Just when you think you've seen it all, something turns up that puts a fresh spin (hahahahaha) on DJing and music making. Essentially a fun project from Microsoft surface developers VectorForm, Surface DJ brings something more creative than the other surface apps seen before, and allows you to drag instruments onto the surface turntable to make all new tracks. And a mini version is available for iPhone too.
There's always been a danger that using computers to make music is likely to suck the fun and performance out of it, but this surface application puts both back in big time for me. Here's how it works - around the central platter are draggable instruments and loops. These could be drums, basslines, keyboards etc or full breaks from your favourite tracks. The volume is controlled by how close to the middle the loop is, and it can even be scratched too.
Obviously this is a long way from being a commercial reality at this scale and needs more development to become fully featured, but the possibilities for working with audio and video in this way are quite exciting. You could for example have a number of people working on one surface interactively mixing all sorts of crazy stuff together, and projecting this creative process onto walls in clubs. This also struck me as an intuitive ways to experiment with mixes of tracks in a non-linear free flowing creative environment - almost like an audio sketch book.
Here's a demo with an older version:
A radically cut down version is available for iPhone that emulates the loops/platter idea and shows the basic principle, and you can save your creations along the way as well.
Expect to see copyright infringing mouse only versions of this type of thing in 5... 4... 3...
Huge thanks to Tony Leach for sending me the original link.
5 comments to this story
On July 6, 2009, Mudo commented...
... It is not enough accurate... sounds weird. I doubt seriously about use "touchpannels" as turntable interfacing.
Is like triggering beats, people needs the metha-interfacing knowed as "rubber button" or "vinyl" in this case.
And of course, it is more "cheap" do it with a wiimote like John Cheung Lee projects (or Project Natal from Microsoft) used in this way.
Not hate, only user opinion.
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On July 6, 2009, Aero commented...
Hey man the link to Vectorform has an extra <br/> tag in the link.
When I hear people say "Large" scratch its time to run and hide.
On July 7, 2009, Dizzy commented...
Everytime is see a video of some sort of 'Star Trek' touchscreen interface the scratching feature always sound like crap and is totally awkward to manipulate. The only real way to be able to pull off anything half way decent sounding with scratching is to have the tactile feel of some sort of physical platter, whether it be a vinyl record or a jogwheel.
On July 7, 2009, Johnny commented...
utter nonsense, do not waste your money on the iphone app, it is a disgrace, nothing to do with touch control simply moving some pre-programmed parts around which makes them louder. these guys should be ashamed.
On July 30, 2009, dj bulge commented...
Yet another example of microsoft's devoted devs being clueless about interface design and usability. I guess they can only follow the guides from their masters.
How is dragging a dropping even a slightly good way of triggering samples and loops? I understand that they are adjusting volume in the process, but c'mon... they must be kidding if they think someone will ever use something like this in a pro environment.
Yes it's more accessible... no disputing, but it's such a gimmick. And what's the point of making the software accessible for people to play around with when a surface costs $10K USD? Seems like a pointless exercise.
Maybe if they virtualised a midi controller with sliders, buttons and really concentrated on latency and accuracy they would be on to something. Like that shit daft punk is rocking. There has got to be a major advantage to a touch screen to make up for the lose in tactile feedback. That advantage is layout customisation with no set buttons, and visual feedback. Think of why the iphone has barely any hard buttons to speak of, and has such a versatile interface.
I won't be buying shares in Vectorform anytime soon. Can only assume they are being bankrolled by Microsoft and are just adding to the massive hemorrhage Ballmer's bank balance. Good on them for trying something new, but you guys are barking up the wrong tree here.
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On July 6, 2009, Mudo commented...
5 comments to this story