reacTable*: Is this the future of music generation?

Technorati tags: Music, Electronic Music, reacTable, Tangible User Interface, YouTube

Hat-tip to: Kill Ugly Radio (which incidentally is an uber cool Frank Zappa-related site!).

This has to be the coolest music generation device Walski has seen in a long while. It's called the reacTable* - a "state-of-the-art multi-user electro-acoustic music instrument with a tabletop tangible user interface", developed by the Music Technology Group at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.

And what better way to describe how it works and what it does other than seeing it in action...

Basic Demo #1

(Basic Demo #2, and more, in the full post)

Basic Demo #2

YouTube has a few more videos on this fantastic device. According to the developers, there are a few collaborative models possible with the reacTable (source: here and here). The device itself is based on a transluscent round table, connected to visual sensors and visual user feedback using a projection system. Up to four players can use the reacTable* at one time, for no other reason than ergonomics (it's a 1m-diameter table). Other collaborative models described are connected acoustic instruments, as well as remote collaboration via a computer interface.

Although still rather prototype-like in construction, Walski can see a whole lot of possiblities associated with this device. Needless to say, development on the reacTable* is still ongoing. This is the sort of scientific development that Malaysia should be pursuing, as opposed to playing kids games and making teh tarik in space...

It is Walski's guess that this is truly the future of music generation!