After making the rounds on YouTube and various blogs the reacTable synth was spotted by Bjork and later incorporated into her live show which brought a large amount of attention to this unique hands-on synthesizer. The developers are now looking into a short production run of the innovative machine.  We look forward to seeing this in some upcoming shows!

From reacTable: 

The reactable is a collaborative electronic music instrument with a tabletop tangible multi-touch interface. Several simultaneous performers share complete control over the instrument by moving and rotating physical objects on a luminous round table surface. By moving and relating these objects, representing components of a classic modular synthesizer, users can create complex and dynamic sonic topologies, with generators, filters and modulators, in a kind of tangible modular synthesizer or graspable flow-controlled programming language.

The instrument was developed by a team of digital luthiers under the direction of Dr. Sergi Jordà. The “Interactive Sonic Systems” team is working in the Music Technology Group within the Audiovisual Institute at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona Spain. Its main activities concentrate on the design of new musical interfaces, such as tangible music instruments and musical applications for mobile devices.

The reactable intends to be:

• collaborative: several performers (locally or remotely)
• intuitive: zero manual, zero instructions
• sonically challenging and interesting
• learnable and masterable (even for children)
• suitable for novices (installations) and advanced electronic musicians (concerts)

The reactable hardware is based on a translucent, round multi-touch surface. A camera situated beneath the table, continuously analyzes the surface, tracking the player’s finger tips and the nature, position and orientation of physical objects that are distributed on its surface. These objects represent the components of a classic modular synthesizer, the players interact by moving these objects, changing their distance, orientation and the relation to each other. These actions directly control the topological structure and parameters of the sound synthesizer. A projector, also from underneath the table, draws dynamic animations on its surface, providing a visual feedback of the state, the activity and the main characteristics of the sounds produced by the audio synthesizer.

visit reacTable Home

It looks like the future of DJing could be wireless and handheld as another new handheld DJing unit is announced.  The Pacemaker looks to be a serious DJing tool compared to the toy Hercules recently announced.  This unit features 120 GB of storage built in along with a crossfader for the master output as well as the headphone cue.  The user, with the press of a button, is able to switch between deck A and deck B easily and choose a track to mix in.  The control pad on the bottom is allows for manipulations while the top screen displays track information and such.  The Pacemaker also allows the user to save and trade DJ mixes created on the unit.  Hopefully we’ll get our hands on one of these units to test and give you the full scoop when it comes out around September.  For now check out their slick website at www.Pacemaker.net to sign up for more info.

Native Instruments, one of several manufacturers coming out with a DJ controller for the upcoming NAMM show, has released a sneak picture. The picture doesn’t reveal much, but the unit appears to have the quality fit and finish that we’ve grown to expect from the German concern.

It’s almost shocking how many companies have announced controllers this year. In fact, NAMM 2007 could be labeled the Year Of The DJ Controller! The good news is that DJs around the world will have a plethora of amazing new products to take their mixing into the digital realm. However, the current rumor circulating is that NI’s product is not merely a controller, but a full-on DJ system. Stay Tuned…

Native Instruments