TiCS = “This is Cool Stuff”
I thought I’d try something new where I would showcase some neat stuff I’ve found around the internetz once a month.

1. A Cool Way of Visualizing the FFT
Ben McChesney took the openFrameworks addon, ofxFFT and made a neat way of visualizing the Fast Fourier Transform of whatever his mic was picking up…in this case, his voice and music.



2. Jen Lewin’s “The Pool”
I found this on Sparkfun where they featured a project by Boulder artist Jen Lewin and I thought it would be worth mentioning here. It’s a bunch of circular platforms arranged in a circular fashion where stepping on them will trigger what seems to be colour changes which propagate throughout the installation. There’s no central control. Instead, each platform receives instructions from adjacent platforms which instruct it to do something.


3. 99 Luftballoons + Kinect
Danomatika created this piece for a MFA 1st & 2nd year (art) show using a Kinect, openCV, pureData and openFrameworks. Oh yeah, he also uses a bunch of balloons. In one mode, throwing a balloon will play a tone. The pitch and pan is determined by the balloon’s height and x/y position respectively. In another mode, keeping a balloon in the air will play “99 Luftballoons” by Nena, speeding up or slowing down the song depending on the balloon’s height.


4. Music – Bruce Peninsula
Finally for a music feature, check out Bruce Peninsula, a Canadian band sharing the same name as a national park in Ontario. They’ve got a pretty awesome sound and play a great show if you ever catch them live.