The Radiodrum or radio-baton is a

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

played in three-dimensional space using two mallets (snare drum sticks with wires). It was developed at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

in the 1980s (and patented), originally to be a three-dimensional

computer mouse A computer mouse (plural mice, sometimes mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of a pointer on a display, which allows a smooth c ...

. Currently it is used as a musical instrument similar to a

MIDI controller A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance. They mos ...

in the sense that it has no inherent sound or effect, but rather produces control signals that can be used to control sound-production (or other effect.) As such, it can be thought of as a general

telepresence Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance or effect of being present via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location. Telepresence requires that the user ...

input device. The radiodrum works in a similar way to the

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

, which uses

magnetic capacitance Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

to locate the position of the drumsticks. The two mallets act as antennas transmitting on slightly different frequencies and the drum surface acts as a set of antennas. The combination of the antenna signals is used to derive X, Y and Z. The radiodrum was designed by Bob Boie.

Max Mathews Max Vernon Mathews (November 13, 1926 in Columbus, Nebraska, USA – April 21, 2011 in San Francisco, CA, USA) was a pioneer of computer music. Biography Mathews studied electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology and the Ma ...

recognized its musical potential, mainly focusing on a conducting paradigm, and developed several other versions of it.

Andrew Schloss Andrew Schloss ( Walter Andrew Schloss; born 1952 Hartford, Connecticut) is an American musician and computer engineer. Career Schloss is perhaps best known for his work with the radiodrum, a three-dimensional midi-controller. Schloss is a pione ...

pioneered its use as a percussion device and further developed its software and hardware. The radiodrum has been used to control visual effects, and even robotic acoustic instruments like the Yamaha Disklavier and

Trimpin Trimpin (born Gerhard Trimpin)
FutureMusic.com, June 21, 2006. Accessed online 6 October 2007. (born 195 ...

instruments. The latest version (as of 2013) of the radiodrum was developed by Bob Boie and Andrew Schloss. In addition to X, Y and Z, there is an output for the derivative of Z, which is used to detect changes of direction of the mallets, enabling fine control over snare-drum rolls and other nuanced percussive techniques. In addition to works by Andrew Schloss, the instrument has been used extensively by composer

David A. Jaffe David Aaron Jaffe (born April 29, 1955) is an American composer who has written over ninety works for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, and electronics. He is best known for his use of technology as an electronic-music or computer-music c ...

, with Schloss as soloist, in works including: * "The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World," a 70-minute seven-movement concerto for radiodrum-controlled Yamaha Disklavier piano and an orchestra of plucked strings and percussion instruments * "Racing Against Time," for radiodrum-controlled computer physical models (electronic sound), with two violins, two saxophones and piano * "The Space Between Us," for radiodrum-controlled Trimpin percussion instruments and eight strings distributed around the concert hall * "Underground Economy," an Afro-Cuban improvisational work for radiodrum-controlled electronics, violin and piano Other works include

Richard Boulanger Richard Charles Boulanger (born November 10, 1956) is a composer, author, and electronic musician. He is a key figure in the development of the audio programming language Csound, and is associated with computer music pioneers Max Mathews and Barr ...

's "Solemn Song for Evening", using the Bohlen-Pierce scale.

References

External links

Max Mathews demonstrates Radio Baton in 2010 (Computer History Museum)Pictures of radiodrumInformation on David A. Jaffe's music
Electronic musical instruments Human–computer interaction Musical instrument parts and accessories Music software Articles containing video clips {{Electronic-musical-instrument-stub

See also

References

External links