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I’m featured on the cover of the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye today–it’s a free magazine for a feature about geek girls, and especially those in Chicago.

“Geek Chic: New generation of women embracing inner geek” [via the RedEye]

If dissassembling computers is geeky and making jewelry is girly, then Liz McLean Knight has found geek-girl nirvana. From her Wicker Park office, Knight, 30, runs a line of accessories make from computer components and sells the “fashionably-geek hipster gear” on a Web site she created, fractalspin.com.

There you’ll find necklaces made from capacitors. Handbags made of diskettes. Cufflinks made from microcontrollers. Woot! Those wrist cuffs made of MIDI cable are super neat!

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During Yuri’s Night in San Francisco you will have the opportunity to win a Tenori-On if you can create the most futuristic digital music interface / instrument (PS: The lineup is a veritable who’s who of contemporary, forward thinking electronic musicians: Amon Tobin, Tipper, John Tejada, Lusine, Scuba, Digitonal vs. Posthuman, [a]pendics.shuffle, Deru, Tycho, Mr. Projectile, Dr. Toast and Ganucheau).

Musicians have led many of the most innovative digital technological breakthroughs — the first digital synthesizer (at Bell Labs in the 50s), breakthroughs in modular electronic systems (modular synthesizers of the 60s), pioneering advances in digital storage and processing, unusual wireless interfaces and gestural controls decades ahead of the Nintendo Wii, and touch- and multi-touch tools years before the iPhone and Microsoft Surface.

But that’s all in the past. This is a design challenge for the future. We want to hear the best, most forward-thinking, generally coolest, Second Space Age-worthy instruments and digital music interfaces. If aliens land — as they did when met by a classic ARP synthesizer in Close Encounters — we want to be able to give them a great show.

Need extra incentive? The grand prize winner will take home a Yamaha Tenori-On.

How to enter

We’re looking for designs of “instruments” — whether self-contained, electrically-powered devices or hardware interfaces for computers. That can include tangible interfaces, physical computing, hacked hardware, custom-built synths and electronics, and other gadgets. These must use at least some custom software and/or hardware.

You are limited to one computer and one input device — but the “input device” can be as complex as an interactive table. If that sounds vague, just remember — ultimately, the judges and audience decide. Wow them, and all will be well.

Enter the Futuristic Music Design Challenge at Create Digital Music

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Gearwire’s Crosstalk returns from Los Angeles in its new audio podcast format. Bill Holland is joined by Owen O’Malley, and special guest Liz McLean Knight (Quantazelle, Createdigitalmusic.com, Liz Revision). Meet Liz and hear the Crosstalk picks for the best and worst things at Winter NAMM 2008.

My voice has a bit of unintentional distortion since I’ve been fighting this trendy virus thing that seems to be making the rounds (not this Virus–I’d gladly accept one of those). And I escaped with only one nerdy dork snort at a joke about the intertubes. I was stuffy.. yeah that’s it.

Crosstalk 38: Bashing Something That Deserves It — Guitar Hero

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About

Here’s a quick how-to by Gustavo Bravetti on making IDM-like patterns in Abelton Live. It makes me want to sit down and play with Live some more than I have.

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The National Association of Music Merchants holds an expo / trade show called the NAMM Show, that I helped cover for Create Digital Music. Apparently it’s the largest music products trade show in the entire United States. Judging from the traffic outside the convention center and the number of chain hotels in the area it makes sense. This funny poster we found posted outside the entrance is completely ironic–Anaheim is just someone with a Photoshop clone brush and a JPG of a strip mall.

That being said, NAMM itself was pretty cool. Here’s Peter Kirn and I’s overview: The NAMM Win and Fail lists.

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If you’ve got an electronic musician on your gift list but are clueless as to what would make them grin with delight on Xmas morning, I and the other staff at Create Digital Music are on hand with our suggestions for gifts for electronic musicians. Among them, a Ground Loop Isolator (for killing that annoying hum when you’re playing live), an excellent Laptop / Gig Bag (shown), and the Korg Kaossilator, a battery-powered synth that combines the touch interface of the Kaoss Pad with a bunch of Korg sounds and effects. Unfortunately the Kaossilator isn’t available in the US yet, but if you’re overseas you get first shot at playing with this cool toy.

Read the full guide: Our Favorite Things: Music Technology Holiday Gift Picks from CDM

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Got a guy on your gift list who’s got every gadget you can think of, and you’re not sure where to turn? Check out our suggestions for great geeky yet stylish gifts.

< Odin’s Rage Watch - $120.00
This futuristic watch has a novel way for displaying the time. You know how you’re expected to recall the position of numbers on a watch with a blank face? Well this watch operates on the same principle, but substitute a large inner dot for the hour hand position and a small outer dot for the minute hand position. Cool huh?

High Voltage Laptop Bag - $65.00 >
Watch yourself! Any guy who’s dreamed of having superpowers can indulge his fantasy just the slightest by suggesting that his mega gadget fascination has made him electrically charged himself. The army-green laptop bag has a padded laptop sleeve a roomy interior, and pockets under the flap to store a variety of other electron-pushing gear.

< Electronic Musician’s Emergency Adapters - $65.00
Even if the gift-recipient in question isn’t an electronic musician, he’ll be just as overjoyed to sift through this “first aid kit” and know he’ll be the hero when an audio emergency strikes. It has common audio adapters as well as ones used in professional audio situations, and there’s even an LED light to make following cables around in the dark much easier.

Duct Tape Hybrid BiFold Wallet - $25.00 >
Raw industrial style meets clean minimal design with a touch of futuristic aspiration in this wallet made from real duct tape. It’s made from a specially-designed duct tape that won’t lift, peel or get sticky like the normal stuff, so your man won’t have to worry about trying to delicately detach a fifty at the cashier while the line of impatient shoppers behind him grows.

More recommendations  over at the Fractalspin Blog: Best Geek Gifts for Guys 2007.

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Create Digital Music contributors Liz McLean-Knight and Michael Una will be presenting at Dorkbot Chicago this month, which falls on Wednesday, November  As always, it will take place at the excellent Deadtech, 3321 W. Fullerton Ave. in Chicago.

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