Scratching Coming to the Masses, The Cheap, Cheap Masses

[thebobman]

CHECK THIS OUT

Now, keep in mind that this is a piece of software that was just written and the sample rate of the audio file in use isn't particularly high, which results in some digital blurps and chirps, but this is still holyflippinshitsocool.

Here's how it works: take a resonably modern computer, a high-speed webcam and combine it with a record (or anything circular really), a glyphed augmented reality marker (a image with a specific, easily identifiable geometric pattern used by the computer to position in the 3D space visible by the webcam) and a little bit of software and you get a record you can load any sound file or song onto and then scratch. There's no costly CD-DJ decks or digital pads here; apart from the computer there's really only 1 piece of hardware, the webcam. The AR tag can be printed off on any printer and the record can be anything that you can spin.

Lets not kid ourselves into thinking this will replace vinyl, but its certainly going to make it cheap and easy for thousands of people to get into turntablism, and not for mixing circa 1998 trance, actual, honest to god scratching. Sure, its not the real thing, but think of how acessible this is, how compact it is and how non-proprietary it is.

Damned cool.