As touch technology evolves, artists and programmers are discovering more ways to compose music. Audiopad is a composition and performance instrument for electronic music. Created by localfields (James Patten and Recht), Audiopad tracks the position of objects on a table and converts the movement into music. It allows you to pull sounds from libraries, edit tracks, and process compositions all at the same time.
How does it work? Each object on the table is electronically tagged. The Audiopad has a matrix of antenae that track all of the objects on the table. Each object represents a musical track or a microphone. The software tracks the position information and translates it into music and graphical feedback on the table. On the back end, they use Linux, Debian or Knoppix. The code is written in Python and C & C++. They also make use of OpenGL for graphcs and MIDI to work with the synthesizers.
Currently this product is not for sale, but the developers say that they are researching that possibility. The duo enjoys doing performances and installations. In 2004 the Audio pad was recognized in the Industrial Design Excellence Awards. The Museu d'Arte Contemporani de Barcelona hosted their installation in 2003 as part of the Sonar festival. The Audiopad website has a host of videos that demonstrate what it does. Visit http://www.jamespatten.com/audiopad/ to lear more about it.
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