Filed under: Multimedia, Peripherals, Freeware
Wii Loop Machine
We have previously mentioned several fun uses of the Wiimote with your Mac. The Wii Loop Machine by Yann Seznec is nifty little application for controlling music loops (similar to those in Garageband) using the Wiimote. You can select different loops with the buttons and control playback by moving the Wiimote around in space. As you can see in the video, it becomes a kind of Wii-dance, and despite being rather dorky also looks sort of fun. All of this is made possible by aka.objects developed by Masayuki Akamatsu, which also works with the Apple Remote and other devices as well.
After seeing this for the first time, I couldn't help but think that next we need a Wiimote controlled Mac theremin!
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
andy said 9:23AM on 3-22-2007
wow, this looks so cool and fun, however after downloading, setting up and pairing my wiimote....nothing, i cant figure it out :(
Reply
cesar said 10:25AM on 3-22-2007
Its amazing the ripple effect nintendo is having, what a great machine they have made. I'm going home after work and trying this out
Reply
Quentin said 10:05AM on 3-22-2007
French music makers Rulezzzz ! Yann You rock !
Reply
eldt said 10:06AM on 3-22-2007
it's like guitar hero but actually requires some musical tallent.
Reply
Dina said 10:17AM on 3-22-2007
Amazing.
Reply
andy said 10:23AM on 3-22-2007
hang on, i think i miss read it...
"It uses the aka.wiimote object for Max/MSP by Masayuki Akamatsu.
Download it, unzip it, and follow the directions in the patch (it will probably take a couple of tries to get it working)"
does this mean i have to install the aka.wiimote?
Reply
wayne said 11:29AM on 3-22-2007
ok, this is cool, mac wii mixing
Reply
Yann Seznec said 12:03PM on 3-22-2007
You don't need to install the aka.wiimote object, andy. Some computers seem to have trouble pairing with the wii, and I'm not really sure why. Keep trying, and send me an email with symptoms (yannseznec at the service known as gmail dot com) if you keep having trouble.
thanks for the shoutout tuaw! It's fun to see myself on my newfeed.
Reply
hawthorneluke said 1:11PM on 3-22-2007
i dont understand why everyone's trying to do such stuff and trying to make out that its any good. why not use a keyboard and mouse like normal? O_o. this isn't very practical and is just gimmicky :/ lol.
so yeah, it just doesn't seem very special to me really, just trying to replace everything with the wii remote. may be good for somet stuff, but for most, it's just showing off how it can be used as a useless gimmick it seems lol.
well, it's how i feel anyway :P
Reply
Zachary Hinchliffe said 3:43PM on 3-22-2007
@#9: It's not meant to be functional, just fun.
Reply
CyberPsycho said 4:06PM on 3-22-2007
i dunno who host this video , but that host sucks, keeps stopping. no one told him about google video or youtube ? i would have listen to it till the end but the video rebufferring or loading ,sucks, so i stop.
Reply
Josh* said 7:35PM on 3-22-2007
A theremin would be so sweet. Maybe they'll have one in Wii Music!
Reply
marcos said 8:53PM on 3-22-2007
Extremely cool, Yann. Using understatement as the highest praise, you're doing interesting work.
It's not surprising that so many mention the theremin, which should be an simple enough hack. What Yann is doing is a bit more sophisticated and interesting.
What the theremin lovers are forgetting is that one of the prime attributes of a theremin is that it's a hands-off instrument. What they are describing, therefore, is a wii remote psuedo theremin, which is kind of boring (although it would be fun to play with and much less expensive than a real theremin).
Far more interesting would be to use a theremin as an input/control device. Combined with voice recognition, maybe, to make it even more interesting. Say a word while scratching your head, and your computer looks it up on google or wikipedia. Conduct your synthetic orchestra. Crunch numbers by bringing a spoon to your mouth. Masturbate a good friend in iChat. =) Control your house with an obscene gesture. Of course you wouldn't need a real theremin, per se, just a device that replicated certain functions. Any hardware hackers out there that are pursuing this?
Reply
marcos said 9:35PM on 3-22-2007
OK, anyone hear a rumor about wii remote gloves? There's already (or soon will be?) a nerf nunchuk controller. Thanks to the wii, I think we're going to see a lot of interesting controller/input devices that can be repurposed.
I think the gloves are really what you want if you want a wii theremin simulator.
Reply
Pete said 9:24AM on 3-26-2007
Neat!! miniMIXA now has an XY control surface, that lets you manipulate FX in real-time while mixing-up loops on your mobile. I think you can see this in use on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6BSGy8mMsU ...? It'd be neat if it could hook-up to the Wiimote on suitable phones. :)
Reply