IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2008 - 33

runs a showcase of the newly created
work. LEMUR also hosts an ongoing
internship program, which affords participants a unique opportunity. "We are
working live with the technology, building
new instruments and putting on shows.
They get involved with all of that." Thus,
with electronic music easily accessible to
more people in these ways, its presence is
maintained in the public mind, even while
newer programs continue to be produced.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ACTIVISION AND RED OCTANE

sounding very differently due to all the
engineering involved. This is what Arrigo
sees as the most exciting part of his own
job. "Sound designer" is a super-cool
term because it connotes that I'm using
this technological medium to manipulate
sound." He clarifies: "What I do is the
sequencing of notes on different instruments for Rock Band (using MIDI). I
sequence in where the drums start as
well as some animation, like which drum
the rock star hits."
Arrigo, a musician
Auditioning Junk
himself (and a former stuLEMUR's ultimate philosodent of Lehrman), hopes
phy, as explained on the comthat these games ultimatepany's Web site, is to "build
ly inspire players to pick
robots that are new types of
up real instruments to
musical instruments, as
play in a more traditional
opposed to animatronic
sense. Paul Lehrman and
robots that play existing
Eric Singer are also musiinstruments." To accomplish
cians and, while Singer
this, Singer and his group
holds an engineering
look for items that make
degree from Carnegie Melinteresting sounds ("We audilon, all three maintain
tion junk," he laughs) and
that it was their love of
turn those particles into
music that led them into
instruments. For example,
the electronic field. It's
the xylophone sounds needed
quite inspiring, then, that
in the Ballet Mécanique are
they have been involved
made by 44 beaters, each of Interest in video games from music legends, including former
with such technological
which has its own assigned Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash (center), has boosted the profile of
Guitar Hero.
advances. Singer says that
pitch and becomes activated
what's really important is
by the MIDI files in the musi"an interest in and an aptitude for
cal score.
Virtual Rock Stars
learning. The people who succeed are
In addition to the Ballet Mécanique,
Something else is making automated
the people who are dedicated and
LEMUR's electronic musicians have permusic accessible to untrained musicians:
motivated, not necessarily the people
formed in interactive installations at
the highly popular Guitar Hero video
with the greatest skill."
other galleries, museums, and concerts.
game and its new cousin Rock Band. FusSo rest assured that the doors are
In an annual concert titled "Robosonic
ing rock music with video games, these
open to you if you are intrigued by a
Eclectic: Live Music by Humans and
programs let a user simulate playing an
future in electronic music. Lehrman,
Robots," musicians collaborate with the
instrument, as if in concert. Adam Arrigo,
Singer, and Arrigo are confident that the
robotic instruments to perform live
a sound designer at Harmonix, the comfeats achieved with computer music to
compositions.
pany that engineered the original Guitar
date are only the beginning, and that
But Singer's group doesn't just create
Hero as well as Rock Band, posits, "It's
there is much more to be discovered,
music; LEMUR has recently begun a resialmost a bridge to being in a real rock
developed and produced. But are the
dency program in its Brooklyn, New York,
band. You can play the music, but you
doors open for you at the Rock and Roll
studio space that invites three artists a
don't have all the issues like band memHall of Fame? Only time will tell . . . .
month to come work with their
ber drama-or hauling equipment."
resources. All are welcome to apply: comThere is, however, the very "real" experi-Leslie Prives is a freelance writer
posers, performance artists, dancers, and
ence of seeing how music starts with
living in New York City.
others. At the end of each month, Singer
notes played on the guitar but comes out
Singer, "but the feedback was so positive
that they left it up for ten weeks."
It is no wonder that audiences were
enthralled with the exhibit, given that
the performance was like nothing anyone had ever seen before. "People have
preconceived notions of what robots look
like," says Singer. "But the machines we
make don't look like robots and they
don't look like musical instruments.
They are robots that are instruments."

SUMMER 2008

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

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