Touch it or not.
Without sounding like a dinosaur, the DJ’s weapons of mass destruction—two turntables—are an endangered species. While the wheels of steel are still a staple to purists, and some newbies alike, changes to DJ equipment has gone digital.
Next week, the annual SONAR music festival in Barcelona will showcase a new wave of upgrades. For my first time attending SONAR’s New York leg last month, I got first glance at the touch-sensitive, LED synthesizer called the Reactable. Using a set of small blocks, the user places them onto the glowing surface, where they transmit a programmed sample. From there, you can add more blocks to alter tempos, loop sound effects, ultimately building a song; kind of like producing on the fly. See a demo of the Reactable below, plus a clip of it in action at one of Björk’s concerts.
Reactable: Basic Demo #1
Reactable Live In Berlin
Bjork Uses The Reactable For Pluto
