{"id":2682,"date":"2014-03-18T11:55:19","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T15:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nowthissound.com\/ntsib\/?p=2682"},"modified":"2014-03-16T22:37:38","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T02:37:38","slug":"gadgetry-michaelforrest-infinitemusicmachine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nowthissound.com\/ntsib\/2014\/03\/18\/gadgetry-michaelforrest-infinitemusicmachine\/","title":{"rendered":"Gadgetry: Michael Forrest, Infinite Music Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image003\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m filing this post under “gadgetry” because producer Michael Forrest<\/a> has created something that fuses music and technology: an album that is also an app. Currently available for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches, it is a collection of 1000 loops of electronic textures designed to run, as it says on the tin, infinitely and with endless recombinations of sounds.<\/p>\n

How It Works:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I tested it on my iPhone. The interface is mercifully simple, clean and reasonably intuitive. The first time you use it you will need to let all the loops download, but that only takes a few minutes, and doesn’t impede play. To get started all you have to do is press the “play” button. You can then leave it to its own devices for as long as you like – if it gets stuck in a set of loops you don’t care for, give it a shake and it moves on – or you can press the stack of bars that will lead you to a more complex menu.<\/p>\n

The more complex menu is designed with six buttons, three across the top and three across the bottom, with eight slowly rotating discs between them. There are pop-up text boxes that explain the various functions, which I turned off almost immediately as they cluttered the screen and were somewhat repetitive. (Also they seemed to get crankier as I poked and prodded. No need to fiddle!<\/i> one informed me, which is about when I turned it off.)<\/p>\n

The buttons, top to bottom, left to right:<\/p>\n

Playing\/Pause:<\/strong> Tells you if the Infinite Music Machine is on or off. You can also turn it on and off from the lock screen.<\/p>\n

Movement:<\/strong> Increases and decreases the tempo <\/p>\n

Change:<\/strong> Changes the textures that are playing; you can do the same thing by shaking the phone or tapping one of the rotating discs between the buttons. <\/p>\n

Save\/share:<\/strong> You can tap in the upper right to save; titles are prefilled, and tend to be things like “Tickle Drum Roll A”, but you can change it. Or you can share the loops via Twitter or Facebook.<\/p>\n

About:<\/strong> Pulled up a tiny blockheaded dancing Michael Forrest avatar that made me want to personalize it, because really, tiny block-headed dancing avatars for everyone!! Also there are basic instructions and a link to Forrest’s Facebook page.<\/p>\n

Sets:<\/strong> A list of your saved sets.<\/p>\n

Other notes:<\/strong>
\nAs mentioned above, the eight discs in the middle are visual representations of the number of textures in play. There are usually between three and five discs rotating, though I did get all eight going at once for a couple of seconds.<\/p>\n

Quibbles:<\/strong>
\nDesire for my own dancing avatar aside, I have very few complaints, the main one being when the phone is locked, you can see which discs are moving but cannot turn them on and off without opening the app.<\/p>\n

Verdict:<\/strong>
\nI let it run for about an hour and a half, largely unmolested – I think I shook it twice – and overall it was quite pleasant. Well worth your $1.99.<\/p>\n

Here is a fixed sample of the kind of music the app can produce:<\/p>\n