How the Reactable Wants to Open Up Music

What’s the Latest Development?

As cutting-edge technology is the Reactable’s milieu, the engineers and DJs behind this ultra-modern instrument are using apps and open source communities to spread the electronic love. Martin Nardone, aka Le Freak Selector, is a Reactable DJ in Barcelona, Spain, where the instrument was created by musical engineers at Pompeu Fabra University. Nardone has worked with the company that makes the Reactable to establish an online community where Reactable DJs not only display their tracks, but the layers they’ve used “so if anybody wishes to do a remix of your track it would be free and easy to do so.”

What’s the Big Idea?

With electronic tools increasingly taking the place of physical instruments, the future of music looks to be entirely different than anything before it. While it still takes years of practice to master electronic music, something Nardone can attest to, making music can now be done by just about anyone who can download the right software or find a good app. Does that mean the Reactable is the revolution’s instrument? Not exactly. While the Reactable app works well to compliment the physical instrument, its steep learning curve will dissuade most amateurs. In that way, at least, it is similar to traditional instruments. 

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