I installed RjDj on my iphone yesterday. It takes sound from the environment you’re in, using the samples both as the ingredients of a musical composition, and to influence it.
Some notes:
- It’s not long before you’re singing along to yourself. This can’t be much fun for anyone listening (I remember when walkmen were fairly new, and my sister singing along in the car without being able to hear herself)
- Walking past railings is a useful way of generating rhythmic noise
- Walking around, previously intrusive noises such as car hoots, children wailing and people shouting become welcome material.
- This causes a new detachment from reality – it becomes much easier to hear it all in a state of detachment, as a rich tapestry
- I wonder how long it will be before this, or other reality-altering devices, end up with people shaping the reality around them in order to make a more interesting experience. We will end in a narrative that would suit The Dice Man
- You’re recommended to listen with headphones, presumably to prevent unpleasant feedback loops. But it adds a whole new element to driving if plugged into the stereo. Years ago (early 90′s) I imagined a musical device that would take the motions and actions of driving as the trigger. RjDj seems to do the job.
- It brings a whole new dimension to watching X-Factor
- The newfound ability to listen to environmental sounds in an unjudgemental manner continues, at least for a while, into Genuine Unamended Reality