Proximity/Motion/Light Controlled Midi Device?

[nofi]

any roland piece of gear with a D-beam!

:-)

[Exquisite Red]

Originally Posted by nofi

any roland piece of gear with a D-beam!

:-)

Amazing. I love you. That's EXACTLY what I was looking for. How have I never heard of this?!

Looks like I'll be picking up a SH-201. I needed a new synth toy anyways.

[oldgearguy]

There's also the Alesis AirFx and their Photon x25 controller with those Axyz controller domes.

The Photon is also a controller keyboard, so you have the usual keys, wheels, etc.

[Rust Creep]

theres the Buchla Lightning III

Buchla and Associates - Lightning III


the d-beam just tweaks parameters that you already have nobs for though but i suppose it could be more responsive and visually stimulating. and its probably better to use it on the sh-201 since it feels like you could rip the knobs off without trying too hard. thats the only thing i don't like about the synth, other than that i think its an excellent sounding VA.

[andrewsc]

The photon x25 looked like it'd be cool but had SERIOUS production quality problems when it was released and I have no idea if they were ever addressed (though you think if they're selling it they wouldn't be selling faulty crap but who knows really) I tried 2 brand new ones and the electrical connections where just a mess so they didn't work for more than a few minutes at most. If the thing worked as advertised I'd like to have one but my doubts are too much at this point unless someone knows more than I about the current state of reliability for that model. D Beam is reliable though, doesn't do multiple ccs at once but at least it works.

[wax808]

The Ipod touch/Iphone has some apps that use the accelerometer to send MIDI via Wi-fi.

[Exquisite Red]

Thanks for all the replies!

Hmmmmm.... That AirFX is super cool, but with no midi, it's essentially like having another KP3 that I control by moving my hands instead of with my finger... BUT, I think people would still get a kick out of it, AND I can get one on eBay for ~$125......



Not sure what I'm gonna do, but, again, thanks for the help guys.

[nofi]

, i forgot about the air fx!

embarrasingly enough I even had an air fx once. not a bad sounding fx unit, and has a few fun fx options. but I didn't really have a use for the hand waving control in my studio, so it went.

based on what you said you want to do, you'll probably get a lot of mileage out of it for $125.

[Exquisite Red]

Originally Posted by nofi

based on what you said you want to do, you'll probably get a lot of mileage out of it for $125.

Yup, the more I read/see about it, the more I want one. There are a couple on eBay at the moment, so I'll probably scoop one up. The SH-201 would be awesome and I'd really like to have a nice synth, but $125 sounds a lot better than $600 right now....

[OurDarkness]

Originally Posted by Exquisite Red

Ok, long story short, I'm putting together a rig for live performances. So far, it includes a PC running Ableton Live, an APC40, an Axiom 25, a Korg KP3, and a few glitchy hardware effects units that I like.

To be honest, I don't really do a whole lot compared to the rest of the band... I launch the backing tracks, take care of the click track, do a little on the fly mixing, but nothing crazy. I play a little on the keys, but not a whole lot because, honestly, I'm pretty terrible on them.

The majority of my involvement musically is with the effects. I really enjoy tweaking knobs on stage to spice things up and make sure every performance is different. Unfortunately the things I'm doing are usually extremely subtle and people constantly ask what the hell I'm really doing on stage...

I'm looking to spice up my performances visually. It's rather boring watching someone tweak knobs, and while I understand that I'm not supposed to be the center of attention, I'd still like to take things up a notch. The lights on the KP3 are enough to amuse people for a while, but I'm looking for something a little more "showy".

What I've been looking for is a midi device that can be controlled via motion/proximity, or light. Think Theremin, except midi data instead of synth. Like an assignable midi controller with value of 0-127 depending on the distance of your hand. Essentially a very showy modwheel.... Or even a photocell that does the same thing. I could hold a small light in my hand and control parameters by sweeping and swooping my hands. I know it sounds silly, but that kind of stuff really engages people. If anything, it'll make them say "WTF?", but at least they'll stay interested.

I've searched quite a bit and couldn't find anything... Is there anything like this? If not would it be hard to make something like this???

Just trying to think of creative ways to stay visually stimulating on stage...

I hear you. At some point in the past I wanted a DataGlove - in fact I still do..lol. I am all for visual enhancement of performance. Who said that keyboard players should not move?

Anyway, I guess you need to check out this site:

I-CubeX Online Store : Motion Sensors for Digital Media Control

There are sensors for proximity, heat, light blah blah.

[Exquisite Red]

Originally Posted by OurDarkness

I-CubeX Online Store : Motion Sensors for Digital Media Control

There are sensors for proximity, heat, light blah blah.

That stuff is amazing.... The quasi-DIYness of it all is intimidating, but controlling a MIDI value by squeezing a balloon?!?! Awesome!

[lobsty]

I know a guy who's working on a light and movement based midi controller right now that is intended to do exactly what you're talking about. Let me know if you want some more info and I'll see where he's up to and exactly what it does.

[Exquisite Red]

Originally Posted by lobsty

I know a guy who's working on a light and movement based midi controller right now that is intended to do exactly what you're talking about. Let me know if you want some more info and I'll see where he's up to and exactly what it does.

Hell yeah, I'd love more info.... Though, to be honest, I'm extremely impulsive and impatient and will probably be making an AirFX purchase in the next day or two, haha.... There's no way I could wait for a still "in-development" product to be finished and released. But for real, I'm a tech-gear junkie, and I'm always down with cool, new stuff, and I could always add on to my rig in the future, so any info would be sweet.

Much appreciated.

[Llitsor]

Hello to all First post here..

Anyway! Before you spend wedges of cash on some new piece of fancy gear. .
Do a google/youtube search for "Wii midi" or similar.
Yes, you an do amazing things with a Nintendo Wii controller. And they are dirt cheap! They work via bluetooth. Most computers these days have bluetooth included. But if not, then usb bluetooth dongles are cheap.
Then you need some simple software to interface the Wii with your computer/software. For my Mac I use Osculator software. Not free, but cheap. There is also "Wii to midi" much more basic, but its free. I don't use Windows much, and certainly not for music, but I believe the equivalent similar software is called Glovepie.
Its all simple to setup too (If I can do it, anyone can)

The Wii controller has a multitude of buttons and motion sensors that you can map to pretty much any function you can think of.
If you want to get really far out, you can. You can use multiple Wii controllers, and all their associated addons. Like the nunchuk things, and IR sensors (You do not need the game console itself)
If oddball controllers are your thing, then you can't pass this up for what little it costs.

[argomax]

I owned both the AirFX and the AirSynth, and have owned at least 16 different pieces of Roland Gear featuring the D-beam, including the MC-909 which features two.
Just go ahead and try using any one of them precisely and professionally.
They are very approximative and you cannot do anything serious with them.

I think Moog makes a MIDI theremin, don't they?

[Exquisite Red]

Originally Posted by Llitsor

Hello to all First post here..

Anyway! Before you spend wedges of cash on some new piece of fancy gear. .
Do a google/youtube search for "Wii midi" or similar.
Yes, you an do amazing things with a Nintendo Wii controller. And they are dirt cheap! They work via bluetooth. Most computers these days have bluetooth included. But if not, then usb bluetooth dongles are cheap.
Then you need some simple software to interface the Wii with your computer/software. For my Mac I use Osculator software. Not free, but cheap. There is also "Wii to midi" much more basic, but its free. I don't use Windows much, and certainly not for music, but I believe the equivalent similar software is called Glovepie.
Its all simple to setup too (If I can do it, anyone can)

So you've actually used this? I actually knew about this before, but heard a lot of things about the software being buggy/glitchy or whatever. It scared me away... I heard it wasn't very accurate either, but, as with most stuff on the webz, it could be b.s. If you've done it, what was your experience with it? Good/bad/accurate?

Originally Posted by argomax

I owned both the AirFX and the AirSynth, and have owned at least 16 different pieces of Roland Gear featuring the D-beam, including the MC-909 which features two.
Just go ahead and try using any one of them precisely and professionally.
They are very approximative and you cannot do anything serious with them.

While I'd have to agree about the AirSynth (all the videos I saw of it just made it look like a fun, noisy toy), I'd say the AirFX is very much usable in the context that I need it. I won't be using it in the studio; it's just for adding spice to live shows.

Check this guy out - YouTube - nogash vs Air Fx

/\ That's just what I need.

Originally Posted by argomax

I think Moog makes a MIDI theremin, don't they?

They do, but for the price I could (and would rather) get a SH-201 and a half... Also, it doesn't output standard MIDI data; it has some high resolution protocall that (much like the Wiimote) you have to run through some freeware program to convert to a 0-127 signal. It just seems like a very expensive (and potentially buggy) headache.

[Llitsor]

Yes I have used this But I gather you are on a PC? I don't have any experience of this on a PC with the Glovepie software, which I believe is what you would use.
But on my Mac with Osculator software it worked great. Very useable controller for midi, in my experience.
For anyone interested, i'll post a pict of this software, which gives a pretty good idea how it operates.

[Exquisite Red]

Originally Posted by Llitsor

Yes I have used this But I gather you are on a PC? I don't have any experience of this on a PC with the Glovepie software, which I believe is what you would use.
But on my Mac with Osculator software it worked great. Very useable controller for midi, in my experience.
For anyone interested, i'll post a pict of this software, which gives a pretty good idea how it operates.

Yep, I'm on a PC. And you're right about Glovepie. That's the software that kept coming up when I researched the whole Wii-midi thing. That screenshot looks awesome though... I love how you assign all the different motion parameters. I just don't know that I would trust my PC and those freeware programs to do it live. I haven't had any stability problems thus far, but I've also been keeping things very simple...

I actually already have a couple Wiimotes though, so I guess it couldn't hurt to set them up and try them out one day.

[DSK]

Also there's a new midi controller which relies on the amont of surface touched . It's called the Snydephonics Manta.. Snyderphonics Manta - example of using continuous controllers via MIDI (Snyderphonics) - 440TV Video
Snyderphonics Instruments

[Exquisite Red]

Originally Posted by DSK

Also there's a new midi controller which relies on the amont of surface touched . It's called the Snydephonics Manta.. Snyderphonics Manta - example of using continuous controllers via MIDI (Snyderphonics) - 440TV Video
Snyderphonics Instruments

I actually really, really like that thing but it's expensive and currently OSX only. :(

[Gabrielle]

I want a DataGlove too... I want a DataGlove for the whole body, imagine that... stike Controlling a whole orchestra like that, wow

[gremlin moon]

Because you mentioned enhancing the visual realm you may want to think in terms of performance art. Have you seen Rabbit in the Moon? MySpace Video - Rabbit in the Moon's Video Channel & Video Clips These guys are always booked for live shows and it's not like they are putting on a cirque de soliel type performance. Note the frontman is rockin the theramin. I think you would be surprised of what you could come up with along those lines.

There is always the VJ route as well. . .