Having looked at two examples of what the Lemur multi-touch hardware can do, the videos above illustrate directly what I’m talking about when I describe two different approaches. Metrognome is an insanely-talented guru in the modular instrument/effects-building environment Reaktor. He’s working to build new live performance tools that meld live arrangement / remixing / DJing with a kind of computer meta-instrument. It’s really a great illustration of how software can become a live instrument. It also represents one of two paths in thinking about what touch can do for live music performance.

1. Multi-touch as virtual controller: The Lemur’s design assumes that what you want to do is create virtual hardware, using a stock set of knobs, faders, gestural controllers, envelope editors, and the like. The advantage is, these interfaces are modular and consistent. The disadvantage: you’re limited to pre-built screens and pre-built widgets, so you can’t do anything outside what’s given.

2. Screen as direct controller: The difference with the Reaktor examples is that there’s no intermediary. Whatever is on your computer screen is the interface. The downside: that includes all the usual UI clutter, and the open-ended possibilities could be overwhelming. The upside: as Metrognome artfully demonstrates, you can imagine any interface, build it, and immediately control it – including things the Lemur may not do. The other, not insignificant advantage: you don’t have to buy another piece of hardware, making this route much cheaper. Your screen or projection simply becomes the touch controller surface. Multi-touch isn’t quite ready for prime time on computers yet, but it could be soon.

I’m not saying one is better than the other. In fact, I suspect some people will prefer the Lemur approach even if it means spending additional money, because they want something that has some of the flexibility of a screen, but still behaves more or less like a dedicated controller. But I think it’d be a mistake to miss that we have two very different angles on touch here.

Of course, none of this stops you from building or buying a $50 or $100 knob box and being perfectly happy with that.

For more details on what Metrognome is doing (including an up-close shot of that beautiful ensemble), see our Kore minisite – and expect some more details on this soon over on that site, thanks to our Reaktor contributor Peter Dines:

Reaktor + Touchscreen = Touch Grains, Touch Performances, Wild UIs [Kore@CDM]

By now you’ve all probably seen that excellent video of Kid Beyond illustrating his usage of Ableton Live. Pretty cool, right? If one had such a system, you could loop yourself playing guitar, beatboxing, etc., all perfectly in sync with programmed drum/MIDI tracks and other performers.

Here’s how to set up your own system in a similar hands-free operation style, for about US$10, without having to solder anything. It’ll take you about an hour once you gather the parts required, or less. No joke.

You will need:

• A QWERTY keyboard, preferably with a USB connector. Otherwise, you’ll have to buy an adapter to fit your laptop, which costs extra. You can get one for $7.50 at AllElectronics.com, but you can find them even cheaper at your local thrift store’s “technology pile.” I got mine for $2.
• A flathead screwdriver.
• Ableton Live. Ed.: Live is a perfect choice here, but you may find this useful with other music apps, as well — or even in a VJ set. -PK
• A free keyboard-mapping utility called Autohotkey (if you’re running Windows). If you’re running Mac, the program to use is calledIKey.

  That’s it. Here’s how to make it go:

  
  

  Above: Steps 1-2. Simple enough.
  

I started using Live with version 1, and since that version, Live users have longed for an easy way to customize the color scheme in Ableton Live. It’s a no-brainer: two-dimensional interface, high-contrast UI elements, basic graphics — why not be able to choose the color scheme you want? Ableton’s own themes let you abandon the gunmetal battleship colors, but generally for garish nightmare schemes that seem to have escaped from the Windows 3.0 themes from Hell.

SonicTransfer, a site that’s become an increasingly nice resource for tutorials and other info, took matters into their own hands: Matt built his own custom editor from scratch. It works on Windows, Mac, and even Linux, and lets you create custom schemes for Live 6. (Matt also has some of the nicest schemes for six I’ve seen yet — recall that many other custom schemes designed for previous versions don’t yet work in the latest release.) The interface is great, as you can see in the video here; you can quickly highlight what you want to change and tweak as much as you like. There was a brief scare a few weeks ago when Matt posted that he might not be able to release the software without the permission of Ableton. Then, today, Berlin came through and Ableton CEO Gerhard gave the go-ahead. Betas are available now (10/23) and a full release may be up by the time you read this.

Ableton Live Skin Editor [SonicTransfer]

This isn’t just cosmetic: the right scheme can be easy on your eyes in performance and studio situations.

Use at your own risk, as future upgrades are likely to break the editor — but it’s nice that we now have a standard from the always-vigilant Ableton community.

Now, you can make your Live interface match the woodgrain you added to your keyboard.

Bless K-mart and their $2.50 contact sheets of faux woodgrain. They can turn your average, ordinary plastic M-Audio USB MIDI keyboard into a retro-styled custom job that just screams, erm, class. Melbourne-and-London-based CDM forum reader soloandata did just that. (Talk about bi-coastal — they have K-marts there?) Kudos: it takes a steady hand to line up those contact sheets. The woodgrain looks great on the curved design of the new Axiom keyboards — tres 70s.

Just finished Pimping my axiom-25. check that woodgrain! [Create Digital Noise]
solo andata [Artist Page]
solo andata [@Myspace]

Thanks, Kane. Now the gauntlet has been thrown: who has the pimped keyboard / audio gear that can top this? (And if you don’t have it already, by all means head to the local K-mart. Kane wonders if faux marble might be the logical next step. I’m rooting for something pink and furry.) I know some M-Audio folks read this site, so feel free to play (or introduce faceplates at NAMM).

I received an email this morning from a friendly fellow Australian named Keith. He had googled his way to a short post on my site Jaymis.com looking for a source of Friendly Plastic/Shapelock/Polymorph in Australia. After a couple of emails back and forth I figured out that he’s Keith from plasq/Comic Life/Rax, and he figured out that I’m Jaymis from CDMu/CDMo, but we still didn’t have an Australian source for useful thermoplastics.

Update!: Paul wrote in to tell us that he’s found a source of polymorph in Australia, at the soldergeekly favourite Jaycar! It’s reasonably expensive at $10/100g, but the material is infinitely reusable, and if you have an ABN you can get it through Jaycar’s wholesaler, Electus.

How is this relevant for CDMu readers? Well if you’re able to browse a few pages of CDM stories tagged “DIY” and not end up with a brain full of custom controller ideas, then you must have a much more focussed brain than I do. I’ve been working on a more visually focussed prototype, and as I couldn’t get my hands on any thermoplastics I ended up using casting resin.

Resin gives you a very pretty result but it’s not much fun to work with. Unless, of course, you enjoy inhaling noxious fumes, getting dizzy and spending the rest of the afternoon on the sofa with a headache (I’ve purchased a proper fume mask for my next batch). For a prototype it’s way too time consuming and permanent, so I’m still looking around for thermoplastics. The fact that Keith found my site and has had similar troubles locating any in Australia indicates that there may well be others out there in our situation.

So if there are any Australian readers who can help us find please hit the comments. If you’re also looking for this stuff leave a comment too and we’ll notify you when we’re successful in tracking some down.

Ed: I definitely want to make sure Jaymis gets some of this stuff in Australia because then he and I can work on DIY projects using it and share the results with you loyal CDMers! I’m also interested in hearing if any of you know about this material or alternative materials and want to tell us about your experiences with it, so non-Australians, please hit comments, too! -PK