Music with Paper. Reactivision Improvisation with MIDI (Reactable)

This is an early experiment using the reacTIVision libs with MIDI. I wanted to be able to play notes & trigger loops using fiducial markers and try and make an intuitive connection between the image and the sound. There is no visual feedback like with the Reactable - I kinda like it organic. It removes the computer and keyboard interface completely.

How it works: Video camera (Sony PD170) shooting progressive mode hooked up to a capture card (nVidia), reacTIVision does the image recognition and then I'm MIDI'ed out to a Roland MC505 and Korg KP3 (as a sampler).

Current Flaws: If you accidentally cover over a loop / beat it sometimes retriggs... often out of time (you see this at 3:47). Likewise triggering anything on tempo is tricky - especially when trying to time LFO's to a beat. There is a slight latency between the camera seeing the image, the A/D and reactivision processing the fiducial, but it is quite usable once you get used to it. Also, it is very easy to "clash" fiducials by overlap. My new version mounts these on blocks of foam and the new table will also be much bigger than a sheet of photocopier paper!!

Thanks for watching :-)

(ps. back to the chiptune!)

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• reacTIVision
• Reactable
• music with paper
• cTrix
• debug
• image recognition
• IDM
• Groovebox 505

[litlekarim33]

this is a bit like many apps and little games for ipods and stuff like this.. but this is real.. pretty cool.. but not the best for music MAKING ...

[debuglive]

@litlekarim33 - I have to agree with you - although it's more just a different medium. It has the advantage of being tactile so you can nudge and move elements around in groups in a no-brainier way. For loop-based performance (quantized) with multiple people on a bigger surface it's fun. But as a piano / guitar replacement it doesn't fare so well given the latency and trigger method. So live part sequencing = good, live note seq - unless attached to an arp - not so good! V2 now in works :-)

[moejoe1337]

Hey Chris, where's that drum loop from? I've previously heard it in Zone66 and some other MODs, but I have no idea where I could get a HQ version for my own tracks. :) // Saga Musix

[debuglive]

@moejoe1337 : Hey man.  How are things your side of the globe?! The Drum loop is from a tune called When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin. It's quite a standard loop. Another of the loops is just sequenced on my old MC505 (as pictured)

[clohed]

this is fucking amazing

[dackadel]

hey what did you use processing with tuio and react? and within processing did you use the minim library? I'm a design student trying to test the reachable out. and I'm doing it through processing and am having some trouble loading the sounds. do you think you can help me out?

regards

[nosevideoarte]

Awesome sounds!

[DamonBreakz]

I have a massive folder of doodles at home, much like yours. i have been trying to do somethign with them for years. Now I know what to do. Ableton and this.....man, out of this world!

[awayfromhome]

@awayfromhome I have figured out the correct midi device in the configuration but am having problems sending the signals to the midi out. Any help. Thanks :)

[awayfromhome]

how do you midi reactivision out to a hardware synth? I got midiox but dont have a clue how to make this part work. Thanks

[Lilion22]

Hey let me ask you something, do you know how to get the "scale" of a fiducial marker? i'm using ReacTIVision with Processing and the API has no method for obtaining the scale, however there are such for positions, Ids and rotation...

[almetal99]

HEY MAN I ALSO HAVE THE REACTIVISION

BUT I DONT KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT SOUND

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO ???

PLEASE HELP ME DUDE!!

[almetal99]

HEY MAN I GOT A QUESTION

I ALSO HAVE THE REACTIVISION BUT I DONT KNOW HOW TO MAKE SOUNDS WITH IT

CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE??

[HyperHuffer]

Dude,that's trippy :)