“Bad Apple!!” is a magical piece of stop-motion animation made from 6,566 still photos of printed bitmaps.

+ Video

The creator, Nico Nico Douga user “shige-ruuu,” says he made the video without using photo-editing software. The images were captured with a webcam, and the effects were achieved by changing the camera position and adjusting the focus, brightness, zoom, exposure and gain.

The original stills and music come from this video for the song “Bad Apple!!” (arranged by Masayoshi Minoshima, featuring vocals by nomico) from the Touhou Project game series.

“scoreLight” is a laser-based musical device that generates real-time sound based on the shape of drawings or objects.

+ scoreLight (ver.1)

Relying on 3D tracking technology developed at the Ishikawa-Komuro Laboratory in 2003, scoreLight uses lasers to trace the outline of a drawing or object. As the laser dances along the contours, scoreLight produces and modulates sound according to the curvature, angle, texture, color, and contrast. An abrupt change in the direction of a line generates a discrete sound (a glitch or percussion sound), resulting in a steady rhythm when the laser follows a looped path (the size and shape of the looped path determines the tempo and structure of the beat). The device creates a layered tapestry of sound when multiple laser points explore different parts of a drawing.

Here is some video of scoreLight making music from a sketch of a brain:

+ NOU-ISE

scoreLight’s developers include Alvaro Cassinelli (concept, hardware and software), Kuribara Yusaku (software), Daito Manabe (sound concept and programming) and Alexis Zerroug (electronics). See Cassinelli’s YouTube channel for more videos.

[Link: scoreLight]

A frenetic animated version of the Japanese television apocalypse is depicted in “the TV show,” a video by Kousuke Sugimoto with music by Takayuki Manabe.

+ the TV show

[Via MetaFilter]

As a tribute to Michael Jackson, Japanese chiptune pioneer Saitone has released an 8-bit version of “Thriller.”

+ Video

Watch the full live version here.

[Link: Hear Japan]

The illustrious Rinpa Eshidan art crew has re-emerged with a dazzling new time-lapse painting performed on a skate ramp.

+ IFO x Rinpa

The Tokyo cityscape becomes the ultimate light show in this video for “I Will Be Here,” the recent collaboration single by Dutch DJ Tiësto and Australian dance music group Sneaky Sound System. Directed by Masashi Muto.

+ Video

Outfitted with Yamaha’s Vocaloid singing voice synthesizer software, the HRP-4C female fashion model humanoid robot developed by AIST earlier this year has been entertaining CEATEC Japan visitors with renditions of popular songs.

+ Video

In this video, HRP-4C sings a rendition of Hitoto Yo’s “Hanamizuki.”

Moonbell is an automated music generator that plays musical scores based on lunar topographical data obtained by Japan’s Kaguya (SELENE) explorer during its orbit around the moon from late 2007 to June 2009.

[Launch Moonbell in a new window]

Moonbell, which was developed in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), has two playback modes: “Orbit Play” and “Free Scratch.” Click the buttons on the bottom right of the screen to switch modes.

In Orbit Play mode, Kaguya traverses the moon in a circular orbit and music is generated based on the topography below. This screen displays Kaguya’s orbital path, an altitude graph of the topography, and the corresponding musical notation map. Use your mouse to change Kaguya’s location and orbit.

In Free Scratch mode, you can use your mouse to chart a path across the moon’s surface. The corresponding music plays in a loop, regardless of how long the path is. The notes are visualized as different colors and patterns on the screen.

To tweak the audio output, click the “Preference” button on the bottom left of the screen. This opens the settings panel, where you can choose from 128 musical instruments for each track, change the playback speed, set the volume for each instrument, and more.

See the “About” page for a complete description of all of Moonbell’s functions and controls.

[Link: Moonbell]

German electronica artist Alva Noto’s video for “u_08-1” shows an encounter with some possessed Tokyo vending machines.

[Via: @Mulboyne]

Here are a couple of fun station IDs for Space Shower TV, Japan’s largest cable/satellite music channel.

+ We love music, we love peace: Epic food label battle in the kitchen. Directed by K?ki Tange (Yellow Brain).

+ Guitar: Snapshot of family time in a curious household. Directed by Koichiro Tsujikawa.