Back in October I wrote about a new iPhone app called RjDJ, which I described as “An Awesome, Trippy Soundtrack For Your Life“. The application includes a set of entrancing songs that go on forever, using the iPhone’s internal microphone to ‘listen’ to the noises and voices heard in your proximity to dynamically create music. It’s a bizarre and totally unique experience that you should try if you haven’t already (you can grab the full version here or a one-song trial here).
Tonight the RjDj team has released a followup to its original app called RjDj Shake. The application has a similar purpose, using external input to dynamically generate music. But instead of using sound, Shake relies on the iPhone (or iPod Touch’s) accelerometer to adjust the audio any time the phone senses movement.
Each song (or “scene”, as the app calls them) responds to movement in a different way – some scenes are designed for passive movement, playing tiny bells whenever you take a step, while others are meant to be used when you’re jumping, dancing, or waving your iPhone around. You can also record your songs for future listening, though it doesn’t look like there’s an easy way to export them.
In my brief testing I found Shake to be less trippy and captivating than the original application (likely because it doesn’t feature weird echoing voices), but it’s still fun to play around with. I’m hoping that eventually RjDj will incorporate the technology from both Shake and the original into a single application so we can get the ultimate in bizarre musical iPhone tripping.
Neat, but useless. Technology is turning us into perpetual consumers, our existence comfortably numbed by media like this.
Uh, so I guess you’re opposed to music in general too?
No, Jason. You missed the point of my comment and it is my fault for not explaining in greater detail.
An application like RjDj is neat, it’s fun, it’s “trippy.”
However it is just one more bottomless time-sink entering into our lives that does nothing but distract us from more important pursuits. Do not misunderstand me, having fun IS an important pursuit. But constantly having our time absorbed by more and more media and communication channels and applications is senseless, and not worth constantly promoting. For example, I may use this application while sitting on the train on the way into the city. We must ask in such a situation, what is lost and what is gained? Well, clearly I would be entertained and it would pass the time. On the other hand though, I might miss out on meeting the person I am sitting next to and perhaps I will distract or annoy others. I would certainly be distracting myself from actually Thinking.
If you want a better example, look at Scoble’s dilemma between updating Twitter and tending to his son.
Ultimately, Too Much technology or media will deprecate our humanity–by injuring our relationships with oneself and with others–rather than enhancing it. That is my point.
This turns the iphone/ipod (a device purely for consuming) into a musical instrument (allowing you to produce something).
How is that perpetuating consumerism, exactly?
Yes, I can see how this would be useless for some people, but from the perspective of creative types who make music, this could be something that is actually useful.
I must agree. A lot of useless technology coming up. It’s like a lot of people are giving up on innovation.
it’s always easier and more exciting at the beginning for everything, then things get slow and boring
iphone app’s have to be the worst invention ever made – our country is over for innovation !
This is a cool iPhone app. I wonder how it is done to automatically create music based on the ambient sound.
this is one of the best apps. but it needs more updates.
have you heard of noah vawter’s ambient addition? it basically has the same concept as the first version, rjdj. i advise reading some of his thesis to find the positive attributes of this sort of innovation. the site also provides a video. i think it is a great idea to incorporate the surrounding environment into what you are listening to. it is also useful for things like sirens, you can hear them and get out of the way.
http://web.medi...esis/index.html
It’s going to be very funny seeing people moving like they’re mentally ill on the subway platforms in NY
RjDj is a gorgeous app. I do understand your point, Matt A., but surely there are better ways of wasting time than others, and I wish we had more RjDj’s and less “kiss of the vampire” apps…
I must agree. A lot of useless technology coming up. It’s like a lot of people are giving up on innovation.