reactable

I have always had a soft spot for analog synths. The tinny sound of my old FM synth never had the same fatness and richness I used to love. The digital synthesizers represented a major price breakthrough, but at some cost. They could do some things pretty well, like bells and some string sounds were pretty good. On the other hand, I always thought a big analog Moog or a maybe a nice Prophet 5 wasn't really made for making sounds that other instruments could produce.

Computers are getting to the point now where the simulation is nearly as good as the original. In some ways they are better because there are user interface elements that are possible now that weren't available to budding synth programmers in the 80's.

So when I saw the demo of the reactable, I thought it was pretty cool. The idea is that you have these icons you can hold in your hands and move about a table surface. These items represent wave generators, samplers, triggers and other widgets that can be used to create a sound or even a sequence. Because it can be so visually interesting, it turns into a sort of performance art.

The best part is that it is free. Of course, you have to supply all the hardware, but it has a lot of potential.