There are many hardware configurations for a timbap dj setup, but for most people this one seems to be the preferred option:
1 laptop with a 4-channel audio interface (e.g. Conectiv)
2 pico projectors
Unfortunately there is one big problem for this configuration: Laptops typically have only one external VGA plug, so you cannot connect two projectors.
Here are some possible solutions though:
If you're lucky, your laptop has both a VGA and a DVI plug capable of presenting different screens
You could get a Matrox DualHead2Go which costs around 120€. It splits a VGA signal to two separate outputs
You could also get an external USB video card for around 60€, for example the one from IOGEAR.
The best solution however is to get at least one pico projector with USB connectivity. I could only find two reasonably-priced models for the moment. Both are not yet available, but should be in a few weeks:
timbap beta 0.5.1 released - stable and platform-independent
Written by Andhi Pabst
Wednesday, 16 July 2008 00:57
This is the first stable release of timbap - a platform-independent application for augmented DJing. The timbap visualizer has been re-implemented from scratch and is now independent from any operating systems or specific runtimes. It only requires Java 1.5.
For vinyl control, we still include a VST plugin that is powered by the MsPinky SDK and works with both MsPinky and Torq control vinyl. The VST plugin hasn't changed a lot. However, we also package a Mac OS X version now.
In the early access version, audio playback in Mac OS X was broken. This is fixed in the currently downloadable version. There is also a hotfix available that includes the fixed VST plugin for Mac OS X only .
The timbap visualizer is currently being re-implemented using a platform-independent runtime, namely Processing, which itself uses the Java Virtual Machine and the JOGL OpenGL Binding. This has a number of advantages:
We will shortly be able to provide a Mac OS X version of the whole timbap digital vinyl system
This is the first step to real platform independence at a later time. Actually, the visualizer itself can be run on any system that provides a JVM.
The installation process will become a lot easier as there will be no more external dependencies.
The code has been refactored and is now more efficient, extensible and clearly structured.
Currently we are fixing some issues and preparing an installation package. We are planning to release a new platform-independent beta of the visualizer together with a Windows and a Mac OS X version of the VST plugin in May.
As the "Basic Interaction Demonstrated" video is a bit short on this feature, here is another one that deals with the direct positioning method and the switching between different visual index types in particular.
We shot a demonstration video showing the basic interaction with the tangible user interface of timbap. Be prepared for some audio playback as soon as the DJ starts the playback of a track.
The shown features include:
* Switching between browsing and playback * Scratching, skipping and cueing of tracks * Using the tone arm to position in the cloud of artist name initials
