you don't have $1,200 to throw at it, you could always tide yourself over with a Korg KAOSSILATOR. At $200, it's a lot more affordable and offers a modest slice of the geeky musical goodness of the Tenor-On.

Save Your Ears

Protect your hearing. This cool wiki page on the Wired How-To Wiki gives you some tips.

Crazy Record Labels

Hahhahahhaha. Phew.

MAN! More Cool Pitchfork TV News

Pitchfork announced today that Radiohead will be joining the launch of Pitchfork.tv! The band got together in Nigel Godrich's basement to shoot a live performance of the song "Bangers & Mash" from the In Rainbows album. Obviously Pitchfork is thrilled, and I'm sure there are a lot of fans out there who are, too. I'll definitely be watching. Is there any band in the world as cool as Radiohead right now? I think not. It just seems like they're firing on all cylinders in the right direction at the right time.

FindSounds Internet Sounds Search Engine

Now THIS is cool! Ever wish you could find a sound on the Internet? Not a song, necessarily, but a sound. You know they're out there, you've heard them on websites, but it's not always easy to locate them. The other day I stumbled upon a unique search engine called FindSounds designed just for that purpose. You can search for all types of sounds, from aardvarks to jet airplanes. And you can even filter for certain types of files, like 8-bit, AIFF, mono, WAV, sample rate, etc. Pretty cool.

Woohoo! More Pitchfork TV News!

Remember back when I posted this? Well, we're in the homestretch now for the launch of Pitchfork.tv! I don't know about you, but I'm really excited. I got even more pumped when Pitchfork posted their initial schedule on Monday.

The highlights include the most-excellent Pixies documentary loudQUIETloud: A Film About The Pixies which follows the band around on their 2004 tour, Juan's Basement will finally surface, there will be a rooftop performance by excellent punk-poppers The Thermals, and some up-close-and-personal time with the folks at Death By Audio, makers of some of the craziest noise blasters around. Good times for music lovers.