Today I wanted to show you all these amazing Audio Cubes from Percussa.  They were introduced in 2008 but I have not seen them around too much since.

These little beauties have more tricks up their sleeve than at first you might think.

Each cube has 4 low latency infra red sensors and communication ports, capable of communicating with another cube nearby or with your fingers and hands.  They are rechargeable by USB and offer wireless connectivity.  The cubes glow different colours, the intensity of which can be determined via midi control messages.  The colour can also be set to the tempo of a midi clock or will alter depending on distance measured by the cube itself. You are able to set these cubes to a number of different software programs, from Ableton, to Logic and of course Traktor.

This video below shows them in use with Traktor 2.5 and an S4.  The gent in the video, Lame Bot, has assigned his cubes to the effects on Traktor.  I am not sure how detailed his assignments are, but it is possible to set them up so that the distance your hand is from the cube determines the intensity of the effect. Each sensor can be set to a different effect, or different parameters of one particular effect, enabling you to set up your favourite combination of Traktor effects.

You can have upto 16 cubes communicating wirelessly operating from one USB port.  Although this might sound like way too many cubes for a Traktor performance, the possibilities certainly expand when you start to think of the cubes as triggers for various scenes in Ableton, or even potentially loops in the remix decks of Traktor.  Once Traktor releases the full Midi Mapping settings for the remix decks, there should be no reason that these cubes can be integrated nicely into a complex remix set and visual performance.

Percussa have also developed a bunch of free applications for use with the Audio Cubes, which includes a synthesizer plug in for Ableton.  Despite these free software offerings the Audio cubes do not come in cheap – The price drops the more you buy – if you want an official quote you can enter your email address on the Percussa website directly, just follow this link.

If you just want to keep informed of whats happening in the world of Percussa, you can follow them on twitter.

Do any of you own these cubes? Have you seen them in action?  I would love to know of anyones experience?  What is your impression of these funky things?  Let me know in the comments below…..