Looks like these devices are gaining ground as potentially legit tech
format/more-than-toys/music making machines...
and yaknow what?, seriously, I'm all for new audio-interfaces that
bring more spontaneity and improvisational play to composition.
Handheld vidgames or not. They're pretty cool. And fun. Not to mention
the territory a skilled musicmaker/ improviser might come to explore
with these things in combination with some of the current
compositional software. Something like Ableton Live/ Tenori-On? Now,
if only ElectroPlankton on the Nintendoo DS would allow you to load your
own soundesign into em' we'd really have somethin! ...And yes, admittedly
the Tenori-On, as cool as it is, does rather look like "Attack of the LightBright".
TENORI-ON:
http://www.global.yamaha.com/design/tenori-on/
Link to Tenori-On - live vid-presentation
ELECTROPLANKTON:
http://electroplankton.nintendods.com/flash.html
Link to ElectroPlankton - various examples in action
And simultaneously, significantly more 'legitimate' new hardware
interfaces like Jazzmutant's 'LEMUR' and the 'Reactable' interface
developed by Pompeu Fabra University's Music Technology Group are
being championed by the likes of Bjork and Mark Bell in their live
shows. Now these, I'm genuinely, unreservedly, crazy-enthused about!
If only there wasn't the prohibitive cost of both to contend with. But
it is usually the way of technology and its development to see these
refined, well engineered (and darn expensive) devices to eventually
have a release of a less costly 'consumer model'. Hopefully that will
be the case here. Because these, to use a grand word, could be
genuinely 'Revolutionary'. And here they are for your own
wonderment/art-making lust/perusal:
JAZZMUTANT LEMUR:
http://www.jazzmutant.com/lemur_overview.php
REACTABLE:
http://mtg.upf.es/reactable/
Link to Reactable - demo vid-presentation
