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Design Your Own Audio Controller

pronobozo writes with a link to "a cool interface called LEMUR for controlling audio applications. 'LEMUR is a handy and modular touchpanel based controller designed for audio and multimedia real-time applications. Our technology associates multitouch capabilities with visual display. LEMUR is provided with an extensible library of User Interface Objects such as faders, switchs, pads, keyboards, strings, etc.'" It's also vaporware at this point, but looks cool enough I hope it really reaches the market early next year as the site promises.

125 comments

  1. does it go to 11 ? by ch-chuck · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sure, why not.

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    1. Re:does it go to 11 ? by gryphokk · · Score: 4, Insightful
      From the FAQ:
      • How many fingers can be put on the panel simultanously ?


        In theory, there isn't such a limitation. However, we suggest you not to use more than ten fingers at once, since our sensor hasn't been experimented yet by 11 fingers beta testers.

      --
      And you, madam, are very ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.
    2. Re:does it go to 11 ? by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      It's got 32-bit precision... it can go to 11 HUNDRED MILLION if you like.

    3. Re:does it go to 11 ? by flyneye · · Score: 1

      hehehehe now how many will put all ten fingers and their apparatus on the screen at once? This could have health risks among djs. I suggest a screen condom for indiscriminate polyphony amongst the polysexual.

      --
      *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
    4. Re:does it go to 11 ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting that you immediately thought of that method of putting more than 10 pressure points on the device rather than just finding a partner to press the screen with you...

      But this is /., so I guess it makes perfect sense.

    5. Re:does it go to 11 ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I doubt you can press sub-areas of individual pixels (it wouldn't make any sense), so you're probably limitted to the number of pixels displayed by the screen...

      Still a lot, but a few orders of magnitude less than 11 hundred million.

  2. Hmmm by telemonster · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Man touch panels can only track one "press" at a time... I'm not sure if it is limited to capacitive touch systems or resistive touch systems (that one is definitly not IR)... but I wonder if this unit suffers from the same issue?

    Also the lack of midi output is odd.

    --
    Southeastern Virginia REPRESENT!
    1. Re:Hmmm by telemonster · · Score: 1

      Ooops, I ment to say "Many touchpanels".

      Also, my friend Bart Grantham sent me the link to this thing a few days ago. He beat you, slashdot.

      --
      Southeastern Virginia REPRESENT!
    2. Re:Hmmm by bhima · · Score: 1

      rtfa

      --
      Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
    3. Re:Hmmm by cjpez · · Score: 4, Informative
      In the FAQ section, they claim that it can handle 10 simlutaneous presses (at least that's what it seems to say), which would mean that to do more you'd have to use more than just both your hands. So if that's true, I imagine that's quite sufficient.

      Also, OSC == THE FUTURE, so meh re: lack of MIDI. :)

    4. Re:Hmmm by telemonster · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's been 4 days since I read it, so maybe I'm fuzzy on a detail or two! Should I read it again? It said 100mbps network output... which makes it sound like a tablet PC with a software.

      --
      Southeastern Virginia REPRESENT!
    5. Re:Hmmm by telemonster · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Groovy. A long time ago I tried to use a Thinkpad 700X tablet as a home theater controller. Got them for $5 each since no one wanted tablets. Found out it requires a pen to actually register on the screen (much like the newer tablets that have showed up on the market). Funny how history repeats itself.

      --
      Southeastern Virginia REPRESENT!
    6. Re:Hmmm by drumist · · Score: 1

      I'd hate to see what was going through the mind of the guy trying to figure out what 11th digit he can use to test this out.

    7. Re:Hmmm by russint · · Score: 1

      You insensitive clod! Some of us actually has 11 fingers!

      Not me though, but I bet someone has.

      --
      ^^
    8. Re:Hmmm by daxxar · · Score: 1

      They are basically saying it can handle "unlimited" presses simultanously in the FAQ, so no worries. (They are just saying they havn't tested it with more ;) And, for reference: # How many fingers can be put on the panel simultanously? In theory, there isn't such a limitation. However, we suggest you not to use more than ten fingers at once, since our sensor hasn't been experimented yet by 11 fingers beta testers.

      --
      Kindest regards, daxxar.
    9. Re:Hmmm by Mullmusik · · Score: 1

      "Also the lack of midi output is odd. "

      Nah, MIDI sucks. It's 80s technology. OSC is a far superior protocol. Why shove a hi res controller through 7 bits?

    10. Re:Hmmm by torpor · · Score: 1

      Also, OSC == THE FUTURE, so meh re: lack of MIDI. :)

      Horse shit. MIDI is one of those protocols which just works, and works well, and does not need to go away.

      OSC may be nice, but then so is XML. Should we replace MIDI with XML? No. Why?

      Because there are thousands upon thousands of MIDI devices out there. They're all still good. They all still work.

      The lack of MIDI on this thing is ridiculous, and demonstrates ingenuity on the part of a 'controller designer'. If it ain't got MIDI, it ain't a controller! Its a fancy peripheral for your computer, and thats about it!

      (Disclaimer: I work for a synth manufacturer, we like MIDI.)

      --
      ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
    11. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So what do you tell your customers when they ask how long it will take to backup or replace a patch on your synths?

      "Oh, if you plug an extra MIDI cable in it'll only take two or three hours. Cool huh?"

      MIDI is obsolete. The music industry is, and always has been very bad at actually getting rid of obsolete things, because it has too many people who got involved in music to escape from a real world where things can be measured & compared.

      People who like to be able to say "Well, the mainstream audience just doesn't understand me" and when they're asked why they paid $6000 for something unreliable and difficult to use like to be able to reply "Oh, there's just nothing else out there that sounds like it".

      So that's why MIDI is still here, but you're being part of the problem, not part of the solution. Ship a good synth that speaks MIDI _and_ something faster and more reliable and the world will beat a path to your door. If you're lucky they'll arrive before a bunch of sad old men in review magazines burn you for your heretical actions.

    12. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could they write a grammatically correct sentence?

    13. Re:Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, ever tried with a Koala Pad from a Commodore 64?

    14. Re:Hmmm by pkhuong · · Score: 1

      Polydactily is a rare but dominant mutation in humans.

      --
      Try Corewar @ www.koth.org - rec.games.corewar
    15. Re:Hmmm by ggy · · Score: 1

      Yes, MIDI works until you try to describe it with XML in realtime. Try out Tracktion http://www.mackie.com/products/tracktion/ and watch it lag when you have much data going on. :)

    16. Re:Hmmm by torpor · · Score: 1

      bah! I *am* describing MIDI in realtime, using XML.

      Just because Tracktion got it wrong, doesn't mean you should be jumping to any conclusions ...

      --
      ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
    17. Re:Hmmm by torpor · · Score: 1

      So what do you tell your customers when they ask how long it will take to backup or replace a patch on your synths?

      Umm.. our customers just do it. They don't have problems backing up patches.. or restoring them for that matter.

      Your other points are rubbish. MIDI is still here because it works, its implemented, and thousands and thousands of people are using it, still to this day, to make good tunes.

      --
      ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
    18. Re:Hmmm by ggy · · Score: 1

      doesn't mean you should be jumping to any conclusions ...
      What?
      I thought that was what /. is all about?! :)

      No seriously, I shouldn't. But since the rest of Tracktion is really well designed, I just assumed that he got it right...

    19. Re:Hmmm by matyas47 · · Score: 1

      I am a professional composer and sound engineer. I use midi everyday. I have been using midi for about 15 years. I own several midi devices spread across 2 computers. Actually, I kind of do wish midi would just die already. It's broken. If you work for a synth designer, then you know that:
      1. It's slow.
      2. It requires *yet another cable*
      3. Sysex is ugly.
      4. MMC and other midi-based control systems are ugly hacks at best.
      5. 7 bits? WTF? Lost of times, you just need more than 127 possible values!
      6. Support for non-12-tone equal-tempered intervals is nearly nonexistent. (Yes, I realize that a lot of people don't care about that, but I do, and there are others who do as well.)
      Midi is related to a very outdated conception of how music works. If you just want synths that do the same things that traditional acoustic instruments do well, then midi is great. However, many of us use electronics because we want to do other things. I would gladly buy any synth that started using a USB/Firewire/Ethernet non-midi protocol, so that I could have more control over shaping the sound and intonation of the synth. What would be really great would be something more like the control voltage system of analog synths.

    20. Re:Hmmm by stonecypher · · Score: 1

      they claim that it can handle 10 simlutaneous presses (at least that's what it seems to say), which would mean that to do more you'd have to use more than just both your hands.

      Apparently you've never been to Tennessee.

      --
      StoneCypher is Full of BS
  3. I see by Anubis350 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ah, so this is the new black-colored ipod

    --
    "goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
  4. Interesting acronym by tarp · · Score: 1, Funny

    LEMUR? I'd rather use MONKEY!

  5. No MIDI Support? by GameGod0 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The website mentions that the LEMUR isn't a MIDI device, instead it uses something called OSC (OpenSoundControl).

    How does this affect the LEMUR's ability to interface with application such as Cakewalk's SONAR?

    Does OSC provide a way to interface with MIDI applications?

    1. Re:No MIDI Support? by fishbowl · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "How does this affect the LEMUR's ability to interface with application such as Cakewalk's SONAR?"

      It practically eliminates that compatability. While OSC is an open protocol, and even though there are quite a few products listed (including a bunch of open source items), it is pretty much a Reaktor thing. Don't get me wrong, Reaktor is very, very cool. But if you wanted to use it with ProTools or Cubase or Logic or FLSTudio or Magix or Cakewalk, you would probably have to setup some sort of OSC proxy that sits on the OSC bus and outputs MIDI.

      I cannot fault them for taking this approach -- there are some limitations with MIDI, with some ugly workarounds and some pretty bad scalability issues. Imagine if you were epxected to run Kermit over Ethernet instead of TCP/IP, I think that's a fairly good analogy.

      I suppose you could extend something like MIDI-OX to implement OSC, and cause it to route the messages you were interested in onto the midi bus.
      I have no doubt at all you could make Reaktor do exactly that, sit on the OSC bus and pass some of the messages through, filtered for your various midi devices.

      If the Lemur becomes popular, the support will follow. Wake me up when I can buy on on Zzounds. Meanwhile I'll continue building my ucapps.de midibox, using my Peavey PC-1600's and my FCB-1010. Right now my rig has seven instruments and 4 controllers, and while MIDI is frustrating, I have not reached its limitations.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    2. Re:No MIDI Support? by wulfhound · · Score: 1

      OSC is a successor to MIDI (providing higher resolution datatypes, and avoiding a lot of the stupidity that's engineered in to MIDI as a side-effect of having been designed as a 7-bit, 38kbaud protocol).

      Bridging it back to MIDI in software is pretty trivial - if it takes off, you will most likely see limited OSC support in all the big sequencers fairly rapidly. However, because many of them use MIDI as their native event protocol, full OSC support will take much longer.

      A few big apps already support it - most notably, Reaktor.

    3. Re:No MIDI Support? by daxxar · · Score: 1

      They even mention example software for this to use in the FAQ, see this quote:

      # Is it possible to control a midi software or hardware with LEMUR?

      Nowadays, the is no way to control directly your prefered midi device or application with LEMUR. Nevertheless, here is a trick to manage it. You can use a software such as Max/MSP to convert and route OSC data to your MIDI application.

      --
      Kindest regards, daxxar.
    4. Re:No MIDI Support? by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      "You can use a software such as Max/MSP to convert and route OSC data to your MIDI application."

      It's a little bit like saying, "you can have feature XXX, just download gcc and make it happen."

      Chances are, if and when this thing ever gets to the market, there will be a software driver to make it do things like route/filter midi controller messages.

      I guess it makes no sense to argue what a piece of hardware can and cannot do, if you can't even get your hands on the hardware!

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    5. Re:No MIDI Support? by Kiryat+Malachi · · Score: 1

      It's a lot more like saying "You can have feature XXX, just BUY Visual C and make it happen".

      Although, in Max/MSP it should be very simple to do, it doesn't change the fact that Max/MSP is not free software.

      --

      ---
      Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
      (I read with sigs off.)
    6. Re:No MIDI Support? by Jaff · · Score: 1

      The Max/MSP runtime environment is free though. All it takes is one person to build a patch in Max and distribute it for free. You don't need to own Max to take advantage of it.

    7. Re:No MIDI Support? by Kiryat+Malachi · · Score: 1

      I'm not familiar enough with the other protocol (the non-MIDI one, can't remember the acronym for it) to say whether you'd need internal patch access or not to get an effective solution.

      --

      ---
      Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
      (I read with sigs off.)
    8. Re:No MIDI Support? by matyas47 · · Score: 1

      Max/MSP isn't free, but PD and jMax are. Max/MSP is a lot nicer to use, but an OSC-midi translator is a pretty trivial thing to build, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone didn't already have one for download somewhere on the net.

  6. Wow...this really *is* juat an ad site now, huh?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Hey everybody, I have a bike for sale. It's really cool. $100 or nearest offer. email Timothy...he'll pass your info on to me.

  7. *thinks* by NightDragon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is surely a nice idea, i personally hate having to use my mouse when mixing music, but i think the magic questions will be : Just how functional is this? Is it going to have a lot of flashy bells and whistles and doodads, or is it going to be efficent?

    and of course, "just how many arms and legs am i going to have to give to have one?"

    --
    -ND
    1. Re:*thinks* by gregmac · · Score: 1

      This is surely a nice idea, i personally hate having to use my mouse when mixing music,

      It's too bad no one's thought of a way around that...

      but i think the magic questions will be : Just how functional is this? Is it going to have a lot of flashy bells and whistles and doodads, or is it going to be efficent?

      They're marketing it to DJ's .. but I don't see how it would be all that great. Tactile control is very important, espessially in a dark club and when you're trying to be fast. Think about trying to type on a keyboard that you couldn't feel (like, try touch-typing on your desk). How accurate is that going to be? When you're DJing, tactile feedback helps a lot - you can grab a fader by touch, without having to look, or you can feel when you've hit the end of the slider.

      --
      Speak before you think
  8. Been done already - obligitory HHG ref by Weaselmancer · · Score: 4, Funny

    "The machine was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive - you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope."

    Chapter 12

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
    1. Re:Been done already - obligitory HHG ref by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nyes, linking to a free online copy of a Book by a great author who died before his time (not to mention his works still under copyright) is really really respectful to said dead author.

      </sarcasm>

    2. Re:Been done already - obligitory HHG ref by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With all due respect, it's not as if he's losing any royalties from it.

    3. Re:Been done already - obligitory HHG ref by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blow it out your ear; the only sales of new DNA books aside from Salmon are 1) to idiots or 2) as gifts. Any self-respecting geek would pick up the trilogy for $1 total at a used book store.

    4. Re:Been done already - obligitory HHG ref by Weaselmancer · · Score: 0, Redundant

      I agree completely.

      Ban Google, today!

      --
      Weaselmancer
      rediculous.
  9. WOW!!! by Daemonik+CyCow · · Score: 0

    If only I had some sort of a small pre-fab in my basement, I would have built one of these baby's long ago. Now, does anyone smell vapor? Just Curious

  10. Infomercial by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 1, Troll

    pronobozo writes with a link to "a cool interface called LEMUR for controlling audio applications. 'LEMUR is a handy and modular touchpanel based controller designed for audio and multimedia real-time applications. Our

    In other news, Slashdot user pronobozo works for JazzMutant. More like proMobozo to me...

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:Infomercial by pronobozo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Don't work for them. Although I do make music.. so if you want some shameless self promotion.. here you go.. http://www.pronobozo.com

      --
      ------
      insert sig here,here, and here
    2. Re:Infomercial by Fnkmaster · · Score: 4, Interesting
      There are now marketing firms that specialize in grass roots marketing efforts, by putting out semi-phony blogs and probably pimping things on supposedly "community-driven" sites like Slashdot. As soon as the market gets big enough, the marketers will be there. And Slashdot is numerically significant and a good spot to push technogizmos on the geek thought leaders.


      I would be surprised if people didn't try to use Slashdot in this way. Just look at how Roland Piquepaille has made a business out of getting Timothy (I think it's usually him) to publish his inane Slashdot submissions, which ALWAYS have link-backs to his "summaries" of various news stories in his blog. He's Slashvertizing for his blog, so he can get more advertising hits.


      What does it all mean? Well, you just have to be a little more cynical around here I guess. In any case, it's nothing really new - used to be we'd see vaporware announcements and the like float by, but the submission writer and the sketchy company weren't usually one and the same. Now sometimes they are.

    3. Re:Infomercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would say "You missed the part of his submission where he uses single quotes to denote that he is quoting." But you quoted that exact text, including the single quote.

      So you must be trolling.

    4. Re:Infomercial by wulfhound · · Score: 1

      FWIW, the Lemur has been creating a buzz on geek-musician community boards for the best part of a week already, quite without marketing help. The guys (and very few girls) this thing is aimed at are excited about it on its own merits - assuming it works as advertised, of course - although most are put off by the price, supposedly in the $1000-$2000 range.

    5. Re:Infomercial by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
      Well, in this case they're looking for investor dollars and eventually customers for their product.

      In Roland's case though....I wonder if he even makes money seeing as how nobody RTFA.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
    6. Re:Infomercial by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
      Um, hey troll, why don't you RTFA before you go about accusing someone of being an astroturfer. Its pretty obvious from the way he wrote his story post that he was quoting the website.

      Just to confirm my suspicions (since it was pretty obvious from his use of italics) I checked the link and sure enough, it was the first paragraph he quoted.

      So while it is entirely possible that he is an astroturfer...it seems very unlikely, especially with the vaporware comment at the end and since the suspicious part that you highlighted was a direct quote off their website.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
  11. In case of the Slashdotting... by Kinetic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Mirrors, including the video files, are at MirrorDot.

    --
    ~Jay
  12. From TFA by BashDot · · Score: 1

    Our technology associates multitouch capabilities with visual display.

    *snip*

    What do you mean by "Multitouch capabilities"?
    It means that it allows the use of multiple fingers at once, thanks to its multitouch sensitive LCD.

  13. Fernandinande... by Astrorunner · · Score: 1

    A fitting tribute to the one, true Lemur, Mr Fernandinande LeMur of SubGenius fame, audio collageitier/black belt.

    Slack on, you crazy diamond.

    1. Re:Fernandinande... by coconutstudio · · Score: 1
      I thought the name was based on the furry little monkey-like animal found in Madagascar. See the logo.

      http://www.zeia.net/

    2. Re:Fernandinande... by Astrorunner · · Score: 1

      Aah, but that is just a cover. Against the conspiracy.

  14. Good idea that should be expanded by alaivfc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think they are entirely marketing this in to narrow a makret. Yes, it seems like it would be great to control audio apps, but there is a much greater potential. Many large control boards could be easily replaced with a small dynamic board that gives you the pots/switches/etc. that you need at the time.
    I'm thinking, in particular, things liking theatrical light and sound boards in which you use most of the sliders very rarely - but its still important that you have the option to input them through a slider or nob (as opposed to entering a number).
    I bet there are other applications in industries where large control boards are involved where this could be useful as well.

    1. Re:Good idea that should be expanded by wulfhound · · Score: 1

      Dynamic boards are nothing new... audio software has had them for the best part of a decade. What's new is the touchscreen interface... although it has been done before (MIDI editor/librarian/synth-remote-controllers running on PDAs or tablets), this looks like it will do it much better (larger form factor, great screen, great looks, multi-point touch sensing).

    2. Re:Good idea that should be expanded by fwitness · · Score: 1

      "I bet there are other applications in industries where large control boards are involved where this could be useful as well.

      Yes, for example, when you need to reroute the phaser array through to the main deflector. This is useful in destroying large ships, placating energy-hungry life-forms, and removing plaque.

      Another useful application is searching for the life .. forms, the leetle life-forms ..

      +10 to anyone who gets that last reference

      --
      -- I have fans? Wow.
    3. Re:Good idea that should be expanded by interiot · · Score: 1

      Ahhh, good stuff (could only find a .wav.zip, no mp3, sorries...).

    4. Re:Good idea that should be expanded by DrKayBee · · Score: 1
      The salient feature of this gizmo is its multiple touch capabilities. I don't know of too many applications other than faders and musical instruments that require fingerpress chords.

      Although I can think of other potentially convenient applications such as 'context sensitive menus' such as those found in the 3d modeling package Blender http://www.blender3d.org/. In there, function keys bring up completely different sets of buttons. Kinda like the armament consoles in F-16s.

      --
      Humans have such a good sense of humor!
    5. Re:Good idea that should be expanded by John+Whitley · · Score: 1

      I don't know of too many applications other than faders and musical instruments that require fingerpress chords.

      Sure, I can think of a great application set that requires multipress sensitivity: every application that doesn't require multipress sensitivity. Ever been annoyed by an accidental finger brushing against your laptop touchpad, sending the pointer to oblivion? By doing some basic "finger tracking" a multipress touch interface can choose to ignore spurious brushes against the touch surface -- very useful even for single-pointer usage.

      FWIW, the earliest example of this sort of finger tracking that I'm aware of is the "Continuum" continuous-surface music keyboard developed at UIUC. A Continuum has no discrete keys -- just a smooth rectangular surface roughly the same area as a conventional set of 88 music keys would cover. This surface tracks for three degrees of freedom for each finger: up/down position, left/right position, and pressure. The finger tracking worked as follows: the Continuum kept track of finger positions over time so that a newly landed finger would trigger a musical "attack", while held fingers could freely move around the surface to manipulate a sustained sound.

    6. Re:Good idea that should be expanded by anto · · Score: 1

      In some areas you find that large boards of unused sliders have already been done away with, certinly in lighting - even some relativly old boards operate in a program with numbers, then play-it-back mode. Once you get desks that control more than just lamp intensity (ie moving fixtures, colour changers etc etc) the slider concept just seems to get in the way.

    7. Re:Good idea that should be expanded by fwitness · · Score: 1

      Wow, I was just looking for an actual reference. Including a link is bonus points. Your +15 is in the mail.

      --
      -- I have fans? Wow.
  15. Hmm... by bravehamster · · Score: 2, Funny

    They might as well call it Star Trek:TNG Interface.

    --
    ---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
    1. Re:Hmm... by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Informative

      Er...you mean LCARS, right?

      (ducks)

  16. DIY MIDI by L3WKW4RM · · Score: 4, Informative

    For some less-vapor, DIY MIDI controller kits (soldering, planning, etc. required) you can build from scratch at Thorsten Klose's awesome site, or assemble pieces from Doepfer. I've built a few great fader boxes and knob boxes. What a fun hobby.

    1. Re:DIY MIDI by propellor_head · · Score: 1

      As a fellow midibox'er, I'll second that. Thorsten and all the guys at ucapps/midibox.org have built a great DIY community - I'm constantly impressed with the amount of great ideas/advice/etc!

  17. LEMUR not pressure/velocity sensitive by Chromal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Though it looks like it could be very useful for certain types of virtual controls (particularly x/y axis controllers as well as sliders), its usefulness is slightly limited by its lack of velocity and pressure (other than boolean, anyway) sensitivity. Requiring PC host software seems more of a handicap than a feature, too...

    Still, anything to break away from having to use a mouse to tweak realtime parameters on-screen is welcome.

  18. You should simulate your control in SW first by museumpeace · · Score: 2, Informative

    and then buy HW when you know just what is going to work. Although dated by its dependence on an older version of JMF, Lindley's book [at the top of the list of this page of audio books] , gives a set of audio widgets [well, beans, actually] on its CD that you can mix, modify, and mate in various combinations for all kinds of audio effects. Not a tool for the timid but a rewarding exercise for the software/audio geek.

    --
    SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
  19. Offtopic, but got one Gmail invite left... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Noone else to give it to... here ya go :)

    1. Re:Offtopic, but got one Gmail invite left... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      link is to http://www.google.com/search?q=goat.cx&btnI=a-6d9c 97cd4b-7f0adc7c4d-cf9dfdf03c

  20. Mods by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Evidently the mods want info on that bike.

    (+1 INFORMATIVE)

  21. Re:Wow...this really *is* juat an ad site now, huh by pronobozo · · Score: 1

    "Wow...this really *is* juat an ad site now, huh?! " to me it looks like a start up company trying to realize a cool idea. I have never seen something like this before, but bike on the other hand I have seem many of times.. and thats why you don't find posts on slashdot..selling bikes. :-P

    --
    ------
    insert sig here,here, and here
  22. Needs a seperate mixer channel by temojen · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just for cowbell. More cowbell!

  23. Where's the sound by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    why have silent video clips for an audio device?

    HELLO!

  24. How Much?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just want to know, how much will it be?
    It seems really cool, and I can think of a lot of different applications for it..

    Another question... can I use the display as a normal LCD screen? A live preview from a camera,with zoom buttons for example. Or it's just a controller?

  25. Looks alot like the MIT research... by kaytea2k · · Score: 1

    from a couple of years ago.

  26. Re: Ads are okay on /., right? by Alwin+Henseler · · Score: 1
    Among other things, /. posts articles about interesting applications of existing tech. That may include things that aren't new, or shameless plugs for the latest iPod. As long as it's /. editors that decide and not advertisers, that's okay.

    Just check the FAQ to see what's meant with "the Omelette".

    Now, about that bike... thanks, but I've already got one of these.

  27. You can do this yourself... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...using Max/MSP and any touch-sensitive peripheral device.

    Max/MSP is a graphical programming environment for music, audio, and multimedia, and it's been around for 15 years. It is extremely extensible and can handle and manipulate almost any kind of input you could think of in real time.

    If it can make music by tracking a mouse with a video camera, then it can do what LEMUR purports to do.

  28. Similar device by MIT by jerometremblay · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I love this kind of device, and I can't wait to finally be able to acquire one for a reasonable price. I've been keeping an eye on a similar device called AudioPad for a while now, which works with a projector and drawing tablets.

    The devices are similar, but the MIT project seems to place the bar higher concerning potential UI innovations instead of re-creating existing hardware virtually. (Look at the IP Workbench example video and see what I mean...)

    1. Re:Similar device by MIT by eshefer · · Score: 1

      The Audiopad is similar to this Lemur thingy in the same way a two ton truck is similar to a ferrari. they are extreemly differant in what they do and the methods they accomplish, but the fact that they use visual reprisentation of manipulation on the actual surface is what makes them seem similar.

      not that I don't understand where you are comming from, actually..

      I'm an Industrial design student, just starting my last year, and my final graduation project will most likely be in this field, IE music composition + computer + control UI.

      The big differance between the lemur thing and tha audiopad is, IMHO, tactility. the lemur has no taktile feedback. while the audiopad has some sort of physical interaction with those pucks/sensors.

      One of the main things I'm trying to solve is how to do something like that lemur thing but get some sort of physical feedback into this system.

      any comments that may help will be appriciated.

    2. Re:Similar device by MIT by pkhuong · · Score: 1

      Woah, cool! Please post more info on your journal, that's exactly the sort of thing i'm interested in :)

      Well, current products sometimes try and hide their head in the sand and pretend that audio feedback is just as good. That's always an option ;)

      I believe Sony claims that an LCD screen + piezo-electric vibrations is enough for basic tactile feedback, and had a demo some time ago.

      I've thought of using a LCD with small pin-like buttons (a couple mm of diameter) going through holes at short regular intervals. Obviously, you lose a lot on the graphic front, but, it seems to me, should gain a lot on the usability as an input device front. The idea wouldn't be to use each button separately (too much precision required), but rather to press on adjacent ones simultaneously.... A bit like matrix keypads when you press on 3 buttons in a L (the fourth corner of the rectangle is automatically sensed as pressed), well, it'd use that effect to have a button associated to each square (1x1 square). You get to use most of the screen as normal, but can still have luverly clickety action :)

      Apart from that... I don't think LCDs like being locally raised or lowered mechanically in general ;)

      --
      Try Corewar @ www.koth.org - rec.games.corewar
    3. Re:Similar device by MIT by eshefer · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure I compleetly understand your idea, since what it looks to me you are proposing is basicly a matrix of microswitches, which is nice, but I'm not sure this will be a big improvment over the Lemur, for example (lets assume that you find a technical solution that wil make the LCD still visable, maybe very small LED's on each switch). the two dimentional array of switches you get as a result is still an array, though you do get some sort of feed back, I'm not sure that is a big enough change from the current solution.

      I'm thinking about a few solutions, one of them is a lot like the audiopad, only that the pucks are, somehow connected to the surface, another one is close to your idea, since it is an array of "switches" of somesort, but those "switches" also change thier physical properties somhow (go up and down, or L/R), in a manner not totaly dissimilar to pin-cushions - those that you do an imprint of your hand from the bottom. The nice thing about this idea is that if it's done well enough, I won't need an LCD at all. though it is scary from a technical/micromechanic POV, and would be extreemly labur intensive to do..

      I should state here that this, tactile HCI technological issue, is not a primery goal of this project, since the aspects that is most important (given the fact that I study design, and not, say, engineering) are the esthetic properties of the object, rather then the technological innovation that said object might have.

      I have alwredy started to document this project, on a Wiki, BTW, exactly for these sort of conversations. but the wiki is still in it's infancy, and is yet unorganised. I'll have it orgenized and I'll open it to the public sometime next week. I'll keep the progress of this project on my livejournal blog too.

  29. whee by DeathByDuke · · Score: 1

    design your own authentic Creative Labs PCI noise controller!

  30. keep it real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, I iz actually spasticated. I iz got a terrible DJ'ing injury - I still ain't got full mobility in me main mixing finger...
    *starts to air-mix, winces, feigns pain and stops.

  31. Not an actual unit... by Boss+Sauce · · Score: 1
    The screen grabs (w/o audio!) could be from a research project-- I saw something like this at Siggraph last year or the year before.

    The unit itself is only shown as a CG image-- it looks like an _idea_ for a unit.

    Was this shown in Paris or not?

    I doubt every "check out this cool new thing they rendered!" post on /.

  32. Cool? by cuteseal · · Score: 1

    Just give me a PDA that can controll stuff via WIFI/bluetooth and I'll be happy...

  33. Re:Wow...this really *is* juat an ad site now, huh by BarryNorton · · Score: 1

    Whether you agree with advertising on this site or not, one can't deny that what's being quoted here is clearly incorrect and misleading:
    "LEMUR is a handy and modular touchpanel based controller" - no it's not, it isn't anything (other than an idea).
    "LEMUR is provided with an extensible library of User Interface Objects" - no it isn't, it isn't provided at all!

    It's no good admitting that you're just passing on vapour and yet continuing to quote incorrect statements.

  34. Similar by CedgeS · · Score: 1

    I've always wanted an input device that had a handful of sliders and knobs for adjusting things like color balance, 3d position and rotation in modeling programs, etc. I've envisioned a little device with about 3 sliders and knobs, and maybe a couple of buttons. The joystick, mouse, and even keyboard arrow input should all be abstracted to an axis input which would also work for this kind of device. Forget touchpads - the power in a device like this would be the tactile sensation, the ability to remember how far you pushed the slider, turned the knob, etc. Also people can easily turn knobs and move sliders very quickly for corse adjustments and very slowly and delicately for fine adjustments.

    1. Re:Similar by Kiryat+Malachi · · Score: 1

      If the modeling program supported MIDI, there are many, many MIDI controllers that are nothing but sliders or knobs (I have an Oxygen8, which is a 2 octave keyboard + 1 slider and 8 knobs, but there are slider-only and knob-only control boards available). The key would be in getting the MIDI translated to useful operations in the program - most audio programs support this, but I somehow doubt that modeling programs do.

      --

      ---
      Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
      (I read with sigs off.)
  35. i'd make my own LCARS by Barryke · · Score: 1

    Why do you expect a midi port?
    as said, midi only uses 7 bits in stead of 32 wich are needed to get a decent resolution and throughput.

    also, most important - this is not a audio thingie, but a lot more than that. Once they are affordable i'll have one, as input device. If they are going to b supported in some games, that'd be great. Personally, i'd make my own LCARS into a reality.

    --
    Hivemind harvest in progress..
  36. So... by iluvcapra · · Score: 1

    ...are they selling this thing yet, or what?

    Positively beautiful piece of equipment, if it did Midi it would be a great replacement for my MIR midi controller (which I use to control Pro Tools transport and to tweak my reverb). I particularly like the Tron-style buttons.

    It doesn't seem to support MIDI, and I ask, WHY? I'm all for adoption of open standards, but is not MIDI, or even MTS, open and available for anyone to implement? I loooked up OSC and it looks very promising, but it is completely absent from Digidesign's or Logic's or Nuendo's web sites. This is a severe hinderance and makes the tool almost useless to people who do alot of post-production work, which would seem to be where their core audience is, given what I bet it costs.

    This said, I bet Digidesign, if inclined, could make up a Personality file to allow this thing to control Pro Tools.

    <rant quality="possible-unfair">
    Also, I'm the first assistant at a post-sound house in LA--whose name is beneath the threshold of mention-- and I'm finding that with Control-24s, Pro Controls and other such gear every editor needs their own physical network segment, otherwise the LAN melts down. Desktop busses were invented for a reason, why don't they use them?
    </rant>
    This would be much better as 1394, or... USB 2. There, I said it.

    PS. The OSC web site says that OSC has a PHP interface!

    --
    Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
  37. Flying faders? by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

    I want the other kind of interface: programmable "flying faders" that are tangible physical dials, buttons and LED/LCD displays. They attach to a computer by USB or FireWire, and are dumb interfaces whose state is sent to software on the PC, so they can be saved and restored under software control. Where's a $100 flying fader panel with Linux drivers?

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    make install -not war

    1. Re:Flying faders? by iluvcapra · · Score: 1

      Where's a $100 flying fader panel with Linux drivers?

      Audio and Linux don't mix. Or do they? Anyone who knows, please respond.

      You're unlikely to find flying-fader anything for less than a thousand USD. The celebrated Mackie HUI is no longer with us, but Mackie Universal Control is cool, and talks to everything.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
    2. Re:Flying faders? by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the lead. As long as "everything" means only the top, and most expensive, DAWs, I guess they can charge $1200 for a replacement for the $25 keyboard. I suppose they must have an SDK for those vendors to use, and a proprietary data protocol. If we could buy them used for $500, and the drivers were available for GStreamer or somesuch, we might see a lot of hobbyists with $1000 P4/Linux/Audigy setups expanding their market with the audio equivalent of the GIMP.

      --

      --
      make install -not war

    3. Re:Flying faders? by paulbd · · Score: 1

      behringer make a motorized fader box with knobs and buttons. it costs about US$220 street price. you can use it with Ardour (http://ardour.org/) and ardour will move the faders automatically during automation playback. its an awesome deal.

      Ardour can also do that with many high-end digital mixers that accept MIDI control.

      The general protocol for such things is still MIDI, sometimes generic MIDI controllers, sometimes SysEx.

    4. Re:Flying faders? by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      That's pretty snappy - 8 channels with pots and sliders for $220, and one that's just pots for just $169. Pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. Do you know how the Behringers feel in the fingertips? Actual tactile reality, as well as digital measurement/repositioning? Does it really feel 10x as cheap as the $1200 Mackie :)? Thanks for the insight.

      --

      --
      make install -not war

    5. Re:Flying faders? by Bassman59 · · Score: 1

      Doc Ruby asks, "Do you know how the Behringers feel in the fingertips?"

      It feels like the Play-Skool piece of kit it is.

  38. The Problem with this: LACK OF FEEL by sr180 · · Score: 3, Informative
    With this device, you cant FEEL the buttons, so you have to look at it as you adjust it.

    Example: My tv remote. I'm watching tv, I pick up the remote, and I can adjust channel, volume, power etc with out looking at the remote. With a device like this, you cant do that, as there is no tactile feel, you cant just feel where the volume button is and press it, you have to visually find it first. There is a programmable LCD remote available that has floundered on the market for exactly this reason.

    This also applies to the main application for this device, audio mixing (as well as stage lighting and visual applications.) Try cueing audio to some on stage effect while having to look at this device instead of looking onstage...

    Its a cool device and I'd love it at home, but the lack of tactile feel will make it useless in many applications.

    --
    In Soviet Russia the insensitive clod is YOU!
  39. Ardour by myke113 · · Score: 1

    I'd like to see this work with Ardour and not cost over a couple few hundred $..

    Fulfill my dream of having a Linux based hard disk recorder!

    For those that haven't heard of it, it's an audio recording program, similar to Protools, that's open source.

    --

    -Myke
    myke@compassionatecoalition.org
    http://www.compassionatecoalition.org
  40. Any hardware specs on this thing? by DLR · · Score: 1

    Besides on the touchscreen, I mean. I'm wondering what it would take to put a nice X10 interface or DVD controls on there along with the audio mixing for the ultimate in customised portable home theater control panels. Just stick an ethernet jack (or WAP) near your favorite seat and you'd be all set.

    --
    "Like fire and fusion, government is a dangerous servant and a terrible master."~RAH
    1. Re:Any hardware specs on this thing? by DLR · · Score: 1
      Ok, specs are on the Features page:

      Display - Size : 12 inches diagonal - 800x600 pixels - Resolution : 800x600 pixels - Type : LCD - Contrast : Ajustable

      Sensor - Sensor resolution : 100x128 - Number of fingers at once : 20 (two hands + two feets)

      Central Processor Unit (CPU) - CPU : Nios 100Mhz 32bit float precision

      Graphic Processor Unit (GPU) - Fill Rate : 360M Pixels/s - 2 pixels/cycle - Color format : RGB (5.6.5) : 65,536 colors - 16bit RGB/ARGB and 8 bits Alpha Textures - Texture Mapping : UV Coordinates, Rotation, Scaling, Transformation

      Bilinear Filtering at 4 cycles/pixel

      Cache Memory : 256 pixels (16 Lines) Texture cache, 128 Primitives List cache

      Pixel Engine Function : Transparency, Additive Blending, Texture Lighting & Shadows

      System Logic

      Build-in functions : 100

      Internal precision : 32bit float

      Memory

      User Memory : 16Mo

      Internal Memory : 32Mo

      Connectivity

      Ethernet : RJ45 - 10/100Mb

      Communication : OSC via TCP/UDP

      Power

      External power : 12-V power supply

      Electrical Consommation : 14 Watts

      Sorry about the formatting. Between /. griping about the number of characters per line and my lowly HTML skills this is what you get. :)

      --
      "Like fire and fusion, government is a dangerous servant and a terrible master."~RAH
  41. OT: I'd make my own LCARS by DLR · · Score: 1

    Kind of OT, but someone has done a lot of nice work on the LCARS specification at http://www.starbasemccoy.com/lcars/, including an LCARS font, all open source and free download.

    --
    "Like fire and fusion, government is a dangerous servant and a terrible master."~RAH
    1. Re:OT: I'd make my own LCARS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thanks!!!

  42. Probably uses an FPGA... More hacking potential :) by pkhuong · · Score: 1

    The CPU listed is a Nios @ 100 MHz. Nios is Altera's soft core, so either they prototyped on an FPGA, and will use the same design to fab, or, much more likely since it's obviously a low volume application, they still have the fpga in the production equipment. Given that there aren't many (heh) GPUs for that kind of device, my guess is they have the CPU and the GPU on the same FPGA. Most newer FPGAs have capabilities for partial reconfiguration. Why didn't they leave the possibility of using it to their users, or if they did, why aren't they touting this as a feature? I suppose the feature wouldn't be as useful as if it could drive devices directly, but it still could be used for more exotic UI/Graphic capabilities.

    If only the thing was smaller, i.e., ~ the size of a graphing calculator, and didn't use _14_ W. There's this touchpad/keyboard that i keep reading about on /. whenever someone mentions RSI. I think they sell their keyboards at something like $400-500. It would be interesting if THIS one was cheaper :)

    --
    Try Corewar @ www.koth.org - rec.games.corewar
  43. fingerworks.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    multitouch device/mouse/keyboard/gesture thingy. Been going for a few years now

    1. Re:fingerworks.com by splurdge · · Score: 1

      I gotta say though... this doesn't seem particularly unvaporish either... their prospects for development seem downright bleak and their site hasn't changed a bit since the last time I visited (2002). Also, the fingerworks model doesn't incorporate a screen and touch in one. I guess what I'd really like to point out/ask is; how many of these types of interfaces have people actually encountered? The solution (vapor or no) seems to be a step in a positive direction that the computer industry should take cues from.

  44. It's the software by xixax · · Score: 1

    It depends. It could be as intuitive as an iPod, or someone can re-implement traditional UI design flaws for an entirely new audience. Imagine if using a cross-fader became as easy as programming a 1980's vintage VCR!

    Also, the *nice* thing about physical pots and buttons is that I can see that they are there and will eventually see what they do. Similarly, you can see *all* of the console and its settings at a glance, handy when something goes wrong and you're not quite sure where it's gone wrong.

    Xix.

    --
    "Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
  45. Re:Wow...this really *is* juat an ad site now, huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    well the videos look completely real to me. Sure they COULD be just someone doing a very good good syncing their hands to a video, but I doubt it. Plus they say that it'll be demoed in some sound show soon and it'll be for sale first quarter of 2005, so I'd hope it would be a real thing that works.

  46. Finally - I can control my transporter. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have been waiting about 50 years for this damn thing.

    J.T. Kirk

  47. State The Obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WiFi support would even make this better.

  48. Frink! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a tool against the COWnspiracy!!

    Ptang!

  49. true DIY audio - the LATMAN project by niktesla · · Score: 1
    Back in college, we needed a mixer downfront in the auditorium to mix four singers together, but we only had one hardwired channel. So using my budding electrical engineering skills, I started working on a remote controled four channel audio mixer. It recieved commands over a wireless serial link to mute or adjust the volume on each channel. Unfortunately, we didn't need it for very long and the project got shelved before it could be completed.

    By the way, its name, LATMAN, is a really nice acronym, you'll have to figure out for yourself.

    --
    I've discovered a remarkable proof, but this margin is too small to contain it...
  50. laggy ether vapor by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

    "built-in100 BaseT Lan interface [...] no latency"

    No latency ethernet? What else are they "kidding" about?

    --

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    make install -not war

  51. LEMUR... by slobbargoat · · Score: 1

    The reason why marketing departments exist.

  52. Price by ja · · Score: 1

    -- "just how many arms and legs am i going to have to give to have one?"

    It was mentioned on the Linux Audio Developer list, that the suggested price is in the $2000 range.

    mvh // Jens M Andreasen

    --

    send + more == money? ...
  53. Goat.cx Troll by Arminator · · Score: 1

    Mod parent as Troll...