#gesture midi controller

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5 DJing Predictions For 2013

While digitaldjtips.com doesn’t lay out many technical articles, other than some well put together guides on DJ culture and equipment – they’re opinion articles hit the nail on the head.  Their latest article talks about predictions for the future of DJing, and most of these ideas are fathomable.  One of the most obvious remarks has to do with tablet technology.  DJing on the iPad alone is still risky business – not risky due to the hardware or software, but risky due to the fact that few will take you seriously.  It’s a cultural problem more than anything else.  However, once Native Instruments or Rane jumps on board, every DJ will be cashing in their laptop for a fresh new tablet. Another great prediction has to do with the way we trigger events using controllers.  Currently, MIDI has advanced to the point where controllers can be created to suit the user, and non-percussive gestures are used to turn things on and off, instead of a button.  If we look ahead to the future, this idea may be exploited to its limits.  Imagine sensors located around your body that allows you to pantomime the act of scratching to spinning a record.  It sounds crazy now, but so did the idea of having virtual turntables 10 years ago. http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2013/01/5-djing-predictions-for-2013/

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Hot Hand USB Wireless MIDI Controller

There have been plenty attempts at exploring gesture control with MIDI controllers.  So far, we are still at a primitive state, where there are more experiments than products being produced with this in mind.  The QuNeo creator has naturally been looking for new ways to input gesture and have it decoded by MIDI software.  Other successive MIDI controller featured an expressive gesture control where the fingers could actually add movement to the sound of a note.  On the other side of the spectrum, hackers have been building detection software with three axes in order to track the motion of the hand or hands sin the air.  The trouble with this method is the amount of gear needed to pull it off – one company has put in all the hard work to create a device just like this. The Hot Hand USB controller has a silly name, and it seems like it is hard to take seriously – but it actually works.   This small device can be velcro’d to any part of the body, like hands and feet where the motion will be picked up as a MIDI signal.  The device comes with its own detection software which looks very similar to Ableton’s digital potentiometer design. http://www.djtechtools.com/2013/03/27/review-hot-hand-usb-wireless-midi-controller/  

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Improvising Music With Dance

Incorporating both a musical instrument along with electronic devices has been a challenge since the beginning of electronic aided music.  In a production setting, and infinite amount of controls and dials can be used in a flick of the switch, all of this unseen the listener – but in a live setting the crowd is well aware of are doing; in fact they are looking for all of your tricks to see if they can understand it all.  Because of this, instruments have been designed around this necessity to make it accessible while also allowing the musician to have his hands free for other uses. [embed width="656"]https://vimeo.com/66229328[/embed] Nowhere is this more apparent than in guitar playing.  You can’t play a guitar with one hand while controlling an FX box with the other hand.  It isn’t easy or ideas.  Foot pedals are the natural answer to this multi-handed question.  For DJ’s the same idea applies, only they have a better chance of reaching a knob here or there if needed.  For a drummer it would be unthinkable to be diddling with knobs and buttons at the same time.  The best option here is to actually let another individual control this altogether, in any way shape or form.  http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2013/05/18/sound-picking-music-with-dance/