Before the
iPhone,
Microsoft Surface or even Jeff Han's
famous 2006 demonstration at TED, a commercial multitouch display already existed. It's a customizable music control surface called the
Jazzmutant Lemur, and it dates back to
at least 2004. Under the new name
Stantum, Jazzmutant's touchscreens
continue to impress, and now that its groundbreaking original finally has a potential competitor in the iPad, company co-founder Guillaume Largillier has granted
Create Digital Music a sizable interview to comment on the future of the technology. Amidst jabs at Apple for developing a solution only a "Neanderthal" could love, the co-founder hints that the $2000 Lemur might finally see a price drop, and that the company's decided to license their tech to other multitouch tablet manufacturers. Be sure to bring your table salt before hitting our source link, as the second half of the piece is an editorial very much in Stantum's favor, but you might hold off on the full pinch -- it's a pretty good read nonetheless.
posted April 15th 2010 9:29PM
[sarcasm]
But I thought Apple pioneered everything? BLASPHEMY!
[/sarcasm]
@Eli Haj
and put the "i"
@BSprague
They call it a rebirth.
@BSprague You thought wrong. Blame yourself.
@BSprague
Apple takes things that are already developed and makes them better suited for most of the population (easy to use, etc.)
@Eli Haj
No they take things that already exist then patent them and sue anyone else trying to use them! Take that independent development!
This is something new (and welcoming). Hopefully 3rd party companies will make use of this...
@Engadget
I usually have my table salt in the backpack whenever i open up Engadget. Always need it for Apple based articles, which are in favour of *ehm* *ehm*
I remember this from back in January... I had to take 4 xanax after watching...
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/20/stantum-multitouch-slate-pc-prototype-hands-on/
@MattsZ
I Like how in the video for that previous engadget post, he's just like: "well, it's kinda cool. I guess you could add something like this on your tablet pc if you want to draw, if you're into that sort of stuff".. then ipad came and they were impressed with the 2 finger gestures that it presented.
I'm probably exaggerating though.. I just hope we can see stuff like this on computers and devices soon (HP Touchsmart upgrade, maybe?)
HAH! Daft Punk uses 2 of these babys during they're live concerts!..so does deadmau5
@DAbumper
Yup, the Lemur is a wet dream of many bedroom DJs/producers.
This tech MIGHT help other companies with lagging touch interfaces (if companies choose to buy a license which I doubt) but a touchscreen does not an apple product make.
@think before you react Agreed. The guy from the interview even points it out.
Hee Hee Owww
I just hope Apple doesn't buy over the company, otherwise our music industry will truly be in jeopardy.
This has really been a slow news week for technology.....
@Jaylittles531
That is exactly what I was thinking. Usually whenever I log on to Engadget, there are at least 3 new post (average: 7 posts)... This week, it was hard to find even 2 or 3 new posts per day. And I log on 3 or 4 times...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYTaGxOuURU
skip to 2:47
Daft Punk use a few of these for their live show. Deadmau5 rocks one these days too. I had a play with one in a store a little while back and was given a demo. It's very very highly customisable too, awesome piece of kit - very expensive though.
The article was interesting but I have trouble seeing how Stantum is ever gonna be a leader in the industry. Sure, they've really created a great multitouch experience, but until the company starts to license out its technology to successful tablet manufacturers, it's just losing potential revenue to apple.
All midi control devices will be killed off by the iPad... not that its a great midi device, its just showing things like this that people have a cheap alternative now... evolve or die time guys!
@bigsofty
There's this thing called "tactile feedback", why do you think Serato and other such vinyl code software is so popular as opposed to Traktor/Torque/Live with just a midi controller. Spin platters will never die. And just like with the Wii controller, some DJs will jump onto the iPad for the novelty factor, woo the crowds for a little while, and then get back to being productive with serious controllers, such as the Lemur, Kaoss pad, etc.
So much for those Apple multi-touch patents. Me thinks this classifies as prior art.