TableDrum App Uses Everyday Objects as Drum Triggers

Have you ever been stuck on a train/plane/bus or in a restaurant/classroom/meeting with a finger drummer? Finger drummers are those fidgety idiots who can’t help but tap-tappity-tap away at anything that will make an annoying noise: tabletops, the arms of seats, tupperware lunch boxes, anything. The louder and more obnoxious the better, it seems.

I don’t know whether this new iPhone app — TableDrum — will actually make things better or worse, but if you use it away from other people, it can certainly be fun. The app uses the iPhone’s mic to detect your annoying tappings and then triggers a sample of a proper drum. Thus the table can become a tomtom, a coffee pot can trigger a snare and a saucer can be a cymbal.

Before writing this piece I paired up the sound of my keyboard to trigger the high-hat. It’s pretty cool.

You assign a sound by long pressing the drum you want, and then tapping the real world object a few times. The app is surprisingly good at picking up the right sound, and also controls output volume based on how loud your taps are. Thus a light touch on my coffee pot gives a soft cymbal sound, whereas a good whack with the side of my thumb gives me a loud crash.

The app costs $4 (currently on sale for $1), and you get one drum kit. Further kits can be bought via in-app purchase.

Will you make great music with this app? Nope. Will idiot finger drummers be able to add yet another arrow to their arsenal of annoyances? Hell yes.

TableDrum product page [TableDrum via Oh Gizmo!]

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