tangible user interface

The Spinner Synth is a prototype MIDI controller made with a piece of scrap wood, a webcam and some tape.

This is a circular controller for a synthesizer, using the openCV visualization library to analyze a series of points on a rotating wheel, and generate MIDI events.

Details here.

via Mahto:

In this video, Trackmate, a do-it-yourself tangible tracking system, is used to control a LusidOSC spatial application that sequences sounds to create and mix music.
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Musikmesse 2009: Some more German coverage, this time of the Reactable Systems Reactable. Audio demo section kicks in about halfway.

via musotalk

Frankfurt Musikmesse 2009. Newly-formed company Reactable Systems has announced plans to put the Reactivision-based Reactable into production.

The Reactable is a new electronic musical instrument that combines state of the art technologies with a simple and intuitive design, which enables musicians to experiment with sound, change its structure, control its parameters and be creative in a very direct way.

The kind of interface that the Reactable uses is called tangible, because the musicians use different shaped tangible pucks in order to control the system. The Reactable is based on a translucent and luminous round table, and by putting these pucks on the Reactable surface, by turning them and interacting them with each other, performers can combine different elements like synthesizers, effects, sample loops or control elements in order to create a unique and flexible composition.

via musicradartv

A short interview with Queens University PhD student Peter Bennett in the Sonic Arts Research Centre. The interview is focused on his BeatBearing drum sequencer.

More details on the BeatBearing sequencer are available in Make 17.