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MIT Students' Audiopad Mixes Electronic Music

nicodemus05 writes "Grad students at MIT's Media Lab have come up with an innovative control device called the Audiopad to run their digital music studio. The Audiopad, '...is a composition and performance instrument for electronic music which tracks the positions of objects on a tabletop surface and converts their motion into music.' It's practical, but more importantly it looks really, really cool."

15 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Sure by minghe · · Score: 4, Funny

    But can I play Chopsticks on it?

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  2. I tried it with IE... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    and the sounds I got were:

    Pop, pop, pop-up, pop-up, zoooooom, flash!, pop, vrroooom, crash, thud!

    And then:
    It appears your application has crashed. Would you like to mail a copy of the dump to Microsoft?

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  3. How long until... by daveo0331 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Someone gets sued by the RIAA for arranging the objects in their cube the wrong way?

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  4. Re:Its practical by tankdilla · · Score: 3, Funny
    needless to say it's very cool, just need to integrate it into a table with the projector pointing up onto say a translucent surface rather than down onto a surface

    Better yet, make it work in a 3d space, where full body motion translates into music. There are a few actions that would translate into some interesting 'music' i'm sure.

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  5. Re:Don't you dare comment! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Good try but wrong article for that troll. You couldn't wait 24 hours for Fritz Hollings (D-Disney) to open his mouth?

  6. Re:Its practical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've already done this, when we were kids, me an my sis joe, we loosened one screw in mom's bed so we can hear whenever she has a friend over. It worked pretty well, well enough for us to calculate the number of thrusts, the duration, delta T, and so on.

    Incredibly, joe now works for NASA.. while I wither away in unemployment (who wants to hire a SCO admin?!)

  7. Sounds great by arvindn · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...but since I can't access the page, I'll just say that if they can make a similar device to convert the death throes of a webserver into digital music, we could have some real fun during slashdottings :)

    1. Re:Sounds great by 3.5+stripes · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'd imagine it'd sound somethng like pac-man dying, or a wind up music box 2 seconds before it's completely static.

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      He tried to kill me with a forklift!
  8. Can MIT do the reverse?? by jkrise · · Score: 2, Funny

    These days, with the DRM and the DMCA, it's tough getting a music file without DRM crap. What I'd like the MIT folks to do is this:

    Get some objects on a table to dance, based on the music! And then we can have another Audiopad to capture the music from this dance - non DRM MP3....breakthrough!

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    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  9. Re:Might as well throw away old synthesizers then by iLEZ · · Score: 1, Funny

    Just put them in a pile outside my apartment. :o)~

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  10. I see a problem by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Funny

    Never mind all the fancy stuff, I think the basic problem is students and fairly clear table space.

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  11. Practical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's practical, but more importantly it looks really, really cool.

    You work for Microsoft, don't you?

  12. Slashdotpad by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Looks like those crafty MIT kids built a device that can slashdot a webpage by tracking moving objects on a table. :)

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  13. Re:Theremin by CausticPuppy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Actually, if you want to wave your arms around to make music, you can't beat being the conductor of the New York Philharmonic.

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    -CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
  14. This was invented 20 years ago... by checkyoulater · · Score: 1, Funny

    As anyone who has seen Revenge of the Nerds knows, Louis and Gilbert
    invented this thing to help the Tri Lambs win the Greek Games. I would expect everyone on Slashdot to know that one.

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