Freesound Forums

I have heard on the radio that Bjork collaborated with a Spanish university:
a new music tool was built for the artist.

does anybody knows something more about it?
thanks

http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/ its friggin nifty (i think the same university sponsers the freesound project!) hock:

That's right

Whoa whoa whoa, bjork uses freesound!?

Oh, I read the article now, I WANT ONE OF THOSE THINGS!!!

I LOVE this university. First it sponsors Freesound, and then THIS? hock: I hope this is released as a purchasable product some day! (even if I probably won't be able to buy it )

it is quite possible to build one.... not really a one man project, but quite possible. I think the software is open source. you need a glass table a projector and video camera ( and a computer). it would be cool to have a bar where all the surfaces were reactables.... and all the coasters/glasses had the different symbols or whatever on them... and then have it all channeled into the main p.a.... maybe have a master bpm control... throw a couple of theremins in the bathroom...i dunno... i really want one tho

stickman
it is quite possible to build one.... not really a one man project, but quite possible. I think the software is open source. you need a glass table a projector and video camera ( and a computer). it would be cool to have a bar where all the surfaces were reactables.... and all the coasters/glasses had the different symbols or whatever on them... and then have it all channeled into the main p.a.... maybe have a master bpm control... throw a couple of theremins in the bathroom...i dunno... i really want one tho

LOL @ throw a couple of theremins in the bathroom. Oh and the Reactable actually seems to be based on Micro$oft's Surface PC http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4217348.html?page=1

thanks Stickman for the link!

the reactable looks like one of the first intruments of the future: no keys, no cables (...only a team of scientists behind the scene!)
I'm very interested in new music/sound instruments for non-expert users - by now I only know theremin.
does anybody knows other "intuitive instruments" like theremins and reactable?

there are all kinds of things out there, lev theremin himself made tons of stuff besides the "theremin". i have a roland mc505 and roland mc909 both of which have "d beams" on them which are quite similar to theremins. there are the korg chaos pads and other similar x/y pads that i've even seen integrated into electric guitars... roland has those digital "handsonic?" hand drums with d-beams, filters, and pitch ribbons on them. never under estimate circuit bent stuff like those "optical theremins" and what not........

Yess interactivity is to be found everywhere in bending. In fact, the entire idea of circuit bending is basically using touch controls, heat sensors, photo resistors, and body contacts etcetera. A bit more personal than moving blocks around on a table.

I did see a thing very similar to this, I think someone put it on troniks, I'll go see if I can dig up a pic. It was almost the exact same thing as the reactable, but it was smaller, a lot smaller, but nevertheless, it's controled by 3d shapes that you put on the surface and move around. It even had built-in reverb and stuff.

Another great "intuitive" instrument is the Haken Continuum. It is used by Jordan Rudess of progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater.

http://www.hakenaudio.com/Continuum/

This thing looks crazy to play! here is an example: http://www.hakenaudio.com/Continuum/html/examples/ex232.html

the Haken Continuum is fantastic, it leads to very different uses - I've listen to all examples, so interesting.
even if the price is actually too high for hobbysts like me...
surfing for "theremin" I've found a shop in my city with strange instruments: http://www.soundmetak.com
I'll spend next week collecting other info about "intuitive" and weird instruments, then I'll share it here

another forum about reactable samples: http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2241

the reactable site is full of informations: in the "related" section http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/?related there are many examples of music tables. the main aspect of these instruments is the collaborative feature: musicians plays together, and the single musician/composer has a visual dialogue with the public. all the publications http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/?publications are worth to be read even by non experts (like me). many videos about reactable in youtube.
theremin, and similar, are for soloist. the common ground with reactable is the free gestural approach: no keyboards, no strings.

theremin, thereminvox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin
this wiki is really full of infos and links - the similar instruments (wiki section #5) are intriguing. some are non-keyboards, such as:
Persephone http://www.monstersynths.com/ - read the "history" in monstersynths' site, about non-keyboard synthesizer and controllers.
here is an example of midi theremin http://www.moogmusic.com/detail.php?main_product_id=11.

free gesture is the realm of PowerGlove, also used to generate sounds http://www.simulus.org/p5glove/.

as Stickman wrote, free gestural approach is used in controllers: light, laser, touchpad and...(someone knows more?)
almost all of theremin related instruments have been used as controllers. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=2030341948

here's some weird stuff and random-related links:
RolloSONIC create electronic sounds from mouse movement http://www.rollosonic.com/Pages/RolloSONIC_Intro.html
Pianolina, interactive Piano by GROTRIAN http://www.grotrian.de/spiel/e/info.html
Fmusic - The Fractal Music Generator http://www.fractal-vibes.com/fm/
Kraftwerk, heroes of "past future" music http://www.kraftwerk.com/ - try "BOING BOOM TSCHAK", flash animation to play interactively.
Music for one apartment and six drummers http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8000409016826512649
thingamagoop http://www.soundmetak.com/electronicdevices/thingamagoopvideo.htm http://www.soundmetak.com/electronicdevices/thingamagoop.htm
this is the craziest music machine I've ever seen! more strange musical instruments in the site http://www.soundmetak.com/
unfortunately they do not pay me for this advertising...

PS: for this little search I also tried Grokker http://www.grokker.com/ a search engine with a visual approach, which uses Wikipedia as a parallel source

--- have fun!