The best concert I’ve ever attended begins and ends with Bjork’s show at ACL Fest 2007.  To that point, I’d never seen her live, and the anticipation of her closing performance made the heat and the crowd and the drunk kid that came bursting out of a the port-a-john vomiting all over himself (and others) fade into the background noise of my excitement.

You could feel tangible fervor in the crowd before the show started.  A young girl standing in front of my wife was asking everyone around her, “Do you like Bee-york?” to which we replied, “Heck yeah, we do!”  It was touching to see that the youth has better options for inspirational female musicians than Hannah freakin’ Montana.

The sun went down and Bjork took the stage, barefoot and painted and fierce (and cute), and began to knock out tracks from her entire catalog, one right after the other, ending each song with a demure curtsy and a girlish “Thhhhank you” in her adorable Icelandic accent.  This delicate display was nicely juxtaposed next to her amazing and intense vocals on songs like Declare Independence, which had all of the Festival stomping around and waving their freak flags higher, higher.

Accompanying her delicious and complex cacophony that night was a ReacTable, a sort of digital synthesizer turntable thingy that produces amazing sound and a spectacular visual.  The swirling lights and noise from this machine displayed on the giant screens did nothing to hamper the show’s affect, believe you me.

We danced and cheered and stood in awe at the perfection of Bjork’s show set against the backdrop of the stunning Austin skyline.  I held my wife tightly during Joga, a song that always brings a knot to my throat.  It was by far my best concert experience to date.

What about you?  Post a blog entry and send it to sltfan@sweetleaftea.com for your chance to win an autographed Sweet Leaf Tea Gibson Epiphone guitar.

Technological advancements are always allowing for the creation of new, innovative ways to make music.  There are always new electronic mediums popping up through which we can make music.  Yesterday, I heard about the Reactable.  I’m not sure how new it is, or if I’m just behind on the times, but this device is pretty nifty.  Basically, it’s a glowing table that you put blocks on and twist around to play different loops.  My explanation is pretty primitive.

According to the Reactable website,

“The Reactable uses a so called tangible interface, where the musician controls the system by manipulating tangible objects. The instrument is based on a translucent and luminous round table, and by putting these pucks on the Reactable surface, by turning them and connecting them to each other, performers can combine different elements like synthesizers, effects, sample loops or control elements in order to create a unique and flexible composition.

As soon as any puck is placed on the surface, it is illuminated and starts to interact with the other neighboring pucks, according to their positions and proximity. These interactions are visible on the table surface which acts as a screen, giving instant feedback about what is currently going on in the Reactable turning music into something visible and tangible.

Additionally, performers can also change the behavior of the objects by touching and interacting with the table surface, and because the Reactable technology is “multi-touch”, there is not limit to the number of fingers that can be used simultaneously. As a matter of fact, the Reactable was specially designed so that it could also be used by several performers at the same time, thus opening up a whole new universe of pedagogical, entertaining and creative possibilities with its collaborative and multi-user capabilities.”

To get the full effect, you really have to watch a video.

Credit: Tenori on

Credit: Reactable

We’ve all seen the turntables at the DJ stations or the 8-channel mixer at Dre’s studios. Now, check out the incredible new way to produce music baby

TENORI-ON from Yamaha: Equivalent to a 16-channel mixer, Tenori let’s you sequence various sounds against a 2-second  bar. i.e. there are 16 rows each for a particular sound and covering all columns from the front to the end takes 2 seconds. The best part is you create all your samples using your fingers on a touchscreen. Details of the product here.

Reactable: This is another cool set of tools where you use different shapes of chips such as cubes, squares or circular chips to generate different types of sounds. Some of the chips will act as sound generators while others may act as sound filters. Based on how you manipulate the position of the chips in relation to each other or even based or the settings you configure (this is cool, the settings are displayed through LED “halos” around the chip. Modification of these settings are done by running your finger over this “halo”

I first heard about the Reactable a couple years ago, it is a relatively new electronic instrument, and could be really awesome. But it will be hard for it to become mainstream, partly because it costs over $20,000. It also seems to work best with electronic music which isn’t the most popular and is very visual which would be cool in person, but if you just heard the song, you would think it was produced in the same way any other electronic song is made.

More info at the company website here. A cooler demo:

Vor ein paar Wochen hatte ich hier den Reactable erwähnt, eine Art intuitiver Sequencer, der mittels der Position verschiedener Bauklötze zueinander Musik erzeugt. Kürzlich habe ich dann herausgefunden dass die zugehörige Software namens reacTIVision als Open Source frei zugänglich ist. Alles was man noch dazu braucht ist eine Webcam und einen Midi-Sequencer (z.B. Reason) und schon kann man sich seinen eigenen Reactable bauen, im Zweifelsfall mit Papierschnipseln:

Mein nächstes Projekt steht also fest.

Download:

reacTIVision Open Source Software

Bei dem Online-Sample-Tool Incredibox teilt man Figuren Acapella/Beatbox Soundeffekte zu, was sich nicht nur ganz nett anhört, sondern zusätzlich überraschend unterhaltsam ist.

[via Kfmw]

Wer noch ein paar Nette Online-Musik-Sequencer, die vor allem durch ihre spielerische intuitive Bedienung überzeugen sucht, dem ist wahrscheinlich mit dem iNudge, dem Hobnox 909/303-Online-Emulator und der ToneMatrix geholfen.

[via Nerdcore]

Letztere erinnert an das Tenori-On, welches mal in einer Folge von Tracks vorkam, in der es um Musikinstrumente des 21.Jahrhunderts ging. Und ja, ich will den Reactable.

Das Internet wäre nicht das Internet, wenn es die Folge nicht irgendwo zu sehen gäbe. I love it:

Everyday Listening – Articles – SongExplorer: browse song galaxies.

EL REACTABLE:  Uno de los primeros de este siglo.

Una aplicación para el popular IPHONE emulando el sonido de una Ocarina

EL SAMCHILLIAN incorpora un nuevo concepto de ejecucion musical

After watching the preview for Bjork’s new live DVD Voltaic, I saw one of her freaky musicians playing one of the oddest instruments I have ever seen: it was a round table with different objects on it creating electric lines on the tabletop screen. I wasn’t exactly sure what audio it was actually adding to the music. A few weeks went by and I still hadn’t figured out what it was. Today, digging around old NME articles, I found a blog post about Sonar, a music festival (that occurred around the end of June in Spain). Apparently, they featured the very same instrument: The Reactable in one of their exhibitions Their explaination:

“The Reactable uses a so called tangible interface, where the musician controls the system by manipulating tangible objects. The instrument is based on a translucent and luminous round table, and by putting these pucks on the Reactable surface, by turning them and connecting them to each other, performers can combine different elements like synthesizers, effects, sample loops or control elements in order to create a unique and flexible composition.

As soon as any puck is placed on the surface, it is illuminated and starts to interact with the other neighboring pucks, according to their positions and proximity. These interactions are visible on the table surface which acts as a screen, giving instant feedback about what is currently going on in the Reactable turning music into something visible and tangible.

Additionally, performers can also change the behavior of the objects by touching and interacting with the table surface, and because the Reactable technology is “multi-touch”, there is not limit to the number of fingers that can be used simultaneously. As a matter of fact, the Reactable was specially designed so that it could also be used by several performers at the same time, thus opening up a whole new universe of pedagogical, entertaining and creative possibilities with its collaborative and multi-user capabilities.”

That explanation, while apt, doesn’t do the system as much justice as a video does:

Christian Morrissey

O Festival Internacional de Linguagem Eletrônica, FILE, visa a divulgação do desenvolvimento tecnológico, tendo o homem como centro da questão. A cada ano a exposição se supera em mostrar como o ser humano pode criar novas formas de interação com a tecnologia e as modelar conforme suas necessidades, sem se esquecer da simplicidade, questões estéticas e, por que não, divertidas.

Com esta edição, o FILE completa dez anos com o título FILE 10 NURBS PROTO 4KT. Cada parte do título tem sua explicação: NURBS, ou Non Uniform Rational Basis Spline, é a técnica da computação gráfica desenvolvida no século XX para representar superfícies lisas, que, de acordo com Lev Manovich, autor do texto de abertura do Catálogo do FILE deste ano, pode tornar-se juntamente com outros recursos da computação gráfica em uma nova ferramenta para a teoria cultural do século XXI; PROTO é referente a “Protomembrana“, performance do artista catalão Marcel.lí Antunez Roca, que abriu a exposição e fez parte da programação do Hipersônica Performance; e 4K é o formato de super alta definição em que o filme “Enquanto a Noite Não Chega”, de Beto Souza, será transmitido simultâneamente para Estados Unidos e Japão, tornando-a assim Transcontinental.

Mesmo que você não entenda de tecnologia irá querer ver as instalações da exposição. Luzes, sons e imagens que se formam com um simples toque, ou tudo isso combinado, é o que você irá encontrar esse ano. Longe de ser uma exposição vazia e ao mesmo tempo cheia de tecnologia, neste décimo aniversário o FILE convida o espectador a interação e eternização, deixando sua imagem fazer parte da exposição ou até criando a trilha sonora para a experiência coletiva.

Este ano literatura e cultura pop se encontram no mesmo ambiente cultural e tecnológico. A obra Drama House, de Alexandra Dementieva (Bélgica), tem como base a “Comédia Humana”, de Balzac, realista francês. Sua instalação conta oito contos interligados que reagem a uma campainha, que quando tocada, inicia a narrativa em uma das janelas. Moving Mario, de Keith Lam (China), não tenta reproduzir o jogo de Super Mario Bros, mas sim repensar a relação jogo/jogador com objetos tradicionais do jogo original. O FILE GAME também trás jogos que repensam a já tão discutida posição passiva do jogador. O diferencial é o destaque dado a jogos produzidos em nosso país, que são de grande qualidade não só gráfica, mas tecnológica e narrativa.

Quem for à exposição, que fica em São Paulo até o dia 30/08, poderá experimentar um pouco do futuro tecnológico que não está muito longe. Em sua turnê e no Tim Festival de 2007, a cantora Björk utilizou a ReacTable, mesa de som produzida em 2003 e apresentada no FILE de 2007.

Para saber mais, visite o site oficial do FILE. A exposição fica na Galeria de Arte do Sesi, Av. Paulista, 1313 das 10:00 ás19:30.

Back in September 2007, Björk headlined the Austin City Limits Music Festival (’round these parts, we just call it ACL). She came to support Volta, which was released in May of the same year. Many of my friends were clamoring to go, and may have interpreted my reticence to go as snobbish or elitist (or maybe they thought I was just being a hater). I would’ve loved to have seen Björk — I’ve been a huge fan since I was ten — but knew I wasn’t going to be happy with her show in a festival setting. It would’ve been hot, I would’ve been sweaty, I probably wouldn’t have been able to see her, much less hear her, and there weren’t enough other musical acts I wanted to see that in my mind validated buying a pass. It very well may make me a hater.

All of this is to say that, apart from actually being there, the performances in Björk’s Voltaïc is exactly how I would have wanted to see her. It’s a must-see.

Voltaïc is actually a four-disc set, complete with one DVD of music videos for songs from Volta, one CD comprised of remixed versions of songs from Volta, one live CD, and one live DVD featuring two very different musical performances. This last aspect of the collection will be what I focus on in this post.

The first performance on the DVD is a concert in Reykjavík. The venue is Langholtskirkja Church. She performs several pieces from Medúlla, which features songs primarily arranged in a capella and the voice providing a myriad of surprising instrumental possibilities. She has a mixed choir backing her for songs like “Mouth’s Cradle” and “Who Is It?” and what I wouldn’t give to have been in that ensemble. And when she does perform with more traditional instrumentation, as she does with “The Dull Flame of Desire,” she is backed by an all-female Icelandic brass ensemble. Churches tend to be built for sound, and Langholtskirkja is no exception. The space allows Björk and her various ensembles a larger, deeper, richer sonic resonance for their musical interplay.

The second performance, which is from a show in Paris, is a wild, post-global, post-colonial affair. Fitting for a tour to promote an album that boasts songs like “Earth Intruders” and “Declare Independence,” the set is draped with flags that depict frogs and trees as national emblems. Female members of the backing band are slathered in day-glo war paint and feathers.

It may be easy to theorize these accoutrements as reductionist in their allegiance to primitivism (or as petty theivery to the imagery global pop stars like M.I.A. have popularized), but I hasten to abide by this argument without knowing more about Icelandic folklore. Also, there is a concerted effort made to juxtapose traditional instruments with electronics, thus providing a larger set of possibilities for how popular music can sound and how it can be made. On this stage, a harpsichord and a brass ensemble can co-exist with a Reactable, a Tenori-On, and a tricked-out drum kit. Likewise, the instrumentalists are notably mixed gender (though not mixed race); Jónas Sen plays harpsichord, Chris Corsano of Don Caballero is on drums, Mark Bell and Damian Taylor fiddle with electronics, and Björk’s brass ensemble appear again, suggesting that this new nation will be run by a bunch of pissed-off female warrior punks who have no real use for man’s phallic preoccupation with guitars. It’s a world I’d be fine with.

But both performances put primary importance on the voice, as it’s clearly the instrument Björk values most. Indeed, she is quick to remind, the voice is an instrument, and thus the vocalist is not simply a site of objectification but a portal of subjectivities. You get a sense in these performances, which are at such contrast with one another, how sensitive, durable, and complex Björk’s intonation and phrasing are and just how distinct her voice is. Oh, that voice. If we want to borrow from Roland Barthes and his discussion of the grain of the voice, we might put Björk on one end of the spectrum and, say, Neko Case, on the other. If Case’s voice has no grain, and is perfectly pitched and clear, then perhaps it would be fair to say that Björk’s is all grain — excitingly, exhuberantly, defiantly flawed. 

I also appreciate how Björk incorporates stage presence as an extension of her voice, and how the performances capture this as a set of discursive practices than singular entity. Maybe I come up with the word “reverent” because of the venue, but her Reykjavík performance is meditative, quiet, and thoughtful. By contrast, her Paris performance is, to borrow from the title of an earlier tune, “violently happy” (made all the more remarkable for me when I read that she was sick during that particular show).

Likewise, I appreciate how she uses clothing to convey mood and reflect the tone she’s trying to convey in her set list. In the Reykjavík show, we see a slinky, celestial Björk in a form-fitting sequined dress, purple tights, red wedges, and her hair wrapped in braids. Through fashion, Björk suggests that this performance will be self-possessed, intimate, and a bit sensual (amen!). In the Paris concert, however, her costuming is wild and colorful, pairing wide, brightly patterned, ruffly dresses with metallic leggings that allow her to take up maximum space on stage. Notably, her hair is down, waving about her shoulders. Her feet are bare. This is a great physical reflection of her set list, which emphasizes the punkish electronica of Volta, Homogenic, and Post.

And yet. All of this madness, all of this self-containment, all of these contradictions, and all of this joy is organized by one pixieish Icelandic woman who thrives on the beautiful chaos generated from multiple players, multiple instruments, and multiple personas. But she’s the same person who responds to the end of each song with a shy nod or a politely clipped “merci, bien!” Whether in church or going hunting, she’s always Björk.

Los genios del Grupo de Investigación en Tecnología Musical (MTG), de la Universidad Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona (a la que mi padre tanto me insistió para que fuera a estudiar, aunque nunca le hice caso) crearon hace unos años la ReacTable. Se la puede considerar un instrumento musical electrónico, aunque sus posibilidades sean infinitas.

Según su artículo en Wikipedia “es un instrumento musical electrónico colaborativo dotado de una interfaz tangible basada en una mesa” iluminada, sobre la que “múltiples usuarios simultáneos comparten el control total del instrumento moviendo y rotando objetos físicos sobre la superficie de una mesa circular luminosa. Manipulando dichos objetos, los cuales representan los componentes clásicos de un sintetizador modular, los usuarios pueden crear tipologías sonoras complejas y dinámicas, mediante generadores, filtros y moduladores, en una clase de sintetizador modular tangible“.

A mí, personalmente, me parece una obra de arte moderna y me trae a la mente los Roland de hace años, toda una revolución en su época. Pero lo bonito de la ReacTable es verla y escucharla en funcionamiento. Os dejo unos vídeos y el enlace a la web oficial.

WEB OFICIAL

One reason it’s really exciting to teach history is to let people know that it’s evolving and ongoing. One reason I was excited to teach music history to the campers at GRCA today is because it’s important to let girls know that, as musicians, (or fans or critics or label executives or deejays or producers or . . .) they are a continuation, a contribution to a female presence in popular music and, more broadly, public life.

And it’s nice to teach the class with a close girlfriend, so that you can show girls that it’s possible for women to work with one another and collaborate. That’s good too. Especially since the closest I’ve come to teaching pre-/pubescent girls was conducting sight-reading clinics for my mom’s junior high choirs. I was definitely out of my comfort zone teaching two music history classes (one ages 9-11, another 11-13).

But, as with education more broadly, it’s not really about the teachers. It’s about the students and it’s about creating a space to dialogue and learn from one another. So here now are the things I learned at GRCA today.

1. Don’t instinctively apologize. Women and girls say they’re sorry all the time, usually for things that are not their fault. Instead, say “you rock” or “I rock.”

2. Don’t compliment a student on their hair/dress/gear. It could be a class marker and not every girl is born of privilege. Not every girl can afford a mint-condition vintage Clash t-shirt and not every girl can afford a new Gibson guitar. Plus, we shouldn’t use things as markers of our societal worth anyway.

3. Ask what they think, what they know, what they like. Don’t lecture to them. Don’t make it feel like school. But some girls like lectures, as long as they can participate, so they can handle some science being dropped.

4. The older girls love Siouxsie Sioux.

5. Some of the younger girls like country. Some don’t. All opinions are valid. Let’s try and bring both sides together.

6. Some of the older girls didn’t know who Cibo Matto were, but wanted to know more.

7. Many of these girls remember and have a fan relationship with Selena.

8. Many girls want the Reactable shown in Björk’s performance “Declare Independence” on Jools Holland. It shows them that you can use any instrument to make the sound you want.

9. Some of the girls didn’t know who Marnie Stern was, but were excited to hear her name associated with “shredding.”

10. The older girls totes know about riot grrrl.

11. Everyone loves Beth Ditto and M.I.A.

12. Despite the ubiquity of mp3 players, everyone loves a mix CD. A pleasant surprise.

13. Girls wanna talk. It helps them learn. Thank you young ladies for letting me listen.

“Reaccionable” sería en realidad la traducción a la ligera de esta tecnología denominada [Reactable] que acerca la creación de música a cualquier usuario más o menos hábil. Colocado frente a esta mesa multitáctil, en lugar de “pinchar discos”, te familiarizas con la iconografía de las piezas y te lanzas a componer una sesión de música electrónica. 

Reactable estará estos días en Sonarmatica y en el nuevo SonarKids como un dispositivo de creación musical simple y aparentemente, viendo el video, muy intuitivo. 

Touch it or not.

Without sounding like a dinosaur, the DJ’s weapons of mass destruction—two turntables—are an endangered species. While the wheels of steel are still a staple to purists, and some newbies alike, changes to DJ equipment has gone digital.

Next week, the annual SONAR music festival in Barcelona will showcase a new wave of upgrades. For my first time attending SONAR’s New York leg last month, I got first glance at the touch-sensitive, LED synthesizer called the Reactable. Using a set of small blocks, the user places them onto the glowing surface, where they transmit a programmed sample. From there, you can add more blocks to alter tempos, loop sound effects, ultimately building a song; kind of like producing on the fly. See a demo of the Reactable below, plus a clip of it in action at one of Björk’s concerts.

Reactable: Basic Demo #1

Reactable Live In Berlin

Bjork Uses The Reactable For Pluto

O Blog Cola No Grid postou um artigo interessante sobre o Reactable, uma interessante mesa onde tem peças dispostas sobre uma superfície circular – cada uma tem símbolos que uma câmera disposta sobre a mesa identifica e localiza na mesa. Um computador processa essa informação, transformando-a em imagem e em som. A imagem é projetada, dando forma visual à música.

Mais informações sobre o Reactable no Cola No Grid

Sobre o “Play Auditorium”

Pensando nessa interação os nova iorquinos Dain Sain e William Stallwood começaram a fazer experimentos de jogos de reação e música e ai nasceu o Play Auditorium.

O site praticamente reproduziu uma reactable em um jogo online. No jogo, você tem objetos arrastáveis e um espectro de luz. A missão é guiar o espectro até as caixas musicais posicionadas na tela. Quando o espectro atinge as caixas musicais e o som é tocado, você passa para o próximo nível. São 15 níveis de dificuldade numa bela mostra de som, luz e cores.

Você pode ficar horas jogando como se fosse uma Reactable (e se tiver um HP Touchsmart em casa pode brincar colocando o dedo na tela). Apesar do Play Auditorium ainda estar distante de uma Reactable real, a influência é visível e a diversão é garantida.

Acessem: http://www.playauditorium.com/

Hi all,

Maybe a fun day out (SAW field trip?) after all the coursework is handed in?

Various Multi-Touch interfaces are on display, including my final year project from last year, and the Daisyphone, a collaborative music jamming app for the iPhone. There will also be a performance by Serge Jorda, using the reacTable.

Also, we are presenting Sensory Threads, a new project I have been involved with. Sensory Threads is a group sensing experience, where four people venture out into the the city wearing portable sensors which are mapped into an interactive soundscape.

We’ll be looking for some people to try it out and give us some feedback, so why not come along and give it a go!

The event is free, and it’s going to be great!

Mail me for more details.

thanks

Robin Fencott

Tension: Interactives and Workshops

http://www.danacentre.org.uk/events/2009/06/23/506

Tuesday June 23rd, 10:30 – 16:30

Reactable and hipDrawing live

19:00 – 20:45

http://www.danacentre.org.uk/events/2009/06/23/508

Bringing together a selection of experimental projects that will alter your perception of surfaces, we host a day-long interactive exhibition of some of the most innovative examples in the field so you can touch them and meet their creators.

Get clued up on the science of the interactive surface, how you can build one yourself and their potential for fuelling creativity in collaboration and learning in one of the themed drop-in discussion sessions taking place during the day.

DeTaLe (London Knowledge Lab)

Explore the physics of light by manipulating everyday objects on a DIY interactive surface built for children.

ShareIT DiamondTouch (Open University and University of Sussex)

Join the circuit! The multi-user, multi-touch DiamondTouch surface uses your body as an electrical conduit – the minute electrical signal moves through your body to pads on which you stand thereby placing the position of your touch on the table.

Sensory Threads (Proboscis, Birkbeck and Queen Mary University of London)

Explore human relationships with the environment in this experimental mobile and participatory sensing and sonification experience.

DaisyPhone (Queen Mary University of London)

Create music with people from around the world on the world’s first multi-user, live jam for the iPhone.

FTIR Multitouch Surface (ShareIT project)

This large multi-touch table uses the process of FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection) to detect multiple simultaneous touches.

Cellular Sound (Robin Fencott)

Make ambient music with your friends, using a £100 multi-touch surface.

Skin Vision (e-Sense project)

Get in the game as you track and catch a rolling ball when blindfolded using tactile stimulation on your belly.

Drop in day. No booking required

This event is held in conjunction with the London Knowledge Lab, supported by the EPSRC-funded UbiComp Grand Challenge. 

http://www.reactable.com/

La Reactable es un instrumento musical electrónico colaborativo dotado de una interfaz tangible basada en una mesa, e inspirado en los sintetizadores modulares de los años sesenta. Fue desarrollado por el Grupo de Tecnología Musical de la Universidad Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona, por un equipo de investigación integrado por Sergi Jordà, Marcos Alonso, Günter Geiger y Martin Kaltenbrunner. Múltiples usuarios simultáneos comparten el control total del instrumento moviendo y rotando objetos físicos sobre la superficie de una mesa circular luminosa. Manipulando dichos objetos, los cuales representan los componentes clásicos de un sintetizador modular, los usuarios pueden crear tipologías sonoras complejas y dinámicas, mediante generadores, filtros y moduladores, en una clase de sintetizador modular tangible. Sólo existen diez Reactables en el mundo, incluido el que se le fue vendido a la cantante islandesa Björk

If you have been following my blog for a while now you probably remember when I introduced the Tenori-on in one of my post. Well, along with the Tenori-on there are a couple other cool machines make some noise in the music industry these days… they are the future of music.

Ever since I heard news of Daft Punk composing the soundtrack for Disney’s upcoming Tron 2.0 I haven’t been able to think of anything but robots, spaceships, and flashing lights~light~lights… Anyway, artist like Justice, M.I.A, Björk, and Daft Punk themselves have used the amazing ‘electronic musical instruments’ created by JazzMutant. JazzMutant produce two amazing machines called the Dexter and the Lemur. Really they make me want to do my producing in the dark.

Here is one of the many clips of the Lemur.

Another cool music maker has caught my eye were these blocks called Siftable Music Sequencers (SMS for short). SMS are little blocks that when touched by other blocks create a loop. SMS was created by David Merrill (of MIT) and also can be made for other uses other than music. Check ‘em out.

Last but not least the Reactable is probably the craziest/coolest ‘electronic musical instrument’. Truthfully I still can’t wrap my mind around how it works, but maybe you can here’s a video. 

En el post d’ahir us parlava del Reactable, un aparell creat per el Grup de Tecnologia Musical de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra i que genera sons electrònics mitjançant la interacció damunt d’una pantalla tàctil. L’aparell, amb una interfície bastant lògica, simula un sintetitzador com els que es van popularitzar en els anys 60 de la mà de Bob Moog.

En el vídeo de demostració que vaig adjuntar, només es mostraven els components i funcionament del Reactable. En el que us adjunto a continuació, ja no s’estan per lliçons… això és tot un concert… millor dit, tot un live. Curiosament aquest live va tindre lloc a Vic, durant les Nits Digitals del 2007 a la Jazz Cava. El que em pregunto és on parava jo aquella nit perdent-me tal exhibició? La música pot agradar més o menys, però la tècnica està present.

Miquel Cornellà de la Cruz

El passat 9 de maig es va celebrar al recinte firal El Sucre la primera edició de la fira tecnològica de l’e-week, la Play. La fira es va convertir en un espai on la protagonista indiscutible va ser la tecnologia i que va aplegar un grapat d’empreses del sector informàtic, tecnològic i similars, a més a més d’un munt d’activitats i tallers que giraven entorn d’aquesta temàtica o sector.

Els stands empresarials no van tindre tan bona acollida com aquelles activitats més lúdiques o interactives, que són les que realment van tindre més afluència de gent (sobretot de famílies i curiosos com jo). Tot seguit us faig 5 cèntims de les activitats que més em van cridar l’atenció:

Videojocs i simuladors: l’oferta era ben variada però sens dubte que els jocs de simulació automobilística i aeronàutica varen ser els més sol·licitats. La Wii, i el seu diferenciat i original modus operandi, també van tindre els seus espais.

Simulador de vol

Osona lan-party: per primer cop a la comarca d’Osona es va realitzar una activitat d’aquest tipus, que a més a més de la lan-party pròpiament dita, també va organitzar diferent torneigs de videojocs.

Robòtica: gran presencia de robòtica a la Play, dirigida des dels més petits i fins als més grans. Per exemple hi havia l’espai dels Lego Mindstorms, que és un programa que s’està duent a terme a diferents escoles d’Osona i que introdueix als més petits en el món dels autòmats. Altres stands estaven dedicats a la construcció de petits robots (inclús amb materials reciclats) o exhibicions robòtiques.

Lego Mindstorms

Reactable: per a mi, va ser la gran sorpresa de la fira. N’havia sentit a parlar i també havia vist imatges, però quan el vaig veure i sentir en directe, vaig quedar meravellat de les possibilitats d’aquest aparell que genera sons electrònics en funció de les peces que col·loques damunt de la seva pantalla interactiva. Em vaig quedar amb les ganes de trastejar-lo una estona. Si voleu veure un vídeo de demostració, feu click aquí.

Reactable

Tallers: vaig acudir al que impartia Dani Martínez sobre la personalització de blocs i que va inaugurar el secretari de Telecomunicacions de la Generalitat, Jordi Bosch. El taller, que va tindre una durada menor de la prevista, va consistir en la resolució de dubtes que havien generat els usuaris prèviament via Facebook, i els que es varen plantejar en el mateix moment de l’acte. Entre els assistents, amics i blocaires de la comarca com: Adriana Barba, Carles Banús o Josep Comajoan.

Dani Martínez al Taller de blocs

Felicitats als organitzadors de la Play i la e-week, que engreixen la proposta firal i cultural de la ciutat de Vic i que aposten per aquest món digital que ens rodeja del que, qui més qui menys s’hi troba immers.

Text i fotografia: Miquel Cornellà de la Cruz