Wii Loop Machine

Wii LoopMachine on a Bike!

rolo@theamazingrolo.net (The Amazing Rolo) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:11:18 +0000

I get some pretty awesome emails from Wii LoopMachiners using the software in fun and interesting ways, but this one definitely ups the ante. Polish sound artist Arszyn, aka Krzyszstof Topolski recently used the LoopMachine for the Street Waves Festival in Gdansk. On a bike. Awesome.

Wii performance in London

rolo@theamazingrolo.net (The Amazing Rolo) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:05:43 +0000

My Wii remotes and I will be in London early next week to play at a very exciting launch party for My-Um.com! The show starts at 8 on June 15th at The Dublin Castle in Camden, and is only £6. I’ll be using several Wii remotes, possibly some Jam Jars, and much more. Hope to see you there!

Unique Beats

rolo@theamazingrolo.net (The Amazing Rolo) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:09:28 +0000

Last weekend, whilst I was cavorting around the Maker Faire, an amazing event was happening right here in Edinburgh: Unique Beats. A “festival of electronica”, in featured appearances by Ableton, Cakewalk, Edirol, Korg, and many other really big companies, and I appeared via video! Here’s the first of two videos I made specifically for Unique Beats, a short tutorial explaining how I made the Wii BeatLooper in Max/MSP:

You should also subscribe to the Unique Beats podcast, where you can hear an Amazing Rolo song!

Maker Faire Day 1

rolo@theamazingrolo.net (The Amazing Rolo) — Sun, 31 May 2009 16:53:13 +0000

Phew, what an amazing and exhausting day yesterday at the Maker Faire! Thanks to everyone who dropped by and said hello and played with the LoopMachine and the Jam Jars! Those of you interested in the Jars should check out my Amazing Rolo website for much more information about them, I’ll be posting schematics and directions soon.

Otherwise, please poke around this website to find free downloads and watch tons of videos of the LoopMachine family in action!

Anyone coming to the Maker Faire today has a chance to win a LoopMachine t-shirt - just come on down to booth number 121 (next to the tesla coils) and say “The LoopMachine is awesome!”

The doors have just opened for day two. Let’s get Looping!

Road to Maker Faire, we’ve made it!

rolo@theamazingrolo.net (The Amazing Rolo) — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:31:04 +0000

Oh my goodness, this is getting exciting. We made it to San Francisco and checked into the Maker Faire yesterday. We’ve got booth number 121, so come on down and say hello! We have already seen a giant mechanical giraffe, an amazing set of prepared pianos, and a giant moving plastic bottle sculpture. Fantastic stuff. Can’t wait to bring out the LoopMachine and my collection of Wii remotes!

Download the Wii BeatLooper

rolo@theamazingrolo.net (The Amazing Rolo) — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:35:47 +0000

The Wii BeatLooper, which I showed off a couple of days ago in this video, is now available for download! Click here to download the standalone application for Mac OS X, as well as some free samples, a pdf that explains connecting the Wii remote to your computer, and the Max/MSP patches for anyone who wants to play around!

The Road to Maker Faire Part 1

rolo@theamazingrolo.net (The Amazing Rolo) — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:16:59 +0000

Here’s a video showing off the first mini-wii-music-software I’ve made in celebration of going to the Maker Faire next week! It’s a simple beat looper that let’s use scratch, effect, and mess around while dancing around (and looking awesome, of course).

The plan is to have a bunch of little bits of software like this ready the Maker Faire, along with a bunch of wii remotes, so that groups of people can jam out together! I’ll be making more videos in the next few days showing them off, and I’ll be posting the software + Max patches on the site very soon as well! Phew! Very exciting stuff!

The Road to Maker Faire

rolo@theamazingrolo.net (The Amazing Rolo) — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:48:09 +0000

Next week the LoopMachine team is heading off to San Francisco for the Maker Faire! It’s very exciting stuff, and over the next week I will be using this blog to give a sneak peek at the preparations. Stay tuned, and check back soon for updates, videos, and even some treats!

Wii LoopMachine at This happened…

rolo@theamazingrolo.net (The Amazing Rolo) — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:53:29 +0000

A few months ago I was flattered to be invited to present at the very first edition of “This happened…” outside of London [edit: this is not actually true! sorry for the inaccurate statement, apparently it has also happened in Utrecht]. My presentation was all about my work with the Wii LoopMachine, and you can watch it all right here! Includes bonus LoopMachine improvisation at the end! Thanks to Mike Greer for the video, and to the whole This happened crew for a great night altogether.

Wii LoopMachine + Saxophone

rolo@theamazingrolo.net (The Amazing Rolo) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:34:52 +0000

File this one under “awesome”. Stephen Monslow sent me this video showing him exploring the Wii LoopMachine with the Wiimote attached to his saxophone. Nice idea, and this is apparently just his initial tests for a full-blown SaxLoopMachine performance that is happening soon. He has promised me videos, and you can be sure that I’ll post them here as soon as I see them. Rock on, Stephen.