Here at Needledrop we will be starting a podcast simply called “The Drop”.  The first episode will be all on women producers from a variety of genres.  One of the producers we are planning to feature is an artist by the name of Rucyl out of NYC. Not only is she producer, she  is also a singer and founder of the label Elektrocardio.   This is not what sets her apart from other artists. Here is the kicker she also is an inventor with a keen fashion sense. 

She recently invented the Elektro-07. What is an Elektro-07? Well it is wearable MIDI controller.  For those who are not to familar with what MIDI is, it stands for Musical Intrument Digital Interface and it allows electronic instruments to communicate with computers and each other. 

She constructed her wearable MIDI controller from black leather and snakeskin.  You place the controller over your shoulder and comes with all the bells and whistle and electronic artist would need. Here is Rucyl’s description of her creation (via Synthopia): 

“I built the elektro-07 so I could control the sonic and visual parameters of my live performances without having to look deep into the eye of my laptop, hunched over in computer music stance. I’m still learning how to play it.. Software wise, it runs a maxMSP/Jitter patch smoothly, connected to my laptop by a long usb cable. Major thanks to Luke DuBois. “Originally it was named the Chakakhantroller after Chaka Khan… but you wouldn’t believe how many people don’t get the reference.. so I changed it to Elektro-07 after my newly launched label, Elektrocardio.”

Mills promises that the next version will be wireless.

I would love to see her perform her music with this device.  It definitely takes the impersonal feeling when watching a laptop artist perform live. Some of her weapons of choice are her mac, max/msp/jitter , and Logic Studio 8 

Rucyl – “Love in War v3″

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Rucyl – “Abused with Asrtrid Suryanto and Chris Bann

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Create Digital Music » Sexy Computer Nerd: Rucyl Mills’ Wearable, Over-the-Shoulder MIDI Controller

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