Jamming With iPad-Controlled Household Objects

Conductr & CaboSanRoque have collaborated to create a new project, HiLo, for Sonar 2015, that features iPad-controlled household objects.

HiLo is the first collaboration between Conductr and CaboSanRoque:

  • CaboSanRoque manipulate objects to reveal their sonic personality and turn them into instruments; with the involvement of Laia and Roger, a typewriter, a comb and a can of insecticide transcend their intended function.
  • Conductr turns the iPad —a device that also wasn’t originally designed to make music— into an instrument for controlling Ableton Live.

HiLo is an interactive installation located in the Conductr space at Sonar 2015. Attendees will be able to play with Tres Tristos Trons, one of CaboSanRoque’s ‘pataphysical instruments’, using an iPad with Conductr. CaboSanRoque will also perform a composition specifically created for HiiLo twice a day.

13 thoughts on “Jamming With iPad-Controlled Household Objects

  1. What a beautiful instalation of percussive instruments!
    It is a nice tune thou, but I’m too old-school to understand the thrill that some people get from pressing tactile LCDs.

    1. I too prefer knobs buttons and faders for hardcore controllerism. But the thrill in touchscreen controllers is that with the push of a button the screen can be transformed into a completely different controller. It becomes a blank canvas for building what you want, when working with apps like Lemur, TouchOSC, etc. Don’t like that button over there? Move it to the other side. Don’t like the size of the faders? Make them bigger. Need another control screen? Sure! There’s something thrilling about all that flexibility, even for someone like me who still generally prefers tactile knobs, faders and buttons.

      1. That’s the big deal right there – you can have a custom controller that makes sense for the thing you’re doing, rather than putting tape labels on a generic controller.

        It’s not about replacing the keyboard or Launchpads, it’s about using custom iPad controls for tasks that generic controllers aren’t that good for.

  2. I use hardware synthesizers and Akai mpc’s . I looked at software synths when they first came out and to this day I really don’t get the Ipad /softsynth thing. It seems more style over substance but that syle seems to have worn very thin. I was shown an I pad app for piano, then realized it wasn’t velocity sensitive and I scratched my head as it was a piano program/app. All the add ons and attachments for sale , make the price to use some gimmick softtware absurd.
    Most the people I know musically make tracks for vinyl releases on European techno, acid and electro labels. We use software only to sequence midi data. The one in our circle who used reason had done so after using hardware (20 years experience) he has now been buying hardware and is back using drum machines and synths.
    I am 48 and bought my first analogue (we did not use that term then) 32 years ago.
    Basically the ‘arty use of tablets etc ‘ does nothing for me and as in all trends it can influence peoples buying decisions. The price of a pretty much ‘ throwaway’ object like an Ipad does not make sense, when we can buy a synth for the same price that will out live and out perform such an object. I have been involved in teaching music tech and have friends also who teach , computers and software is always the weakest link in a studio chain.
    I recently watched an amusing section of an Editors film (the band the editors) , where they talked about a PRO TOOLS crash in a studio where they where all booked in and ready to work on a new album ,It was down for two days and it ruined their session! I am not convinced by software and tablets in any way shape or form and inspite of this video, I do not seem to be able to see any videos of full tracks being made on Ipads and tablets.
    I started off making music on v poor equipment cause of cost . I have good equipment now and I still buy from the second hand market and from time to time splash out and buy relatively expensive gear. I bought a Strymon Big Sky reverb unit recently , the real time control is something that I need and enjoy that physical contact and the direct control of nuances in sound. The Strymon costs less than an Ipad and will last me hopefully for the next twenty years (just like my midi verbs have!!)
    Inspite of my circle of friends in music tech, yet to see anyone using an Ipad in a studio .
    I write this not to be abusive but to say for some of us the price of such objects does not make sense and hardware can be bought for the same price that will last ten times or twenty times longer .

    1. Your rant suggests that you are so wrapped up in your fetishization of hardware that you have missed the whole point of this video.

      What’s the hardware analog to the setup that you are criticizing in the video?

      1. on missing the point of the video… It’s a free Internet and people are entitled to their opinions. Hurray! Added to that, I don’t not get the sense that the “A Producer of vinyl” was at all trolling. But! Of all of the hundreds and hundreds of software/iPad/digital posts on Synthtopia, s/he chose to rant against digital on a post containing a video with quite literally *thousands* of pieces of hand crafted analog sound makers. It’s pretty funny.

    2. Agree with you in some point cause for me the video is amazing but also not realistic, its show how technology goes today by turning a iPad into a powerful controller, but they missing the point of making music. That system by touching real surface, they do looks easy but actually the to performer just do the most simplest task is playing music. To have that system working need few company behind to setup n support, So its just have the ply function that to be on the video, cannot be long term working of any producer. Even i don’t know how many percent real in that video, does it take by 1 take or its a careful recording process n lots of trick for camera n visual. Again, its more for advertising more than music itself.

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