Kinect's Jazziest Hack Yet Puts a Piano Everywhere

[Tom Goldman]

Kinect's Jazziest Hack Yet Puts a Piano Everywhere


A new Kinect hack will make anything into a piano, even a pet or an old dirty sock.

Just when Kinect hacks were starting to become passé, something has come out that should reinvigorate everyone's interest. The OpenKinect Piano hack will literally put an instrument at your fingertips anywhere they happen to be. As long as a Kinect is around too, that is.

The hack is simple to explain. Point Kinect at something, and you can put a virtual piano keyboard there. This includes anything from your computer desk to the space shuttle.

OpenKinect Piano's keyboard can be of any size, which allows its creators in the video to demonstrate playing with both their hands on a desk, and their feet on the floor. It's really quite an ingenious piece of software.

Little did the creators of those giant keyboards from Big [http://www.amazon.com/Big-Tom-Hanks/dp/B00000K3CR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292339343&sr=8-1] know that their work would someday be revived in completely invisible form by Kinect hackers. The real question is, can OpenKinect Piano put a piano on a piano? Yes, probably, but that'd defeat the point.

Combined with the Kinect bring back the music genre [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DmOux4IdAE]?

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[dsmops2003]

LOL no matter how many cool things people come up with for kinect you still look like a tard doing it.

 

[DTWolfwood]

This is a good way to play tricks on your grandparents or parents. When you look like a fool playing an Air Guitar or Piano, and then you snap a finger and suddenly your air instruments starts actually playing music. I think their minds would be blown! You need to hide speakers on you tho XD

 

[Rorschach II]

That looked quite cool. Aslong as they could get the actual mapping of the keyboard so you know what notes you are playing that would be really cool

 

[Daemascus]

Kinect, not cool. The stuff that has been hacked to work with it, awesome.

 

[Vault Citizen]

Its like that Tom Hanks move all over again.

 

[Something Amyss]

Its like that Tom Hanks move all over again.

You mean the one referenced in the article itself?

Anyway, this seems like it falls to the same problems Wii Music or any similar game would. Not that an Air Guitar/Piano music game wouldn't tickle me as a novelty, but it would just be that.

 

[Vault Citizen]

Its like that Tom Hanks move all over again.

You mean the one referenced in the article itself?

Anyway, this seems like it falls to the same problems Wii Music or any similar game would. Not that an Air Guitar/Piano music game wouldn't tickle me as a novelty, but it would just be that.

Wow, I am really unobservant sometimes, I did try to check to see if the article made the reference but clearly I didn't look hard enough.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

Maybe this kind of technology is what will bring back the music genre [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105794-EA-Music-Gaming-Will-Return-But-Skateboarding-is-Dead]?

No, it won't. One of the biggest appeals of the music genre was precisely the hardware that came with it, since it allowed you to experiences games in a different way and live out the fantasy of being a music star. As cheap as those plastic guitars and drums may look, they were a key part of the success behind games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

No, the only thing that will bring back the music genre is time. Over the past few years, far too many games have been released, even within the same series. As a result, consumers have become way too fatigued with these type of games. If you visit a well too many times, it will eventually dry up. The genre needs to rest before it can recover.

That said, good work on remembering that scene from Big. I wouldn't be suprised if the creators of this hack were inspired by it, especially since they used the same song to demonstrate it:

 

[VanityGirl]

Ok, you got me, that is REALLY cool. I'm glad people are hacking the Kinect for some good fun like this.
Please keep it up hackers ^^

 

[Kieve]

I desperately want to do this hack to the Kinect demo in the local Best Buy now.
Fairly certain that would void whatever warranty they have on it though.

I'm no fan of gimmicky motion systems, but it's reasons like this why I like the Kinect.