Remember seeing this when it was on Kickstarter and it got released but not for long as a company called Sphero bought it up.
​Maybe that was good as the Android app did not seem to work so good and a bigger company will probably spend more money on Android developers?
It shoulld be released in some months and seeing videos it looks mighty faboulus!
 
Just the idea to have a small concert with some phones and coloured papers or play clothes with patches on them etc...
The company makes robot toys and it looks like in good quality. But the rings should not be very expensive to manufacture so hopefully there will be a low price. 
Waiting eagerly to see the price and see how well it will work with the Android app and if okay will for sure get a set of rings. at least one for each hand.

​This is the webpage to the developers of the concept:
www.specdrums.com/

So McDonalds have done something that I begrudgingly must admit is cool...
This is something that happened in Netherlands and it was only for one day.
They have used conductive ink that got printed on Place mats as can be seen above that can be used to control and record a music app that goes with Android and iOS.
If I was living in the Netherlands guess I would have had to eat one of their disgusting hamburgers to play with this! But have a feeling that this will happen in some other countries as well so maybe keep an eye out on the local McDonalds...
Unfortunately conductive ink do not last too long on paper as any crinkle is like breaking the circuit otherwise it would be a neat thing to keep around. 
​If any reader played with this please let us know what you thought in the comment section!

Binaural beats is two differing frequencies being panned left and right in the stereo field, creating a third frequency.
In effect it is an auditory illusion.
For sure a lot of people reading this already have been playing around with this either as a way to aid in meditation or in high hopes of emulating the experience of illicit substances. For the ones that have not heard about binaural beats it is worth taking a look at the phenomena. 
It is basically a way to program the brain into different states and a session with binaural beats can entail going from one state to another. Normally people use it for meditation but one of the more spectacular claims is that it can get you high. this have not been working for me but maybe you are one of the lucky ones! Then it is supposed that it can help your brain being more receptive for learning and many other things.

So being a meditator since a early age (sporadically I admit, maybe a month or two every day then a year can pass...) I always had an interest in this and tried one machine in a store in the late eighties. It was in a store full of people and there was roadwork going on outside. They were drilling holes into the asphalt. Still I did get into a meditative state!
Never could afford the machine but soon with computers being cheaper I have been playing with it once in a while mostly trying to get an out of body experience! (This still being an experience that have eluded me unfortunately!)
Last year was getting into heavy meditation for about four months and meditated for about one to two hours daily. Then started using binaural beats for about two weeks. After stopping this and going back to normal meditation practice I noticed that it kind of had phucked up my meditations. The quality of the meditations were worse and it was hard to get into it. Just want to mention this if any readers are meditating regularly. This probably is different from person to person but just to put it out there.
If there is an interest in meditating or at least to have some experience of what it kind of feels like it is a great short cut. Start with ten to fifteen minutes programs and sit comfortably with a straight back. And yes there is no need for sitting in a lotus position or anything else just try to empty your mind and listen to the tone being generated. 

This is frequencies and tones being generated so it can also be used in music. What probably is the first thing to come to mind is mixing it into ambient music as it can enhance the listening experience and aid in getting the listener into a semi-meditative state. But why not in for example minimal techno as well or any music aiming for a trance like state.

There is a lot of binaural beats apps for Android and most of them come with already made presets, in wav and with publicity. My recommendation is Gnaural. There is a main program that is very easy to use, setting the length and the frequencies in a time chart.

The main program is for Windows/Mac/Linux and it is for free!
Then there is a Android version that have a full working version with no publicity for free or a paid version for the generous person. It is not possible to program it and it just plays the presets that have been made already. The good thing is that it is synthesizing everything in real time so it does not take any real space on the device being used. There is a lot of presets to download from the website to start to experiment with but like said to make your own is very easy.

So to change your brainwaves, read some more and download the program go to:
http://gnaural.sourceforge.net/

If you use some binaural beats in your music please let me know- musicalandroid@yahoo.com

Ohhh...
I want some virtual reality glasses now.
This works with Google cardboard glasses but Google is also working on some new better glasses to use for Virtual Reality apps.
This is one article about what they are up to:
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/google-vr-headset-cardboard?utm_source=mbtwitter

Now we just need Mr Nightradio to put his programming mind into it and make it into an adventure in sounds as well?
It is a pity they do not have a demo version as it seems that it is a little bit of a hit and miss when it comes to working properly depending on device...

Google Play info:

The infosphere, Visualized.Every time we use our phones, tablets or laptops we are entering an invisible world of wireless digital signals. It is a world that we cannot see but that is literally all around us.
The Architecture of Radio is a 360 degree data visualization of what this world might look like. It shows the cell towers, GPS satellites and Wi-Fi routers around you that allow us to live our digital lives.
"Fascinating and beautiful" – PCMag
"Enter The Matrix!" – Fast Company
"Both beautiful and slightly disturbing" – Business Insider
"the sight of this invisible world is breathtaking" – Gizmodo
"an entirely new lens through which to view the [reality] we have, but rely on every day." – Boston Globe
"Fascinating." – NYTimes.com
Why should I use this app?
Out of curiosity! We are increasingly dependent on a global ecosystem of digital signals. We use them for so many things, yet we cannot see them. We can see the roads we use to travel, the buildings we live in, but not the infrastructure that is changing the world. How can we understand this world without understanding how it works? 
The purpose of this app is to make the invisible visible so we can look at it, think about it and discuss it.
Why Should I not use this app?
This app is not a measurement tool. It’s purpose is to inspire, to see the world through a different lens. The app is based on real world data and gives you a pretty good idea of the density of digital signals around you, but it won’t tell you where to move the couch to get a better WIFI signal.
So how does it work?
The Architecture of Radio is a data visualization, based on global open datasets of cell tower, Wi-Fi and satellite locations. Based on your GPS location the app shows a 360 degree visualization of signals around you. The dataset includes almost 7 million cell towers, 19 million Wi-Fi routers and hundreds of satellites.
Is this really what radio signals look like?
We can’t see radio with our eyes. The waves that we use for our cell phones and Wi-Fi are way outside the spectrum of visible light. In order to “see” radio, it has to be interpreted or translated into an image that we can see. There are many ways to do that but it will always be an interpretation.
The Architecture of Radio is an impression of the infosphere, a way of seeing it.

Not about music making but about the sounds all around us!
So if you feel like trying to identify birds here is an app for it.
Mostly North american birds though...
​And it is a nice logo they designed.

Google Play info:

What’s that bird? Merlin Bird ID helps you solve the mystery. First, Merlin asks you a few simple questions. Then, almost like magic, it reveals the list of birds that best match your description. Pick your bird, then delve into more photos, sounds, and ID tips about your bird!
Merlin is fun and easy to use—whether you’re curious about a bird you’ve seen once or you’re hoping to identify every bird that comes to your feeder. The answers are waiting for you with this free app from the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Features
• Created for beginning and intermediate bird watchers, Merlin identifies the 400 most common bird species in the United States and Canada (excluding Hawaii).
• Intelligent results. No more scanning through hundreds of possibilities! Merlin shows the birds near you that fit your description.
• Customized location and date tools generate best answers for your neighborhood and time of year.
• Powered by eBird to deliver the most accurate results based on millions of sightings from bird watchers across North America.
• Enjoy more than 1,000 photos of birds, including males, females, and juveniles.
• Learn ID tips from Cornell Lab of Ornithology experts.
• Listen to beautiful bird songs and calls from the Cornell Lab’s Macaulay Library.
• It’s all free! The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s goal is to help you and millions of others to learn about birds.​

As it is Sunday maybe some Sunday nostalgia feelings are in order?
So there is a website that are hosting old cylinder recording from the end of the 1800's to about the 1920's. Think that I read that there is about ten thousand recordings and all of them easily downloaded!
For example there is 661 home recordings. Yes people could use the cylinders for recordings.

This website should be interesting to anyone needing some dust sprinkled beauty into their productions. Pretty much evident that there should be no worry about copy rights.
Even if not used for music it is a fascinating look at audio history and well worth a hangover Sunday of exploring.

Update:
Regarding the copyright here is what the project director David Seubert has said:

There are no public domain sound recordings in the United States, including these cylinder recordings. Recordings before 1972 are protected by state law but not federal copyright, which didn't cover sound recordings until March, 1972. We've digitized them for non-commercial private use and study. We have no issues with commercial use, but we encourage commercial users to a) do their own due diligence on their copyright status, and b) pay our use fees (which is a fee for access to our high resolution wav files, and is not a royalty). This collection is not a royalty free sound library and I can't turn it into one as that's not how these recordings were created. These are mostly commercial entertainment cylinders, just like any pop record made today (which you also can’t sample for free). Until “pre-1972 recordings” (as they are known) enter the public domain in 2067, they won't be. Blame Congress, not us. As to our fee structure, we can't raise our fees if somebody with deep pockets (HBO) wants access to the materials but we will negotiate down or waive them the use fees for artists of limited means.

We do claim a new, derivative work copyright on the restored version which is online. There is disagreement on this issue and we respect and follow that debate.

Our operation is very small, with two permanent staff, and we also operate the entire performing arts archive here at UCSB, including a massive archive of 78rpm discs and print and paper collections. I have a graduate student copying cylinders in the lab as we speak so the public can hear them, and his salary is funded by donations to the project. I’d love to give everything away, but until I have enough permanent funding to run the operation I also need a revenue source. That isn't likely in today's arts/higher education environment, sad to say.

To go listen and read:
http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/index.php

Here is three apps that are made by Former Space Marine Software that are kind of quirky and will be of interest for some people making noisy/experimental music or just to add some flavors.

Circular Sound:

Circular Sound is a mobile musical instrument that interactively transforms your audio files into noisy soundscapes using granular synthesis and waveshaping. Select the directory on your device from which to load audio files, then click Start. Your sounds are arranged in a circle. Use one finger to mix your sounds, and the other to control the waves of noise they generate. It's musical chaos on your mobile phone! This destructive music app is available free on Android devices in the Google Play store.

Radio Synthesizer

Radio Synthesizer is a performable musical instrument that allows you to interactively apply radio-like sounds to your audio files. Drag your finger around the screen to mix in static and radio modulation. You can make your file sound like its coming from a distant radio station, or like its coming from a demonic radio station. Have fun and make hallucinatory soundscapes with Radio Synthesizer. This innovative music app is available free on Android devices in the Google Play store.

To visit their website (with the same information):

http://evanxmerz.com/fsms/index.html

Seems like a nice iniative from Google and there is some interesting looking applications already. Unfortunately no Sound/music apps yet and all of them more or less graphical in nature. 

Here is what is said on the website:

JOIN US IN A CELEBRATION OF CREATIVITY AND CODE ON ANDROID.Android was created as an open and flexible platform, giving people more ways to come together to imagine and create. Developers everywhere have used the unique capabilities of the platform to push the limits of what’s possible on phones, tablets, watches and beyond.

We’re working to document creative experiments like these and make them open source so anyone can see how they are made, or get inspired to create their own. Our hope is to encourage more developers to challenge how we interact with the devices we use every day.

Each experiment is submitted by the creator, and all kinds are welcome—no matter your skill level, the framework it uses or the device it runs on. If you’ve created something amazing on Android you’d like to share, please submit your own experiment.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
To see what apps have been made (and they all seem to be free) and so on:
https://www.androidexperiments.com/

Cool that they mention Caustic and Yellofier but was happy to see that of the recording/studio/DAW apps they skipped iOS and went straight for Audio Evolution Mobile!

It just gets better and better!
So far the coolest thing must have been the person that used Phonopaper code in GIF for a changing soundtrack and also must give props to my friend Cosmo Koroly that since some months used it in a painting for invocation of Vodou entities that soon will be posted!

It points out a new direction that personally I would never have thought of.
It is one artist that have made scrolling GIF's that can be read with the application and as such get the music or sounds to a much more flexible degree than the static image reading that has been the modus operandi so far.

To read it here go here:
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/en_au/blog/these-gifs-can-talk?utm_source=tcptwitteranz

Have nothing to do with Android unless you want to take this kind of trickery into the modules of SunVox that has oscilloscope rendering  possibility. It also may have been floating around on
the net for a while but personally have not seen this goodness and just love the idea!

This is a TED talk with a developer of many music apps. 
Sorry to say that the more interesting apps just for iOS as they are more depending on low latency but he was talking on one of the Google I/O videos and how the low latency coming will allow him to develop some more apps for Android as well.
The apps he developed so far for Android is the following:

It is a nice talk and recommended viewing. 
This is the second TED talk from a music app developer that I know about, 
the first one being Boris Blank and Hâkan Lidbo that was the minds behind Yellofier.

Not much of a music app post but as it is something that have excited me since Virtual Reality finally is getting here after Oculus Rift got announced a year ago or so.
God damn it I have been waiting for this since I tried a very basic Virtual Reality game with headset and tracking of movement in a amusement park at the end of the eighties. 
At the time reading Cyberpunk books obsessively and expecting it to be just another year or so to be flying around in all kinds of environments!
So it just took 25 years more until it finally is happening.
The problem being broke and it is going to take some time until I can get my hands on some Oculus rift glasses or the Sony version. 
Luckily enough there is some alternatives already and one of them being cardboard glasses that you can make yourself! 
It is surprisingly simple and there is a lot of room for your own inventiveness to modify or do your own design.
There is also to my surprise a bunch of apps to go with them. 
There is also two other cheaper glasses that you can buy.
Not only for games have been reading of a lot of different artist projects being made already and this is just the beginning. It is funny that just a year or so before Oculus rift got announced William Gibson wrote a novel taking place in the near future that had 
Virtual / Augmented reality used as art projects where you overlaid reality and 
being able for example see historical death scenes etc. 
Actually it is unlimited and games are probably going to be the least interesting aspect?
What this is going to mean for music making is not clear yet but one thing is to be able to visually be in the same space rehearsing, controlling Virtual entities on stage and at the same time be there on stage virtually or playing virtual instruments in the air for example. Something that already exists is virtual classes where you can overlay your own hands on top of the teacher.
Well this could easily turn into rambling without end so it is better to end it here and just post a video from Google talking about their cardboard glass project and then post links for further exploration.

Links:
Google Cardboard page
Google Cardboard app
Refugio 3D glasses
Durovis Dive Glasses

Here is an interesting proposition if you happen to be in Berlin in the beginning of August.
Yes the workshop will be in English so do not worry if you do not know German...
It is meant for iOS / Android / Win 8 devices and apps so that is all good.
I think that the best I can do is to post the information directly from the University website and with a link afterwards if you find it interesting and want to sign up.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
App Music: 
Mobile Music Making for Professionals 
Lecturer: Matthias Krebs

date: August 4th - August 7th
place: UdK Berlin, Bundesallee 1-12
fee: 350 €
No. of participants: 9 to 15
language: English
application deadline: July 17th

A 4-day workshop on music making with mobile apps including experimentation, composition, production and performance. A creative space for enthusiasts, sound artists, music technologists and professional musicians exploring inspiration and creativity. Findings and results culminate in a final concert.

--------------------------------------

For quite a while now, making music with apps on smartphones and tablets has been more than simply a novelty. Some excellent music apps like Audiobus, TC-11, SECTOR, Beatsurfing, Mitosynth, Beatmaker2, Nave and many more offer innovative digital musical instruments and powerful production tools to users. These apps already allow the creation of remarkable musical results, as demonstrated by serious album productions and an increasing number of stage performances in recent years.

The workshop is conceived as a composition and sound workshop in the form of an experimental laboratory; a creative space for exchange and new discoveries in the multifaceted cornucopia of available apps and hardware. Enthusiasts, experts and interested parties from all backgrounds are therefore invited to participate in the collaborative investigation of and experimentation with sound, music and performance – a collective ‘learning by doing’ approach.

Project groups will organically develop performances, productions and/or composition pieces over the course of the workshop. The (partial) results of the interactive creative activities will be presented in a public performance at the c-base.

Participants
The workshop is aimed at enthusiasts, professional musicians, sound artists and music technologists with advanced experience creating music with apps. This is a workshop for those who are seeking an interactive exchange with others with regard to new musical forms, new apps, new hardware technology and innovative, expressive methods of sound making, performance and collaboration. Interested parties of all disciplines are encouraged to participate; diverse and varied backgrounds often bring valuable eclectic elements into the collaborative mix.

Participants may certainly play their own devices (iOS/android/Win8) during the workshop, however a large and varied supply of additional devices, peripheral equipment and amplifiers will also be provided. Participants are thus encouraged to mix, match, integrate, collaborate and experiment with a multitude of devices and apps during the course.

Matthias Krebs is a professional app musician, physicist, opera singer, multi instrumentalist and scientist. For many years now, he has also been active in theater production as a sound artist and composer. He founded the DigiEnsemble Berlin in 2010. Today it is the first professional music ensemble that regularly performs with mobile apps on physical stages (http://digiensemble.de).
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Link to sign up:
Mobile music making workshop

Here is the Youtube channel for the Workshop / Seminar where you can see a lot of what happened last year:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJD0dtU82XFFvdf1O61xtXw

Palm Sounds was mentioning a project called Soundlab and the website looked interesting  but I did not really had a full grip on it all and the meaning was to wait and investigate a little bit further. Luckily enough yesterday there was a interview with Ashley Elsdon (the man behind Palm Sounds) on CDM where everything gets explained.
He is also the man behind the project and it started in lower capacity in 2013, now it has grown and it seems that it is starting to take shape with a nice website and developers and companies starting to involve themselves.
Soundlab is basically a focal point to investigate / use music software  /  hardware to interact with people that have disabilities. As is obvious mobile devices lends themselves for this and it would be very good if there was more developers (and of course other people to!) that got involved to help out.
So please read the interview and then go and see the website.
The interview
The Website