What is it? What does it do?
As you can see in the video above, the reacTable was first developed as a concept and then brought to life with a software interface first, and then hardware to be a participative and experimental electronic music instrument. The team decided the best way to make such an instrument would be to use graspable objects that can be manipulated on a surface in an intuitive fashion to alter and project sound samples.
It draws on the form of Electronica music, which has become popular over the last ten years – pushed into mainstream music culture by popular artists Bjork and Madonna. A live performance of Electronica music would usually require a number of computers, synthesisers and software all to be combined in a fashion that would be confusing for those who have never used that set up before.
The use of basic objects being moved around the table to create the sound should be more inviting (than an instrument such as a Violin or Piano) to someone who is not musically inclined. The reacTable can be used by multiple people, and has been used by novices as installations, and also by advanced electronic artists, notably for recent performances by Bjork.
The reacTable has been designed so it can be used collaboratively and remotely. In a previous situation two reacTables have been joined via an internet connection; one in Austria, another in Spain. The number of connected tables can easily be extended and conceptually, the two remote tables are “virtually melted into a single table surface, where players at both locations are playing within the same logical table space”. (Kaltenbrunner, M. et al, 2006)
