reactable
The music department at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, is an unassuming space, its entrance tucked away in a nook of the municipal buildings designed by Estacio de Franca. Once inside, a broad, brightly lit stairwell leads to a muddle of tutorial rooms that could have easily been used to teach any given subject throughout the last four decades. Were you to peek behind a closed door down here, the most likely discovery would be an overflowing store of textbooks and redundant stationery.
Lending itself to the expected, however, is something called the reactable: a musical instrument (by broad definition) that in full scope looks like a juvenile prop for a B-rated sci-fi flick about alien civilizations.
That passers-by would scarcely anticipate its presence is probably just as well, as the solitary security guard in the area was distinctly untroubled by our visit, or, it seemed, any imperative duty of his position. Someone might wish to inform him—though it would be very un-Spanish to do so—that his post is stationed directly underneath forty-odd thousand euros worth of ingenuity.
In any case, having kindly been invited to a demo of the reactable by one of its four co-creators, Günter Geiger, we had no sinister plans in mind for the Pompeu Fabra’s prototype model. An article in Unlike (now somewhat overdue) had seemed a more than fair trade-off for seeing this fascinating machine in action.
To give a general idea of what the reactable is about, the official website describes it as “a collaborative electronic music instrument with a tabletop tangible multi-touch interface.” In practical terms, this entails the following: A number of different hieroglyphs with individually assigned functions mounted on Perspex blocks. These functions can by and large be grouped into inputs (such as sample loops and synthesizer sounds) and effects that change the nature of the input (such as delay and oscillation). The blocks are arranged by the user on the upper surface of the unit, with varying permutations of their function achievable by changing their relative or individual positions and settings. A camera underneath the surface is responsible for detecting any such movement, and a computer program deciphers its significance in terms of musical output, while simultaneously producing a visual interpretation. The projection of this image onto the tabletop gives the reactable its unique and spectacular aesthetic, and also provides a crucial real-time account of what is occurring.
We had expected a more unifying, and perhaps restrictive, logic behind the many elements that constitute the reactable. Speaking to Günter and seeing the device in action, we were pleased to discover that each new addition to its many functions seemed actually to have been arrived at by an individual process of suggestion and troubleshooting, aimed at minimizing the need to compromise either accessibility or creative potential. The final product, while not as intuitively creative as a traditional instrument (due largely to the obvious requirement to preprogram most rhythms and samples) lends a physical and visual element to computer-based music production that invigorates the form. Live performances benefit greatly from this aspect, ensuring that, if and when the reactable is made affordable and available to musicians, it will surely be in high demand.
Fanfare for the reactable has thus far been justifiably widespread and enthusiastic. Björk has taken it on tour, and the awards and media plaudits continue to roll in. Its growing renown should ensure that its originators are well taken care of. Taking coffee with Günter afterwards, such matters were quite flippantly glossed over. Instead, like all good researchers and developers, he’s more interested in talking about his latest project: an iPhone application that creates original music by responding to the user’s outside environment. Upon taking an earpiece, the ambient noise of passing cars and nearby chatter is transmuted into an overwhelming cascade of hypnotic loops; good to know, once again, how creative endeavor can transform the seemingly mundane.
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