In the realm of "you can always dream," I learned that the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies at Berkeley has summer workshops on Max/MSP/Jitter (see the 2011 announcement right here). It all looks very cool and I'd love to go. A few glitches, though: (1) two weeks is an awfully long time to be gone from home; and (2) even though July of 2012 (when I assume they will do it again) is after my sabbatical is done and I'm theoretically back on the subsidized travel clock, I'm not sure my ever-loving school (UVU) would want to give me more money to go off and learn things before I even get back in the classroom. So, maybe 2013, maybe never....
In the meantime, cast your eyes upon CNMAT's excellent "Compact Spherical Loudspeaker Array," which consists of 120 loudspeakers that are all of 1 inch each. The idea is that it can give directional sound like with acoustic instruments (and much more for the adventurous out there). It would also make an excellent replacement for the star on top of our Christmas tree.
