Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Music-Related Products

I came across a few products that use some interesting technologies for user interaction. Some of them even deal with the creation of music, or visuals.

1) The first is a toy called "UCreate" targetted to the "tween" crowd (ie, the youngest members of Generation Y). It basically allows users to creat their own music compositions using the built-in sounds and voice-recorder. Alternatively, there is also the option of including samples of music from the user's MP3 player. While this is an interesting take on music composition for a younger market, I still find it relatively complex. The reviews on Amazon, however, seem to be quite favorable.



2) The second product is from a company called Seeper, mentioned in an earlier post. This particular product is a large sphere that allows users to interact with it, creating bursts of pixelated dots somewhat reminiscent of a fireworks sparkler. Of course, other images can be projected on the sphere for different sorts of interaction.

Also in this video, there is a multi-touch sequencer that is activated when individuals approach the surface. When three individuals are present, they are able to play a unique instrument, ultimately creating a drum beat, a bass-line, and a synthesizer part. Very interesting, but also very static in terms of portability and usability.



3) This last product is a multi-touch projector from a company called Light Blue Optics. It is a fairly compact device, though not particularly suitable for on-the-go situations.



* Update: At CES 2010, the Light Touch was demo'd in real-time and it seems to be quite responsive:


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