databending fun

so i read that google had changed its algorithms so that old-school google bombs like "miserable failure" would no longer work. so i thought i should check my page rank for "databending", which used to be pretty high. (the algorithm change isn't supposed to change your rank if you want to be linked with a search term, but it never hurts to check.)

turns out the number one result is my bent image gallery, which is pretty good. but here's some other fun stuff i turned up in my search:

• bending the binary compilation: this is a free downloadable compilation of databent music and sound art. i haven't heard of most of the artists involved, but i did used to be on a mailing list with jabberwocky, and the name hyperdriver sounds familiar.
• intelligentmachinery.net, the site behind bending the binary, looks like it has lots of other good stuff: monthly online noise free-for-alls, lots of other free mp3 releases, a wiki with some databending info. also, the site seems to be affiliated with bentpedals.com, a site devoted to circuit-bending guitar pedals.
• coagula "is an image synth. This means that it is both a program for creating and manipulating images, and a program for generating sound from those images."
• the university of denver has a digital audio production class with a segment on databending! this made me extremely curious about that day's course readings... the electronic musician article is mostly just a list of freeware audio apps, and isn't about databending per se, so i'm really curious what's in chapters 9 and 10 of electronic and experimental music. i might just have to buy a copy to find out. (i'm sure there's good stuff in the book even if there's no databending content at all.)
• phil thomson, who i "know" from the databenders list, has a few papers online that mention the word "databending"... they are probably good reading, though they aren't about databending per se.

finally, while i haven't blogged much about it, over the past few months i've discovered a bunch of new tricks for databending images, many of which involve using the magical "photoshop RAW" file format. the RAW format is probably the most bendable image format out there, and produces some very fun results... but as far as i know, you need photoshop to use it. (the gimp doesn't seem to support raw files.) as always, my latest glitch art can be found on my flickr photostream (though if you want to avoid seeing the occasional non-bent image, you might want to just browse my photos that are tagged "databending"; search for photos tagged "glitch" if you also want to see screenshots from glitched-out cable/satellite tv).¶