OTTO slices beats, has no effect on tin cans

Electronic musicians are always looking for new ways to do the same old things. Case in point: OTTO, developed by Luca De Rosso at the IUAV University of Venice for a master's thesis. Based on an Arduino and Cycling '74's Max / MSP software, you can drop an audio loop in it (via USB) and manipulate it in real time by moving your hands around the touch surface. Sure we've heard these kind of edits before, but never on a device that somewhat resembles the old Simon memory game. That has to count for something, right? Suffice it to say: we want one. Be sure to check it in action after the break.

[MJZimmer88 @ Jun 30th 2009 4:46PM]

Neato!

And now that I'm bored... does it blend?

[Neil @ Jun 30th 2009 4:46PM]

absolutely amazing i hope something like this goes into production

[FreshJulius @ Jul 1st 2009 8:56AM]

This is like a Kaos Pad on crack and crayons.

[NickNick @ Jun 30th 2009 4:46PM]

offtopic: hey engadget why haven't you put anything about this?

pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=7686

[martingiava @ Jun 30th 2009 6:07PM]

I prefer PeaceMaker

[FreshJulius @ Jul 1st 2009 8:56AM]

I hate this comment system.

[severXcore @ Jun 30th 2009 4:48PM]

this is the coolest musical thing ive seen inawhile. i want one

[dBs @ Jun 30th 2009 4:50PM]

Looks like a fancy My Simon.

[mnewmansnow1 @ Jun 30th 2009 6:42PM]

lol, i was just thinking the same thing.

[Jayenkai @ Jun 30th 2009 5:08PM]

I have no f'ing idea what he's doing..

Sure, it's a neat bit of audio coming out of it, but there seems to be little/no relationship to his hands flailing around the thing, and the obscure set of dots on the display.

Or at least, to me, anyway..
I got nuffin!

[Adam @ Jul 1st 2009 10:39AM]

I agree! It looks like there's absolutely no correlation between his hands and the music/lighting of the pad. I think it looks sleek, but I think it's BS and he's just pretending to use it while it flashes

[scott @ Jun 30th 2009 5:51PM]

i feel like i just took acid.

[rsm @ Jun 30th 2009 5:58PM]

My gosh, its full of stars...

[slyd3z @ Jun 30th 2009 6:07PM]

I'm not entirely sure what I've just seen, but I do know it's chock full o' win! WANT!

[DjD @ Jun 30th 2009 6:47PM]

Yeah, it would be cool to have one but we DJs could never afford one...we all know that it would cost just under a million dollars and the only people to own one would be the uber rich who would probably just plug it in, hang it on the wall and call it art...

I'm not bitter though...:)

[djroketboy @ Jun 30th 2009 6:56PM]

"hear, hear!"

[jgz @ Jun 30th 2009 6:57PM]

What the heck?!
I have no f***in' clue on how this thing works..

Anyone?

What's all that dots?
The second video was make using only 1 audio loop??

Need a basic tutorial.
BTW seems kinda kewl.
Cheers.

[eric @ Jun 30th 2009 9:19PM]

It's funny, because as someone who is familiar with electronic music production, this is one of the most elegant and straight forward solutions to loop manipulation I've ever seen.

The dots represent the waveform of audio, wrapped around in a circle. The lines are where the beat is divided into 8 stop points, all which you could press on the top to jump to that part in the audio.

The small dot that runs around the outside of the whole circle shows the current position of the loop being played.

The switch on the top flips the playback from forward to backwards.

Buttons on the side cause small sections to loop very quickly.

Very straight forward, and I bet anyone would figure it out after using it for a minute or two.

[Sopherion @ Jun 30th 2009 8:37PM]

Reminds me of some of Venetian Snares' newer albums.

[DerickONFIRE @ Jun 30th 2009 10:25PM]

This thing looks like it'll lose it's value of being fun very quickly..

I'm not sure about the design either, I think it could have been done much nicer, and be a lot more intuitive. And why the controls on the upper right? It seems like it would be a lot more convenient in the center of the circle or on the bottom center closest to the body.

[yrag @ Jul 1st 2009 12:32AM]

I hope you got a good grade Luca!

btw, dBs & mnewmansnow1, your a day late and a dollar short, Joseph L. Flatley already made that wry 'Simon' observation in the body of his copy. that's cool though, reading isn't everybody's thing. ; )

[Zac @ Jul 1st 2009 4:15AM]

You want one? Engadget seems to want everything these days.

[DJ Alien @ Jul 1st 2009 1:32PM]

aaah easy to use thing..... for those wondering.. .each dot line represents a step of the loop.... its like a sampler that distributes your loop around this thing.... each time you press a line it jumps to that position of the loop... the longer the line the stronger the hit on the loop... there is a lever for volume and one for fwd play & rev play... the other white level on the side looks like its for looping???

very fancy thing..... very cool.... eye candy... interesting way to play stuff...

[Robert @ Jul 1st 2009 2:45PM]

Interestingly Lame!