I'd like to see Eno do a show with naught but one ipad. I think Reactable is basically a toy and as for the Tenori-on.. I don't know if you've ever played one, but it was kind of terrible.. I think it probably would do better as an app than a discrete physical device though. It looked cool and novel, but the build quality was poor and the interface actually wasn't worthwhile, it was a toy. It's so much easier to address tone using a keyboard, and you don't need a crazy 16x16 grid to address time. A linear array of 16 buttons, any of which you can hold to address a specific point in time, and then manipulate that point in time by pressing keys on a keyboard or turning encoders to set parameters works very well.
Samplr looks cool, but I don't actually see the capability. Controllerists hack together things like this in PureData, Max/MSP, and Reaktor all the time. Just watching the video, the issue of the finger covering the display is huge. I see him changing parameters that are tightly clustered by pressing on them and then sliding his finger left and right. So.. the nearby parameters are inaccessible when doing this? What happens when my hands get sweaty?
I think touch screens have their uses but they simply don't replace tactile controls. Having an integrated computer and screen that can present a large amount of information is itself a huge advancement. The overly touch-centric UI is a regression, in this musician's opinion. I see a lot of novelty, but I've yet to see anything that I personally would even consider bringing onto the stage. Keys work, knobs work, faders work, decoupled controls and display work. In all the novelty I don't see any real tools for managing the complexity and demands of live performance, I see complexity added without practical affordances.
Tightly coupling control and display is just not such a great idea and I really don't think it takes much imagination once you remember all of the different sensors and hard input devices that exist to come up with another way of implementing any interface that works well on a touch screen.
I'm more interested in the possibility of apps w/ dedicated controllers, or multipurpose controllers, than I am in the standalone apps. Unfortunately, these devices don't really put configurability very high on their feature sets.
If you haven't done so recently, go play a modern hardware synth or sequencer. Then think about the explosion of possibility that 'desktop'(Which is really a misnomer with laptops and small headless computers on the table) solutions offer... then revisit a tablet app and you'll find yourself asking, as I found myself asking, why do I have to obscure the information with my finger and why is such a large part of my screen given over to taking input?
Samplr looks cool, but I don't actually see the capability. Controllerists hack together things like this in PureData, Max/MSP, and Reaktor all the time. Just watching the video, the issue of the finger covering the display is huge. I see him changing parameters that are tightly clustered by pressing on them and then sliding his finger left and right. So.. the nearby parameters are inaccessible when doing this? What happens when my hands get sweaty?
I think touch screens have their uses but they simply don't replace tactile controls. Having an integrated computer and screen that can present a large amount of information is itself a huge advancement. The overly touch-centric UI is a regression, in this musician's opinion. I see a lot of novelty, but I've yet to see anything that I personally would even consider bringing onto the stage. Keys work, knobs work, faders work, decoupled controls and display work. In all the novelty I don't see any real tools for managing the complexity and demands of live performance, I see complexity added without practical affordances.
Tightly coupling control and display is just not such a great idea and I really don't think it takes much imagination once you remember all of the different sensors and hard input devices that exist to come up with another way of implementing any interface that works well on a touch screen.
I'm more interested in the possibility of apps w/ dedicated controllers, or multipurpose controllers, than I am in the standalone apps. Unfortunately, these devices don't really put configurability very high on their feature sets.
If you haven't done so recently, go play a modern hardware synth or sequencer. Then think about the explosion of possibility that 'desktop'(Which is really a misnomer with laptops and small headless computers on the table) solutions offer... then revisit a tablet app and you'll find yourself asking, as I found myself asking, why do I have to obscure the information with my finger and why is such a large part of my screen given over to taking input?