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MIT Students' Audiopad Mixes Electronic Music

Posted by timothy on Tue Jul 22, 2003 03:53 AM
from the cool-videos dept.
Media Music Technology
nicodemus05 writes "Grad students at MIT's Media Lab have come up with an innovative control device called the Audiopad to run their digital music studio. The Audiopad, '...is a composition and performance instrument for electronic music which tracks the positions of objects on a tabletop surface and converts their motion into music.' It's practical, but more importantly it looks really, really cool."
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MIT Students' Audiopad Mixes Electronic Music 50 Comments More /

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  • Sure (Score:4, Funny)

    by minghe (441878) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @03:57AM (#6497484)
    But can I play Chopsticks on it?

  • I tried it with IE... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    and the sounds I got were:

    Pop, pop, pop-up, pop-up, zoooooom, flash!, pop, vrroooom, crash, thud!

    And then:
    It appears your application has crashed. Would you like to mail a copy of the dump to Microsoft?

    -

  • How long until... (Score:3, Funny)

    by daveo0331 (469843) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @03:59AM (#6497489) Homepage Journal
    Someone gets sued by the RIAA for arranging the objects in their cube the wrong way?

  • I've seen it live.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lennart78 (515598) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @04:02AM (#6497506)
    I've actually seen this device in action and I was amazed. I think the way it interacts with the user/musician is something a lot of people are looking for. Let's hope some manufacturers of musical devices take note of this project and incorporate some of it's ideas in products that can be made available for a broader range of people.
    • I watch out for this stuff all the time.

      It's not always practical to apply this technology to the music-instrument market, though. The economy of the musical instrument market is a pretty tight one, sometimes - licensing things like this for incorporation into a product can make or break a product. I don't think the D-Beam or any of the other Ir-based controllers, for example, resulted in any kind of increased revenues, but they sure did cost a bundle to license.

      As far as integrating alternative-control

      • Re:I've seen it live.... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by lennart78 (515598) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @04:29AM (#6497579)
        Excuse me for being software-minded, but wouldn't it be possible to use some of the control-functions and build a MIDI-controller to use with softsynths, or even modular software such as Reaktor?
        I think it would offer some interesting possibilities.

        • Re:I've seen it live.... (Score:4, Interesting)

          by torpor (458) <(jayv) (at) (synth.net)> on Tuesday July 22 2003, @05:46AM (#6497762) Homepage Journal

          Yes, of course it would be possible, but I don't work for a software synthesizer manufacturer, I work for a hardware synthesizer manufacturer.

          We actually make money (soft synth guys don't, pity for them). This means it is more seductive for someone to require us to license something like this technology.

          We'd rather just come up with it ourselves.

          Either way though, the lesson to be learnt from MIT is that there is a loooot of room for improvement in the control surface side of things.

          (We know that already, though.)
      • The d-beam did seem to add some 'gee whiz' factor to the groovebox things roland stuck it on to, which might have not directly sold many units (I own one, and mostly because of the d-beam and general knobbyness of it, to use as a portable machine to play with live, but i picked it up used so roland didn't directly make any money from me) but it might have paid off in terms of advertising/name recognition. I did a lot of my graduate work using a Very Nervous System (gestural control system using a couple ca
  • They could sell a million of these. I love the sample selection interface. I didn't see any details on the FX loop, but it's still really, really cool.
  • Anyone else have problems running the .mov? Even on my iMac it refuses to run.

    BTW: That is one sick device!
  • Really, is this anything else than your regular loop arranging sofrware (read E-jay, MMM...) but with a different interface? A cool interface, I guess, and it does open up some interresting performance possibilities.

    But is it useful for other kinds of creation than synching timetretched chunks, predetermined snippets and drumloops? It seems I wouldn't have any control over the details of the music.

  • Sounds great (Score:4, Funny)

    by arvindn (542080) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @04:13AM (#6497537) Homepage Journal
    ...but since I can't access the page, I'll just say that if they can make a similar device to convert the death throes of a webserver into digital music, we could have some real fun during slashdottings :)

  • Done before? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by m1kesm1th (305697) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @04:23AM (#6497563)
    I haven't had time to see the site in action, probably due to the slashdot effect.

    From the description, other than using a tabletop as its active surface, i'm wondering how different it is to Korg's Kaosspad in functionality.

    http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=KP2
    • The most obvious difference is that the KaossPad isn't an instrument, it's an FX module. Basically you have a bunch of 2 paramater filters and an x/y touchpad to control those 2 parameters. Wicked good fun and slots nicely into a DJ setup, but in my experience only about 10 of the 50-odd presets are actually worth using. The low/high pass filters, some of the reverbs, and phasers etc sound good. A lot of the coarser echos, fx "noises" etc sound awful. The sampler is also annoyingly limited to only 5 seconds
      • The Kaoss pad 2 has some synth elements built in, and you can compose short electro jams with it. Also, the sampling time is up as well. IMHO its the best added feature to my DJ setup

  • Can MIT do the reverse?? (Score:3, Funny)

    by jkrise (535370) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @04:27AM (#6497571) Journal
    These days, with the DRM and the DMCA, it's tough getting a music file without DRM crap. What I'd like the MIT folks to do is this:

    Get some objects on a table to dance, based on the music! And then we can have another Audiopad to capture the music from this dance - non DRM MP3....breakthrough!

    -

  • sigh. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by den_erpel (140080) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @04:42AM (#6497618) Homepage Journal
    This is just another one of those MIT projects that makes it to slashdot. Just as you seem to have chain effect in 'peer review' processes, it's not because it is spectacular that it gets published, but mainly because it is from place X or Y.

    Loads of universities create student projects but they basically give it the attention it deserves: they are student projects; practical definately, revolutionary, not by far. Their main purpose is to give students a direct experience with real life toy projects. Real life, because in those projects, several aspects from real systems are included. Toy because students do not have the time to really do the advanced design and testing a profesional project requires.

    • Re:sigh. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by broeman (638571)
      I just ended my master in interaction design among other design tasks. The idea of interaction design is to create tangible (mostly) interfaces that can connect to human logic and emotion (human computer interaction). Of course the tools looks like toy and act like a toy, simply because they are easy to use. What is the real challenge is to connect the evergrowing functionality with easy handling, and it seemes that the MIT guys, Professor Bill Verplank (the travelling lector *grin*) in northern Italy and B

    • Re:sigh. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by skirch (126930)
      This is just another one of those MIT projects that makes it to slashdot.

      I'm sorry, but did you even go to the page? Did you watch the movie? It's frickin' rad!

      Who cares if this is just another one of those MIT projects. This is a useful, fun, and ingenious toy! People (i.e. me) are giving this project attention because it's interesting and unique, not because it's from MIT. Please.

  • Theremin (Score:5, Informative)

    by zoeblade (600058) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @04:45AM (#6497623) Homepage

    If you want to wave your arms around [thereminworld.com] to make music, you still can't beet a Theremin.

  • nice (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tade (156618) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @04:57AM (#6497646)
    This reminds me of this [mlab.uiah.fi]. It is called Mixed Reality Pong.

    Mixed Reality Pong is a mixed reality version of the classic "Pong" game. The aim of the game is to score goals by hitting a virtual ball over the other end of the game area protected by the opponent player. The game counts the goals the players have scored, and they can agree to play either for a limited amount of time, or until either of them has scored a certain amount of goals.
    The players can play the game with their hands or other real-world objects. The game physics simulate the behaviour of a real ball, except that the virtual ball doesn't slow down at all.

  • Nothing new... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by httpamphibio.us (579491) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @05:02AM (#6497653)
    Max/MSP and Pure Data have been doing stuff like this for years. The only thing "unique" here is the fact that they aren't using a mouse, and that's just a bunch of standard Max/MSP and PD externals. Bleh.
      • The user interface would be the whole point if it actually helped the user achieve something in a more efficient fashion... but it doesn't do anything that doesn't already exist.
        • Oh come on, the interface is everything to an instrument. Instruments vary in only two ways, firstly the sound they produce, and secondly the way they have to be manipulated to produce those sounds.

          This instrument may be similar to the device you reference, however its novel and easy to manipulate interface will allow completely new sounds to be woven into compositions. I'd wager that an experienced artist could make music with this device that he couldn't do with any other instrument - but I'd need to rea

  • different site with video (Score:3, Informative)

    by Tmurder (661223) on Tuesday July 22 2003, @05:20AM (#6497692)
    As it seems the MIT site is slowly being slashdotted... here is a different site [computerlove.net] with a demonstration video.
  • what's really neat is the interface... being able to move sounds around in a 3d space and manipulate the samples/loops with a completely uncluttered interface. This is the main problem with vst/softsynths, being able to use them in real time w/o a midi controller. The ideas is to get as close as you physically can to the music be made and computers.Audiopad does this thru least one computer to do it's job and radio tagging of the objects being moved around the table. The reason something like this won't g
    • this in itself might not be commercially viable, but it makes an interesting case study in applications of their Sensetable, which this is based on. They've demonstrated the use of this tool in the demonstration of molecular interactions, as well as tracking business methods. it's seriously interesting HCI stuff.
  • I'm not sure how modular their controllers are, but a wireless/optical synthesizer could be changed to create all kinds of controllers. For example, if you needed a controller for a security system. All you would need is the interaction table and some of those discs. If you update the system, the software shoul automatically add new options to the display/controls. If you add more cameras, the software should be able to add new control areas - you don't have to buy a whole new console.

    Lastly, the syste
  • Looks like those crafty MIT kids built a device that can slashdot a webpage by tracking moving objects on a table. :)
  • Am I right in thinking that the AudioPad table is basically a giant Wacom tablet? And if so... I wonder why they didn't just use one of those? Maybe not big enough... but with a Cintiq you could have a slightly more 'personal' audiopad experience, without the LCD projector.

    Oh, and yeah, its incredibly cool.

    • actually, it's based on
      a pair of modified commercially available Wacom Intuous(TM) sensing tablets that are placed next to each other to form a 52cm x 77cm sensing surface.
      this is taken from an article published in the Proceedings of CHI 2001, March 31 - April 5 2001. so, you're right!
  • As anyone who has seen Revenge of the Nerds knows, Louis [imdb.com] and Gilbert [imdb.com]
    invented this thing to help the Tri Lambs win the Greek Games. I would expect everyone on Slashdot to know that one.
  • Earlier this year at a Boston concert, Tod Machover showcased Beatbugs http://www.media.mit.edu/hyperins/projects/beatbu g s.html Concert staff were telling everyone that Beatbugs would be available for sale this Christmas through a major toy manufacturer. That's great for getting music into the hands of kids at an early age and also for breaking through the classism that plagues intellectual music, but is the "music" that's being created really something that anyone (other than grandma) wants to listen t
  • Does anyone have a mirror? Oh, and if you could tar or zip one of the video files I'd be even more happy! Our proxy filters out vid and sound files.
    • needless to say it's very cool, just need to integrate it into a table with the projector pointing up onto say a translucent surface rather than down onto a surface

      Better yet, make it work in a 3d space, where full body motion translates into music. There are a few actions that would translate into some interesting 'music' i'm sure.

      • Re:Its practical (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I've already done this, when we were kids, me an my sis joe, we loosened one screw in mom's bed so we can hear whenever she has a friend over. It worked pretty well, well enough for us to calculate the number of thrusts, the duration, delta T, and so on.

        Incredibly, joe now works for NASA.. while I wither away in unemployment (who wants to hire a SCO admin?!)
      • Already been done. It's called a Theremin.

        http://www.thereminworld.com/learn.asp

        KFG

      • Re:Its practical (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Leon Theremin did that back in the 20's. It was called a Terpsitone [raylab.com] and worked off of body capacitance.
    • if you happen to have 12ft ceilings and a video projector to spare

      All I can say is George Lucas meets her [clubjenna.com].

    • Umm... They say it supports rear-projection. The bastards are one step ahead of you.

      b.c

    • Re:Don't you dare comment! (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Good try but wrong article for that troll. You couldn't wait 24 hours for Fritz Hollings (D-Disney) to open his mouth?
    • This could probably be made with more affordable hardware, like a TFT touch screen, or even a regular monitor and an XY pad. It would take a slight adjustment of the original constuction, interface-wise. But the main idea would still be applicable.

      The really low budget version of this would be a software-only product controlled by mouse. It would probably sell, even though some functionality would probably be lost.
    • some years ago there was a toy-company called Zowie (bought by LEGO as far as I know) they had two products - a "pirate ship" and a "garden" where you could frrely move around some small dolls and their accurate position was transmitted to a connected PC - they did all the positioning stuff some custom chip included in the toy - so producing this stuff cheap in large quanitities is no problem at all

      - stefan
    • Never mind all the fancy stuff, I think the basic problem is students and fairly clear table space.

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