MIT Students' Audiopad Mixes Electronic Music

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."

Sure

But can I play Chopsticks on it?

I tried it with IE...

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?

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How long until...

Someone gets sued by the RIAA for arranging the objects in their cube the wrong way?

I've seen it live....

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.

Re:I've seen it live....

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....

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.)

Wonder what it'd cost

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.

.mov file not running

Anyone else have problems running the .mov? Even on my iMac it refuses to run.

BTW: That is one sick device!

Nothing to see here

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

...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?

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

Can MIT do the reverse??

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!

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Might as well throw away old synthesizers then

OK everyone, throw away your Prophet 5s, your DX7s, TB-303s, Jupiter 8s and TR-909s. This has made them all obsolete.

sigh.

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.

Theremin

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

Re:Theremin

Actually, if you want to wave your arms around to make music, you can't beat being the conductor of the New York Philharmonic.

tragic ending to this happy story

Despite the countless hours of work put into this amazing project, the team still failed the class. After finishing and finalizing their project work, the team had a party, showing off their work to friends and experimenting with their new creation. One thing led to another, and soon everyone was in a state of tripped-outness from the combinations of sound to be made. By 8 a.m. everyone was passed out or sleeping soundly, missing their project deadline. The evil Professor Prude, failing to see the contribution to academia made by this project, refused to accept their late work. Out of disgust, they all quit MIT, and decided to show their work instead to techies, slashdotters, and anyone else that wanted to see a new 'trippy' way to make music.

P.S. They will probably still end up making millions.

nice

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...

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.

There's NO Synthesis going on here...

All those "this changes music" "all instruments are obsolete" etc posts...

There is NO synthesis in the video... it's all from prerecorded loops, that they probably didn't even make themselves.

IE. Pure gimmick!

Radio Drum: Andy Schloss did this in 1980s.

This spring, I attended a presentation by Dr. Andy Schloss. A musician who maps instruments and sounds to his three-dimensional electronic sensor that he invented in the 80s, he does quite a few live performances and has thought of many applications for his instrument outside of the music world. More Details [communications.uvic.ca]

different site with video

As it seems the MIT site is slowly being slashdotted... here is a different site [computerlove.net] with a demonstration video.

The ideas in this aren't all that amazing

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 go commercial for a long time is b/c there are no real new ideas as far as the actual sound manipulation is concerned. See ableton live [ableton.com]for example or jeskola buzz. [buzzmachines.com]

after ...

we got it re-engineered , we would see it's just another way to play music with digits.

Practical

It's practical, but more importantly it looks really, really cool.

You work for Microsoft, don't you?

cool

I think its pretty cool. I've always liked stuff the MIT media lab was producing, especially CSound. True, its been many years past since Barry Vercoe was an MIT grad student, but damn, it made the MIT media lab famous. Took a long time to download the demo, and while I don't think its terribly groundbreaking, its nice to see electronic instruments with 3 dimensional control of rhythm, amplitude, and timbre with such simple movements. Overall, I think its a good idea, with definite possibilities for mass appeal. I want an audiopad now....

Other software controllers

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 system doesn't run on electrical contact between moving parts, so you don't have the same degree of wear and tear.

Slashdotpad

Looks like those crafty MIT kids built a device that can slashdot a webpage by tracking moving objects on a table. :)

Is that a big Wacom tablet?

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.

This was invented 20 years ago...

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.

Coming soon to a toy store near you...

Earlier this year at a Boston concert, Tod Machover showcased Beatbugs http://www.media.mit.edu/hyperins/projects/beatbug 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 to?

Mirror?

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.

Beautiful..A sign of the many great things to come

I write, compose, and listen to many forms of "electronic" music now to the not so bright people who have an natural born hatred of electronic music I would just like to say 90% of the music you listen to these days is a form of electronic music, i.e. it has recorded, reorganized, and re-mastered in some electronic or digital way. Aside from that I love many forms of "electronic" music such as smooth expanding melodic "trance" and I must say the AUDIOPAD is AMAZING in the way it allows a musician or performer to interact with their music - this is one useful and beautiful instrument and these two guys have really made making it to MediaLab something I must really strive for just to have a chance to work, interact, and create with such intelligent and creative minds.

Oh hum its been (sorta) done ...

Looks like they've reinvented the wheel. There's nothing
fundamentally new here.

Avant garde composers were doing stuff like this way back
in the 60's. The ideas, if not the technology have been
around even longer.

People walking around a happening triggered photocells
wired to electronic musical devices thus creating a
changing 'musical' event.

These guys get a grant to do this 'research'??
Gravy train city ... how do I get on this course?

Am I the only one...

Am I the only one who has realized the incredible potential to take this interface and apply it to the exciting field of mathematics known as Bistromathics [earthstar.co.uk]? Think about it! Instead of acrylic pucks interfacing with a synthesizer, you could have plates, teacups, and olive forks interfacing with a mathematical engine! It could revolutionize mathematics. Of course, all the mathematicians in the world may end up dying of obesity, but it will be a worthy sacrifice.

Air Hockey

After watching the video I really really want to play air hockey on this thing.

Related software

Last year I saw a demonstration of some ixi software programs [ixi-software.net]. If you think the Audiopad is cool, check them out. The Audiopad interface immediately made me think of some of their music tools.

Re:Its practical

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:Don't you dare comment!

Good try but wrong article for that troll. You couldn't wait 24 hours for Fritz Hollings (D-Disney) to open his mouth?

Re:The interface is amazing..

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.

Re:The interface is amazing..

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

Re:Its practical

if you happen to have 12ft ceilings and a video projector to spare

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

I see a problem

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

Re:Its practical

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

b.c