Video: D-Touch drum machine keeps heads, hands bobbing

Oh sure, we've seen countless drum machine hacks over the years, but there's just something special about one that's so simple, yet so fulfilling. D-Touch is hailed as a visual markers recognition system "that enables the development of low-cost tangible user interfaces and mixed reality applications," and here, we're seeing it used to create movable sounds. Users simply print out the cubes, fold 'em up, add lentils and arrange them on the highly sophisticated A4 sheet of paper. We get the feeling this one won't cost you much to replicate, so why not hit the read link for more instructions after digging into the vid just beyond the break?

[Via Engadget German]

[Matt @ Jul 2nd 2009 9:27AM]

Why lentils?

[Christian @ Jul 2nd 2009 9:29AM]

They are what produce the sound

[Matt @ Jul 2nd 2009 9:35AM]

Well I guess I need to RTFA...

[endoplasmic @ Jul 2nd 2009 9:45AM]

Fun Fact: If I eat enough lentils I produce some of my own sound.

[OneLove @ Jul 2nd 2009 9:59AM]

Sorry but can some full explain how this works. You fill paper with lentils, move them around and they make drum sounds? how?

[wouzy_wouter @ Jul 2nd 2009 10:11AM]

I'm guessing that there is a camera that sees the symbols on top of the boxes and interprets what they represent (what sound) and where they are relative to the layout beneath for timing / pitch / other effects (not sure about that though)

The lentils are most likely for weight.

[Rick @ Jul 2nd 2009 12:43PM]

WTF, if the video won't explain anything, maybe Engadget's brief article can at least summarize it?

[olivier @ Jul 2nd 2009 1:22PM]

Check out this other video to understand better how it works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCv0TvnVUHg
It's nuts!

[Aureliusm @ Jul 6th 2009 8:37AM]

Just built one with my daughter (11).
Fun and easy, and it works.