Developed by James Patten with electronic musician and fellow Media Lab graduate student Ben Recht, Audiopad It 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.
One can pull sounds from a giant set of samples, juxtapose archived recordings against warm synthetic melodies, cut between drum loops to create new beats, and apply digital processing all at the same time on the same table. Audiopad not only allows for spontaneous reinterpretation of musical compositions, but also creates a visual and tactile dialogue between itself, the performer, and the audience.
Audiopad has a matrix of antenna elements which track the positions of electronically tagged objects on a tabletop surface. Software translates the position information into music and graphical feedback on the tabletop. Each object represents either a musical track or a microphone.
James Patten is a PhD Candidate in the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab, where he designs new interfaces to computers based on physical objects. These tangible interfaces aim to let people take advantage of the skills they already have when using a computer, instead of having to develop new ones.
Thanks to Aron S. for the link.
