Via Nat Lecude, here’s what the Fingertapps application platform looks like on Dell’s obscenely-affordable Studio One 19 desktop. (Try a whole computer with a multi-touch screen for US$849 and up.)

There are a few concerns here:

• I’m not quite sure why there appears to be so much latency in the demo. That could have any number of sources - latency is a complex issue - or could simply be intentional interpolation on the part of the software.
• I’d love to be able to take off the Dell’s stand and use this at a more humane 30-45-degree viewing angle — which, if you think about it, is what we should be doing anyway, for the sake of our backs and necks!
• Of course, open source frameworks are preferred.

All of that said, though, there are some really compelling ideas here. And imagine having physical hardware controllers combined with touch manipulation in your visual rig. Okay, at least, I’m drooling here. Heck, if you need more horsepower than the Studio One, you could connect it to a rack with more muscle. (The Studio One itself ain’t bad, with up to a quad-core CPU and standard 7200 rpm drives even on the cheaper multi-touch models. Now, if you only weren’t limited to just the 9400M for graphics, it’d almost be a must-buy.)

You can bet we’ll be watching this evolution. Anyone who doubts it, multitouch is coming fast, after a long wait.

Another video for you of Fingertapps:

When it comes to controlling software, let’s put it bluntly: OSC good, MIDI bad. With OSC, it’s possible to control the array of things software might do, with easy use of high-resolution data, descriptive names in plain English (or your language of choice), a path hierarchy that makes it easier to structure messages in modular software, and smart networking features that makes assignment and communication a breeze. With MIDI, um… well, prepare for lots of mucking around.

Happily, visual software developers proprietary and open source alike have done what music developers generally haven’t - embrace OSC. Thanks to the fact that this community is unburdened by tradition and commercial development tends to involve small, responsive teams, change hasn’t been so tough.

So, visualists, it’s time to reap the fruit of that development work, and make the live performance rig work the way you’ve always dreamt it should work. Our friend Gian Pablo (check out his fantastic blog) clues us in to some recent developments with Resolume 3 “Avenue.”

Brian Kane, designer, Emergency Broadcast Network co-founder, and Vujak co-creator (the first video sampler), has a brain full of wacky ideas. The latest: a study for a sculpture in stone that immortalizes what Apple officially calls the “Spinning Wait Cursor,” and what we call the pinwheel, or “(*&$*(&*(&!” (Well, depending on how zenlike you get.)

Need to calm yourself in the face of your computer grinding to a halt in CS4? Sit and contemplate (Brian plans a bench at some point.) Consider the nature of time, and the wisdom that can come from not doing, but waiting.

And then waiting some more.

And yes, the pinwheel has its own, copious Wikipedia entry.

From Brian’s own blog, slashboing

You know the types - I’d say I had a music video made in MS Paint, and you’d watch it and it’d turn out to be made by some hypergenius insomniac who made some intricate animated film using only the spraycan tool. Happily, that is not the case here. “jono” writes to tell us about his Microsoft Paint music video, which he made while he had the flu. And you may feel a wave of nostalgia for MS Paint or the Bill Atkinson-created MacPaint that Microsoft cloned, because the illustrations look like the illustrations you did while bored in computer class. (I may be projecting here.)

And then there’s a flying copy machine. It’s sublime.

klerical team - by New Zealand’s EFT
Electronic Masters of Tapestry [MySpace]

I am also really feeling the lyrics - seriously. I have so, so much to do … so much follow-up to do. Off to Gmail.

Also, they’re from New Zealand, so expect an HBO show next week.

I’m in the middle of editing a video that combines an artist interview with event footage. The supplied raw material is 10 minutes of interview footage and 45 minutes of the event, shot from a single camera. From that footage I was able to extract 5 minutes of usable interview, but just 40 seconds of the gig. It’s not that the gig video was badly shot, it was just homogenous. Medium-long shot of people dancing. Medium shot of the DJ. Over the shoulder shot of the DJ. Medium shot of girls dancing. Repeat.

This is sad, because a single camera and half an hour is plenty of time to capture a dynamic performance. The secret sauce? Close ups.

Segue - Reset (Live at Big Day Out) from Jaymis on Vimeo.