GeneticFuture.org – For a few years I've been really interested in the bleeding edge of genetics & genomics research, especially as it applies to ethics. This site will start off as a news blog, but will later incorporate all sorts of primer/tutorial-type information. It's goal is to eventually serve as a one-stop spot for learning about genetics and the challenges we will face as our society considers using this technology in the coming decades.

Rocket Network – Okay, big project here. Three friends and I started a compay in 1995 called Res Rocket Surfer, which later grew to become a super-corporate entity called Rocket Network. This project was all about allowing musicians and audio professionals to collaborate on songs / soundtracks over the Internet. Yes, you could actually fire up your favorite MIDI/audio sequencer (as long as it was Logic, Cubase, or ProTools) and work on a track, in real-time, with other people all over the world! (See how here.)

Rocket ended up spending $40M of Paul Allen's, Cisco's, & private investors money but never really got a business model that worked for making money itself. What a shame. It was such fun to use! In 2003 it was liquidated and Digidesign snapped up the pieces to release their own more expensive and less featured product, Digidelivery.

SampleSwap.org – Community-fed library of free (and sometimes royalty free) drum loops, instrument samples, strange sounds. This site was originally created as the Ontology "hotline" server in January 2000. As of mid-2005, sampleswap has over 7,500 members and one of the most wicked collections of high quality original loops, vocals, synths, and sound f/x anywhere. Free!

EXS-24 Samples – Happiness was mine forever the day Emagic shipped the EXS24, a software sampler that integrates with my favorite music tool, Logic Audio. Full-on huge editable filterable sample sets without leaving the comfort of your desktop. My AKAI sampler has been in a box on the shelf for months now. (Nov 2001 update: I sold the sucker. Software sampling rocks.)

Techno Taplights – This project involved using some inexpensive parts to cobble together an extremely funky yet ghetto taplight-to-computer interface for the purpose of playing drum loops while DJ'ing. It's Reaktor based, it's got tap-tempo, it glows.

Watching computer DJ's just fiddle around with laptops is boring and sometimes bewildering. Watching Djs use taplights makes sense. Hit big glowing light. Hear slamming beat. Connection made. Click pix to learn how to make this kind of shit yourself.

Yet another cow-print covered electronic device, this one hand-held and created for Burning Man 2001. Witness the transformation of a dust buster and a several childrens toys into an almost magic device which can accurately detect:

   • Sinners from saints
   • Methane
   • Whose got a dirty thought
   • Boner / sex drive alarm

No, it doesn't rely on any principles of physics, but it does rely on tomfoolery made possible by the guts of a remote control car...
   

Pipe dream for the very coolest portable audio sampling device you can imagine. Paper-napkin scrawlings and hardboiled rants forthcoming. This hasn't been built yet. Wanna help me?

2004 update: Someone finally made it! Well, almost. These Sharp MiniDisc recorders feature "traceback" which starts recording from 30 seconds before you hit the record button. (Honest!) I bought one the second I found out these had been made. It's great when the ideas you have are spontaneously had somewhere else, and you can go out and buy the product for $200 instead of engaging in a several-year journey to get the thing made.

Yet another pipe-dream, rants forthcoming. This may never get built. Very expensive, but very marketable. Someone  ought to build it though...