I recently visited Brian Crabtree and Kelli Cain at their loft in Philadelphia. Located within earshot of the rattling El train, their home also doubles as the laboratory for their unique digital creation, the Monome. Part looping station, part scientific gadget, the Monome is a simple white square filled with several rows of buttons that can be programmed for a myriad of sounds, samples and functions. “People have used it as a drum machine, sequencer, as an egg timer…” said Crabtree. The open-source software can be used and altered by anyone.
Crabtree and Cain assemble most of the Monomes at their loft, a daunting process that involves countless hours of wiring and soldering. A new Monome, the 256, was about to be released to the public when we visited. Crabtree assembled one for us on the spot. Click the video below to watch several performances and some of the other creations Crabtree and Cain cooked up including silk-screened shipping boxes, felt electronics, and a mud oven for cooking homemade pizza!
11 comments
Sign in to add your ownSarahkat says:
Very cool!
5 years ago
sarawearsskirts says:
philly rules!
5 years ago
vital says:
ha! so cool!
5 years ago
rarebeasts says:
This thing is so cool, looks like endless possibilities for how to use it. Well done, great success story.
5 years ago
crankbunny says:
yay kelli! yay!
5 years ago
bykes says:
Wow! Are you ever coming to Chicago to play? I am blown away by the Monomes.
5 years ago
Needlings says:
radical
5 years ago
LadyRayCello says:
Wow, I went to CalArts with them! I'm glad to see they're doing extremely cool stuff.... :)
5 years ago
yinny says:
This gives me hope for humanity. Inventive people doing clever things and sharing.
5 years ago
wiseacre says:
amazing cool dorkness! every accountant needs a felted calc.
5 years ago
Jaclyn Hope from utrdesigns says:
haha, I live here now so this video is very strange. But the monome is neat.
1 year ago