The Reactable Table
by: Pablo Sanchez, Machine Head
The first time that I saw a demo video of it, I was completely amazed. It had so many features and you could do much with it without having an extensive knowledge of technology or music. By using a tabletop tangible interface, which allows the performers to control the system by manipulating tangible objects and with their fingers, it takes the interaction that the user has with the instrument to a whole new level.
You have so many elements to play with like synthesizers, effects, sample loops or control elements in order to create a unique and flexible composition. Reactable’s pucks represent the building blocks of electronic music, each one having a different functionality in sound generation or in effect processing, in a way deeply inspired by modular analogue synthesizers such as those developed by Bob Moog in the early 60s.
Since 2009, the Reactable team started to develop the Reactable in different forms (tabletop, mobile apps, etc.) by creating the Reactable Systems company.
Just to show the wide variety of stuff one can do, I'll leave you with a couple of simple demo videos of how the Reactable works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPG-LYoW27E
Oh, and if you're looking to buy one, it's probably a smidgen out of your price range. If you want to just play on it, book a flight to Barcelona where it is housed. Which, can also be pretty expensive. But never fear, there is an app which is pretty affordable, hooray!
IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/reactable-mobile/id381127666?mt=8
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.reactable
