New music era or error?

by Roque Santos, HAWT San Francisco

Surfing blogs and Youtube you can find a variety of new digital, touch screen, wireless, Ipod, turntable infused instruments, and programs. I even wrote about ones these in last months blog the "Pace Maker". I think a lot of these contraptions are novelties but they will eventually lead into important technologies one day. Watching these videos reminds me of seeing old footage of inventors testing out their flying machines. The inventions look cool and seem to be good ideas but just can't get off the ground. Here are three new popular instruments that are pushing boundaries and making a lot of noise. Let me know what you think!

Reactable

"The reactable, is a state-of-the-art multi-user electro-acoustic music instrument with a tabletop tangible user interface. Several simultaneous performers share complete control over the instrument by moving physical artefacts on the table surface and constructing different audio topologie...

Lemur

JazzMutant’s Lemur is a glimpse into the future of not only controllers, but the way we may interact with computers. Although it is not without faults (12” display and a hefty price tag) it opens up a door that improves on the current selection of controllers available, where a user must adapt to a controller, instead of a controller adapting to the user.

Intua Beat Maker for Iphone

Intua is the first to get a full-fledged music creation app on the iTunes App Store, with an MPC-style sampler and step sequencer, plus effects, for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This isn’t just a toy for triggering sounds or a useful utility like a guitar tuner; it’s an actual music app on which you can produce whole songs. As with any mobile app, there are tradeoffs versus a desktop tool – but its simplicity is likely to be part of its appeal. US$19.99.
Most importantly, it’s available now.