ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Onyx Ashanti - Beatjazz inventor and controllerist
Onyx Ashanti is the inventor of "beatjazz" -- a new way to make music.

Why you should listen

Onyx Ashanti is a musician, geek, open-source advocate, Maker, collaborator ... and we come back around again to musician. The intrumentation he has created fuses technique and technology into a full-body musical system, playable with hands, arms, mouth and body. As he says:

I am what can only be described as a cyborg musician.  in other words, the music i create live, can not be replicated without technology. My music is called "Beatjazz." It is a mix of sound design, live looping and jazz improvisation. My instrument of choice over the years has been a Yamaha Wind MIDI controller, but now the limitations have started to stunt the growth of this new form, so i designed an instrument that can take it into future.

He is now working on the next iteration of his instrument, codenamed Tron, and built around a helmet-mounted controller.

More profile about the speaker
Onyx Ashanti | Speaker | TED.com
Full Spectrum Auditions

Onyx Ashanti: This is beatjazz

Filmed:
884,234 views

Musician and inventor Onyx Ashanti demonstrates "beatjazz" -- his music created with two handheld controllers, an iPhone and a mouthpiece, and played with the entire body. At TED's Full Spectrum Auditions, after locking in his beats and loops, he plays a 3-minute song that shares his vision for the future of music.
- Beatjazz inventor and controllerist
Onyx Ashanti is the inventor of "beatjazz" -- a new way to make music. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

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(Music)
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Text: BeatJazz.
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BeatJazz is:
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1. Live looping,
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2. Jazz improvisation
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And
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3. "Gestural" sound design.
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Accelerometers
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on each hand
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read hand position.
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The color of the lights
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indicates which sound I am playing.
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Red = Drums,
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Blue = Bass,
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Green = Chords,
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Orange = Leads,
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Purple = Pads
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The mouthpiece
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consists of ...
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a button,
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two guitar picks
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and lots of hot glue.
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The heads-up display
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is a smartphone that displays system parameters.
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Why?
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To atomize music culture
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so that ALL past, present and future genres
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can be studied and abstracted, live.
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And
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"BeatJazzers"
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become as common as D.J.'s.
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But mostly ...
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to MAKE the future
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rather than wait for it.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Onyx Ashanti - Beatjazz inventor and controllerist
Onyx Ashanti is the inventor of "beatjazz" -- a new way to make music.

Why you should listen

Onyx Ashanti is a musician, geek, open-source advocate, Maker, collaborator ... and we come back around again to musician. The intrumentation he has created fuses technique and technology into a full-body musical system, playable with hands, arms, mouth and body. As he says:

I am what can only be described as a cyborg musician.  in other words, the music i create live, can not be replicated without technology. My music is called "Beatjazz." It is a mix of sound design, live looping and jazz improvisation. My instrument of choice over the years has been a Yamaha Wind MIDI controller, but now the limitations have started to stunt the growth of this new form, so i designed an instrument that can take it into future.

He is now working on the next iteration of his instrument, codenamed Tron, and built around a helmet-mounted controller.

More profile about the speaker
Onyx Ashanti | Speaker | TED.com