Once a week, composer/laptop performer Peter Kirn of createdigitalmusic spotlights gear for musicians and DJs, from the essential to oddball. This week, he highlights the first wireless remote control for pro audio software, plus a radically different approach to music making: playing with blocks.
ESSENTIAL: High-end home theaters have sophisticated wireless remote controls, so why not your Digital Audio Workstation software? Frontier Designs’ Tranzport is a 2.4GHz RF wireless controller for pro audio apps like SONAR, Digital Performer, Apple Logic, and Pro Tools. Stay within about 30 feet of your computer and you can set recording controls, with live LCD feedback on the display. The device is due early next year with a list of $249, weighs just 1 lb., and runs on 4 AAA batteries. Frequency hopping should cut down on interference, so if your home studio is a Wi-Fi hotspot, you’re talking to your agent on your wireless phone while syncing your PDA via Bluetooth, and your drummer goes off to microwave a burrito, you won’t lose a take.
ODDBALL: If the Tranzport’s traditional shuttle controls don’t get your creative juices flowing, try playing with blocks instead. British artist Toke Oliver Barters’ RGB Player enables visitors to control synthesis on his PowerBook using colored blocks on a rotating disc. Instead of sequencing via on-screen elements, you can construct phrases of sound with different patterns of blocks. Swiss collective Rosen & Spaderman builds up, not out: the vertical and horizontal position of transparent blocks in the Instant City is translated by a hidden computer into algorithmic music. Both artists are planning improved versions and further tours; Rosen & Spaderman are working on a mobile version of Instant City. Soon, all those hours you spent playing as a kid could turn out to be pro audio training.
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