User:Princesh/Csci588

iJammin is a open source software that allows the user to play multiple instrument like Drums, Keyboard, Guitar and Saxophone using multi touch technology. This application is intend to be running on Microsoft Surface.

Multi Touch
iJammin is an application which can recognize multi touch and allows multiple user to play and compose music at the same time. To know more about Microsoft Surface refer []

Virtual Instument
iJammin can play virtual software instruments for creating songs or playing music using on-screen virtual keyboard. As this is a open source software user can create their own instrument and can later integrate it.

Recording Music
The music created by the user can easily be recorded and saved in wave file for future use. Not only that but this file can be edited by playing the same music again and then adding one or more vocals.

Availability
This Project got kick start in October 2008 and is expected to release it first beta version by mid of November 2008.

Project Description
Creating new tunes and mixing them with your favourite sound tracks seems a fun, challenging and interesting topic. Choosing this UI to be developed on a Microsoft Surface platform, which is the buzzword. Imagine being a DJ, you create new sounds just using your fingertips and your zune. Choosing your favourite song, mixing it with various new beats and sounds , making your kind of music and saving it too so that you can show it to others , without needing the whole orchestra to do the same thing , this and much more is what you can do wit this application in this user interface.

Its very easy to use as the UI has various icons where we can drag and drop new songs from and into our existing playlist of zune while interacting with the jukebox present in the Microsoft surface we can do things like play multiple musical instruments at the same time along with our playing track, synthesis it , tune it , and make completely new tracks out of it.

Traditional Systems existing in the Microsoft surface restrict the user to just play the tracks that are exsiting in our zune / ipod or the ones that are there in the jukebox of the Microsoft surface ,this application take the music application to a much higher level ,wherein the product can be used to create new product right s the user wants it and has fun along doing it. Our all new system provide many more options and from the UI as he can choose tracks, play list options, instrument options, digital synthesiser option he wantsand according to his knowledge too , the product can be used by one player or multi player , from a high school kid to a professional DJ, all by just using this application. There are some recommendations given to the user with what best suits him / her according to his needs of music type, his prior knowledge in any of the musical instruments available to him , how well he can add , mix and create new tunes using this application , there is a help option provided to him at all time in all of the stages of the application , there are multiple options available for icons , menus and even online help if the surface is connected to Ethernet / WiFi

User Characteristics
The user posses basic reading and writing capabilities. The user may have moderate computer knowledge as he would be using Microsoft Surface. There is no restriction on education level or job category, Although our system assumes that the user has basic knowledge about how to operate a basic music player such as microsft zune / ipod.

User Tasks
The user interacts with the system through hand movement on multi touch screen interface of Microsoft surface. He selects the vaious options available as he browses the system. He may perform a search at any point. He will need to fill order confirmation form at the end.

User workload
The user workload is nominal as the user has to simply follow the instructions by selecting the options available on the screen. The use of multiple player, multiple instruments also allow the users to exchange the roles among each other. User environment Consideration: The user is standing in hotel lobby of a hotel chain of Hannah’s / Sheraton /Rio chain of hotels,.

Flash Demo
Click on or copy paste the following link to see a flash demo of the concept. [[Media:http://www.pacrimentrepreneursummit.com/preold/iJammin.html]]

Practical demo of iJammin. [[Media:http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=QxDJ5SBW4V4]]

music in flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6FmgrhLp3s

demo 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxDJ5SBW4V4

demo 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HV-_sgTzuY

demo 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYFyIGmRUf0

Hardware
In order to build the MT surface you can use one of the following methods.

Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR)
Infrared light is shined into the side of an acrylic panel (most often by shinning IR LEDs on the sides of the acrylic). The light is trapped inside the acrylic by internal reflection. When a finger touches the acrylic surface this light is “frustrated” causing the light to scatter downwards where it is picked up by an infrared camera.

A silicone rubber layer is often used as a “compliant surface” to help improve dragging and sensitivity of the device. When touching bare acrylic, one must press hard or have oily fingers in order to set off the FTIR effect. With a complaint surface (like silicone rubber) the sensitivity is greatly improved.

Direct Illumination (DI)
Diffused Illumination comes in two main forms. Front Diffused Illumination and Rear Diffused Illumination. Both techniques use the same basic principles.

Rear DI: Infrared light is shined at the screen from below the touch surface. A diffuser is placed on top or on bottom of the touch surface. When an object touches the surface it reflects more light than the diffuser or objects in the background; the extra light is sensed by a camera. Depending on the diffuser, this method can also detect hover and objects placed on the surface.

Front DI:

Infrared light (often from the ambient surroundings) is shined at the screen from above the touch surface. A diffuser is placed on top or on bottom of the touch surface. When an object touches the surface, a shadow is created in the position of the object. The camera senses this shadow.

Laser Light Plane (LLP)
Infrared light from a laser(s) is shined just above the surface. The laser plane of light is about 1mm thick and is positioned right above the surface, when the finger just touches it, it will hit the tip of the finger which will register as a IR blob.

Diffused Surface Illumination (DSI)
DSI uses a special acylic to distribute the IR evenly across the surface. Basically use your standard FTIR setup with an LED Frame (no compliant silicone surface needed), and just switch to a special acrylic. This acrylic uses small particles that are inside the material, acting like thousands of small mirrors. When you shine IR light into the edges of this material, the light gets redirected and spread to the surface of the acrylic. The effect is similar to DI, but with even illumination, no hotspots, and same setup process as FTIR.

Please visit this website for in details description and pics [[Media:http://nuigroup.com/forums/viewthread/1982/]]

For our project we have used DSI as it is simple to start with.
 * DSI Parts List:


 * Acrylic 8mm (Buy from Ebay)
 * IR LED strip from http://www.environmentallights.com/
 * Projection Surface (tracing paper, lee filter, geriets optitrans, etc);
 * Infrared Camera/Modified Webcam Microsoft VX 1000 (You have to  remove the IR filter from the cam)

Project Ideas
1. http://nuigroup.com/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code_2008_Projects_Ideas/ 2. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/ 3. http://www.multitouch.nl/ 4. http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=o3YQWSE4rZE 5. http://code.google.com/p/ideo-multitouch/ 6. http://www.makepages.com/freepages/flashpianolessonvideo.html 7. http://nuigroup.com/forums/

Flash and processing API
1. http://code.google.com/p/ideo-multitouch/ 2. http://code.google.com/p/ideo-multitouch/issues/list