more awesome sound-making stuff from cameras ..

[Jay Vaughan]

> Well, yes, granted. I was thinking more specifically about putting
> little cubes on top of a display and turning them around.

Great for kids, learning music.  Great for professionals who want to  
put on more than a laptop show.

> You're going to have this problem anyway with electronic instruments,
> except when there's a direct physical connection between what your  
> hands
> (or feet, or whatever) do and the sound that is produced. So you don't
> have the problem with a theremin, but you do have it when the movement
> of your hands has to be interpreted first, before a sound is produced.
>

There is a gradient scale of interactivity in synthesizers.  Some  
actions result directly in audible results, some require offline  
processing.  We have known this for years; since the days of the a3k- 
list.

>
> Well, personally, I would like to narrow it down to 'all *sensible*
> different directions'. A lot of the stuff I see here has a high gadget
> value, but very little in terms of musicality.
>

A lot of the stuff you see posted to the -bar is bleeding edge.  Never  
forget that.

> Especially those cubes do *nothing* for expression. They just sit  
> there.

No worse than a USB mouse.

> Multi-touch: good idea, but what use is it if you can't give  
> expression
> by pressing a bit harder, or wiggle your fingers? You just need a very
> large, pressure-sensitive, multi-touch capable ribbon controller. Then
> at least you can put expression in.


Another point: it better be interesting to watch.  Ever shoulder  
surfe'ed a game of chess?

;
--
Jay Vaughan